National Disability Strategy – What is it? Why it is important?

The National Disability Strategy (NDS) is a ten-year plan providing the framework for policy and programs aimed at improving the lives of Australians with disability, their families and carers.

The first NDS for 2010-2020 was signed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in February 2011 and the plan for the next decade is currently being written.

The new NDS is expected to be released later this year (2021).

A priority must be addressing age discrimination.

Spinal Life Australia, which has created to the “Disability Doesn’t Discriminate” campaign, is calling on the Federal Government, State Premiers and Chief Ministers, to ensure protections are provided in the new NDS for all Australians, regardless of age, to access equal levels of funding and supports.

Why it is important

It’s important because the NDS guides all governments in Australia on how to create a more united approach to improve the lives of people living with a disability.

The new NDS will be the first since the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been in existence, dramatically changing access to, and the provision of, disability services in Australia.

What needs to be changed

Age discrimination must end.

The NDIS was the biggest health reform since Medicare.

Discrimination against people over 65, living with a disability, is unfair and unjust.

The new NDS is an opportunity to right a wrong.

Australians living with a disability deserve to be heard and decision-makers have a responsibility to enact policy that is equitable and inclusive.

What you can do

1. Add your voice to this campaign. An email, on your behalf, will be sent to your local Federal MP asking where he or she stands on discrimination against people over 65 who become disabled and challenge them to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to end the discrimination.

2. Send a personal email or letter to your State or Territory MP urging their Premiers and Chief Ministers NOT to sign the new Strategy, when it’s released later this year, unless it ends age discrimination.