Many of our readers will be aware of the tragic circumstances of the death of Ann Marie Smith earlier this year. Ann Marie lived in suburban Adelaide and was the victim of neglect and abuse.
Her death has rocked our community and has led to the Government of South Australia Department of Human Services (DHS SA) setting up the Safeguarding Task Force to look at what’s being done to keep people with disability safe, and what more needs to be done in this area.
The Safeguarding Task Force carried out an investigation and discovered many gaps and flaws in the current safeguarding system in South Australia. DHS SA took these findings and wrote a report that explained what these gaps and flaws are, and suggested ways to fix them.
We worked with DHA SA to create an Easy Read version of the Safeguarding Task Force Report. You can find it on the Government of South Australia Department of Human Services website.
Disability health in SA
The South Australian Health Performance Council (HPC) has published a report about the health of people with disability in South Australia. It wants to better understand the problems people with disability face and how these problems impact their health and their access to the health system. HPC wrote this report to highlight the steps it wants to take to improve the South Australian health system. We worked with HPC to develop an Easy Read version of the final report – Health outcomes and experiences for South Australians with disability. You can find it on the Government of South Australia Health Performance Council website.
Disability Action Inclusion Plans
Meanwhile, the Government of South Australia is seeking feedback on Disability Access and Inclusion Plans (DAIPs) for all government departments and agencies. These DAIPs outline each organisation’s vision, actions and strategies to support people with disability.
In 2018, the South Australian Government passed the Disability Inclusion Act 2018 (SA) because it recognised that a stronger commitment to access and inclusion planning for people with disability was needed across the state. Under this law, all departments, agencies and local governments in South Australia must have a DAIP by the end of October 2020.
We are currently supporting a number of organisations to create an Easy Read version of their DAIP, with some published already and more on the way. You can find a list of the current DAIPs on the YourSAy website.
If your organisation is publishing a DAIP by the end of October, please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you would like support to create an Easy Read version. We are excited to help more organisations across SA become more inclusive and look forward to working with you.
