|
|
|
|
Stay in touch
Would you like to stay up to date with our latest news? Enter your email address and we'll send you our newsletter.
Latest news
Talking tax
17 October 2011
Complex language was one of the issues raised at the recent Tax Forum in Canberra.
Connect with us on Twitter
Some of the files on this website are PDFs. You will need the Adobe Reader to open, view and print these files. If you do not have this program, please download it free from the Adobe website.
Nominations for the 2011 National Disability Awards are now open!
The awards recognise people with disability who have achieved something remarkable or made a significant contribution to their community, and people or groups within the community who have contributed to the disability sector or improved access and inclusion.
Does someone outstanding spring to mind? Entering is easy. Download a nomination form and nomination guidelines at www.idpwd.com.au or call 1800 440 385 to order hard copies.
The 2011 Award categories are:
- Minister’s Lifelong Achievement Award recognises people who have advanced the rights of people with disability over a prolonged period of time.
- Young Disability Challenge Award recognises young people aged 12-25 years who have advanced the rights of people with disability.
- Business Award recognises organisations that have improved access to employment, or created increased employment opportunities for people with disability.
- Local Government Award recognises work in a community that provides opportunities for full inclusion of people with disability.
- Social Inclusion Award recognises schools, universities, employment and training providers and advocacy services who have enabled equal participation of people with disability in a range of areas in life.
- Inclusive and Accessible Communities Award recognises work by developers, builders and others in the building sector to create accessible buildings or facilities for people with disability.
- Health and Wellbeing Award recognises health and wellbeing services that are creating equal access for people with disability.
Nominations close 5pm AEST Friday 29 July 2011.
The 2011 National Disability Award categories are aligned with the National Disability Strategy priority areas, a 10 year strategy to improve the lives of people with disability, their families and carers.
Show your support for the Awards and International Day of People with Disability by becoming a Facebook fan at www.facebook.com/idpwd or following on Twitter at www.twitter.com/idpwd.
The National Disability Awards are part of the Australian Government’s celebration of International Day of People with Disability.
Talking tax
Complex language was one of the issues raised at the recent Tax Forum in Canberra.
According to the Australian Taxation Office, complaints about the complexity of language include “correspondence that is vague, not clearly explained and laden
with jargon.”
We’ve probably all experienced this kind of information from the Tax Office at
some point.
Interestingly, the Taxation Ombudsman, Allan Asher, said that more than one third of tax complaints are resolved through provision of a better explanation by the ATO or
the Ombudsman.
Mr Asher said: “Complaints to my office indicate that what is required is a simpler, more accessible system, along with more streamlined and better resourced external scrutiny of tax administration.”
With an understanding of the diverse literacy needs of our community, the Information Access Group advocates for ‘information for everyone’. Mr Asher’s comments reflect a similar view: “It is particularly important that the more vulnerable members of our community, such as those who are reliant upon income support, have the capacity to access and engage with the tax system.”
You can read more here:
Recent publications in Easy English
It's been a busy few months at the Information Access Group. We've had the pleasure of working on a range of new publications. There are some Easy English conversions of key documents that may be relevant for your clients and colleagues.
Your ideas about communication tools
This Easy English document was produced as part of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy's Review of access to telecommunication services by people with disability, older Australians and people experiencing illness. This is a great opportunity for people with disability to have a say about the ways they use technology to communicate.
Click here to view the document
The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022
This document outlines the Australian Government's plan to reduce violence against women and their children.
Click here to view the document
Living life my way
This document will be of interest for people living in NSW. It's a discussion paper about disability services in NSW and the move towards individualised funding and person-centred care.
Click here to view the document
And stay tuned! We are currently working on an Easy English version of the report from the Living Life My Way summit that was held at Acer Arena in July.
Productivity Commission Report into Disability Care and Support
Many of you will have been keenly following the discussion about the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Easy English version of the Productivity Commission's Final Report summarises the concepts of the Scheme and makes it accessible for a wider audience.
Click here to view the document
Taking the Aboriginal crisis out of the too-hard basket
In November 2009, Lyndall Thomas, Editorial Director of the Information Access Group, attended a seminar called ‘Bridging the Gap – Communicating with Aboriginal Communities’ run by Richard Trudgen and his team.
This seminar was challenging and confronting. It opened Lyndall's eyes to assumptions that she didn’t even realise she’d made about the problems facing Aboriginal communities.
Lyndall found that the seminar wasn’t easy. Some of it was controversial. And a lot of it was hard to digest.
But, Lyndall says, if you are interested in creating an Australia where social inclusion is a genuine thing that we live and breathe, rather than just something we talk about, then I recommend this seminar to you.
It’s incredibly rare for the Information Access Group to recommend a third party service and we want you to know that we don’t do it lightly.
The seminars are running in Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne, Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane from July onwards. Please visit the Why Warriors website for all the relevant information.
If you do attend, we will hope to engage with you afterwards in some robust discussion about what you learned and how it changed your views.
NDIS - Draft Report - Easy English version available
The Productivity Commission recently released a draft report about the proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme. An Easy English version of this report is now available.
Click here to access all versions of the Draft Report.
The Information Access Group is pleased to have worked with the Productivity Commission on the Easy English version of the report. We hope that you all enjoy reading and using this document and welcome your feedback.
