Inclusive Film Festival (IFF): 17 December 2021

What IFF we included everybody all the time?

Accessibility

Council encourages everyone toTune Infor Mental Health Month

October is Mental Health Month and the 2020 theme isTune In.  

Inner West Council is partnering with Sydney Local Health District Mental Health Services to raise awareness of Mental Health Month with a short video competition. 

On offer are cash prizes and the opportunity to have the video showcased online and at a live screening at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre in October.  

Local creatives are invited to submit three to four minute videos that address the Mental Health Month theme ofTune In. 

The clips can be about, but are not limited to: 

- performance 

- music 

- spoken word 

- interpretive dance 

- poetry 

- any form of expression that tells a story 

Competition entries close 23 October 2020.  

Mental Health Month is celebrated each year in October in NSW and is an opportunity to think about mental health and wellbeing, regardless of lived experience of mental illness, and understand the importance of good mental health in everyday lives. 

Find out more about Council’s event https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/explore/whats-on/events-in-detail/mental-health-month

Review of the NSW Disability Inclusion Act

NSW Department of Communities and Justice (formally FACS) are reviewing The Disability Inclusion Act 2014 (the Act). The Act owes much to the valuable input of people with disability, their families and carers.

The Act, which replaces the Disability Services Act 1993, has two main roles:

Committing the NSW Government to making communities more inclusive and accessible for people with disability now and into the future. These commitments will continue even when the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is operating across NSW.
Regulating specialist disability supports and services to people with disability in NSW and introducing better safeguards for these services until the change over to the NDIS.
Choice and control
The Act makes it clear that the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) can provide funding in a number of different ways to give people with disability control over the supports and services they need. This will help prepare people with disability to make choices and decisions under the NDIS.

Feedback is due before 30 March 2020.

To find out more about the review and how you can give feedback visit NSW Department of Communities and Justice

Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with disability

Currently there is a a Federal Government Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Exploitation and Neglect of People with Disability. In Australia, royal commissions are the highest form of inquiry on matters of public
importance.
Recent inquiries and reports have shown that people with disability are more likely to experience violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation than people without disability.
The Royal Commission will help to inform Australian governments, institutions and the wider community on how to prevent, and better protect, people with disability from experiencing violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in the future.

It has started and will run for three years. Their final report is due 29 April 2022.

To make a submission visit the Royal Commission

Relationships Australia NSW

Is funded to provide counselling support to people who are affected by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission). They support

People with disability who have experienced violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation
Parents, guardians, other family members of a person with disability
Carers of a person with disability
Others affected by the Disability Royal Commission requiring counselling support.

For more information on how to access visit Relationships Australia 

International Day of people with a disability 2020

Inner West Council in partnership with Mable, Ethnic Community Services Co-operative, Exodus Foundation, Disability Services Australia, Ability Links: Settlement Services International and Accessible Arts are planning for the 2020 International Day of People with Disability Film Festival!

This all-inclusive free event will be held on the 4th December 2020. This will be film and panel discussions curated and created by and with people living with disability. The event is in celebration of International Day of People with Disability in the Inner West community.Let’s come together, support and elevate the voices of people with disability at this uniquely inclusive and accessible event at the Petersham Town Hall. Our vision is to model inclusive practice, to build a space where diversity is valued and thrives. A place of ideas, to share stories and collective experience through a celebration of film and discussion. This has become a signature annual event for the Inner West that will influence local cinemas and creative venues to become more inclusive all the time.This celebration of film is accessible for the whole community to experience. We will have audio descriptions, Auslan interpreters, closed captions, accessible seating that is not up the back, all assistance animals will be welcome, there are lowered counters, and a quiets zone during the films.

For more information about Inner West Councils film festival gala, to get involved or to submit a film, contact julia.phillips@innerwest.nsw.gov.au.

2019 Program 

2019 Program in Word

To celebrate Mental Health Month 2020

The City Wellbeing team is hosting events in October 2020

in 2019 the program included:

3 and 10 October Older Person’s Mental Health First Aid training  10 October Community Picnic 12-4pm Jack Shanahan Skate park

Event Meet Your Neighbour 9.30-12noon Ashfield Town Hall 24 October

Mad Pride Rally 2-4pm Newtown Neighbourhood Centre forecourt  

and all month long the Aboriginal Active and Healthy walking group  

Upcoming events

Get Involved

If you would like to be part of planning, or get involved on the event day for Mental Health Month and International Day of people with a disability let us know- send an email to julia.phillips@innerwest.nsw.gov.au

News

Excellence in Access Award for local businesses

The Inner West Council is strongly committed to the provision of equal access and the development of a community which is inclusive of all its residents, workers and visitors.

The Excellence in Access Award recognises and acknowledges businesses that have proactively created a more inclusive space and customer focussed systems.

Award winners will have engaged the community in innovative ways that demonstrate inclusive practice beyond basic compliance. The Excellence in Access Award will acknowledge initiatives from business that will enable a person with disability to access local services in an independent, welcoming and dignified manner.

To nominate a local business go the Business Awards webpage

25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act

Published 2 March 2018

On 1 March 2018 the Disability Discrimination Act (or DDA) celebrated its 25th anniversary.

This was Australia's first piece of legislation to protect the rights of people with disability. A quarter of a century on, the DDA has been used by thousands to fight discrimination in areas including employment, education, and access to goods and services.

Complaints relating to disability discrimination account for around 40% of all complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission. That's about the same amount of complaints received for both gender and racial discrimination combined.

The Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Alastair McEwin, says "Over the past 25 years, the act has been instrumental in social change, and has been used by individuals to fight against discriminatory practices in many fields, including education, access to transport, goods, services facilities, and more."

Although we've come a long way, and there have been momentous achievements by people with disability over the last 25 years, there is still so much work to be done. Alastair McEwin says, "Most of the disability discrimination complaints that we receive relate to employment, and the barriers that people face in accessing goods, services and facilities. These types of complaints have vied for top place among DDA complaints for the past five years."

This is clear when it comes to statistics around accessibility, inclusion, education and equal opportunity in Australia:

Only approximately 50 per cent of Sydney train stations are fully accessible
53% of people with a disability aged 15 to 64 years are currently employed, compared with 83% of people without a disability
36% of people with a disability aged 18 to 64 years have completed year 12, compared with 60% of those without a disability
45% of those with a disability in Australia are living either near or below the poverty line

Scarlett Finney was just five years old when she faced discrimination. The Hills Grammar School in Sydney said they couldn't accept her as a student, because they couldn't accommodate her wheelchair. Scarlett, who has spina bifida, used the DDA and took the matter to the commission. The matter ended up in the Federal Court and, these days, Hills Grammar is a pioneer in inclusive education.

Visit the Australian Human Rights Commission's "20 Stories" video web page for the stories of Scarlett and others who have used the DDA to improve their lives.

If you want to learn more about Inner West Council's work towards full access and inclusion, visit the Inclusion Access Plan web page.

Council makes inclusion its cornerstone

Published 30 May 2017

Inner West Council's new Inclusion Action Plan will remove barriers to access and participation for people with disability.

Council administrator Richard Pearson said the plan targets specific areas where local government can make a difference, including access to infrastructure, cultural development and information as well as having real input into key Council processes.

"A key new initiative in the plan is for Council to aim for a workforce that mirrors the demographics of the Inner West community in relation to including people with a disability," he said.

"We need to send an important message: that for a society to be healthy and functioning, everyone needs to be included and that should be reflected in the make-up of the Council workforce itself."

The plan was developed in consultation with people with a disability and family members, as well as with Council's strategic reference groups and other agencies and service providers.

Mr Pearson said the plan was about Council taking a leadership role.

"We want to work alongside people with a disability, their organisations and other community partners to achieve better outcomes and opportunities for people in our community," he said.

"It also demonstrates that inclusion is a key part of the way we run Council and plan for the future."

Social Inclusion Strategic Reference Group member Gisele Mesnage also embraced the plan.

"As a resident with a disability, I am proud that Inner West Council has adopted this inclusion action plan," she said.

"The plan identifies key local, state, federal and global topics, with plenty of scope to develop priority policies, programs and actions that target the needs of the Inner West community.

"As the founder of the Digital Gap Initiative, I am pleased to note that digital access issues have been encompassed in the inclusion action plan."

Mr Pearson said a cornerstone of the plan is also to uphold and promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

"Council's application of the convention is about making human rights real for everyone, every day," he said.

"And in doing that, we are committed to making sure that people living with a disability have access to the full range of services and activities available to our community.

"Inclusive communities reduce isolation and disadvantage for people with a disability while increasing diversity of opportunity to truly include everyone in the community.

"Our inclusion plan is a big step forward for all our residents."