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Stella Young

Biography:

Stella is highly passionate about the rights of people with a disability. She works for Victoria's peak body for arts and disability/disadvantage and also in community television as a host of Australia's first disability issues show, No Limits. She has been a member of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council and various other boards and committees in the disability sector.  

Statement:

In 15 years time, I want to live in a country where the oppression of people with a disability is as unacceptable as the oppression of women or the keeping of slaves.  

The dominant sociological model of disability in our society is known as the medical model, whereby disability is seen as an individual condition affecting one's body. The social model, on the other hand, recognises that while people with a disability have impairments that affect how they function, it is the barriers that exist in society that actually create disability. People are disabled not by their bodies, but by a society that does not cater for all who live in it. Disability activists in this country fight an uphill battle against the medical model. Disability needs to be seen as a social construct, rather than a problem of impairment for individuals, not just by people with a disability but also by the government. In order for equality for people with a disability to become a reality, we need to start with a whole of government commitment to the social model.  

While our Disability Discrimination Act (1992) shares a common philosophy with other DDAs around the world, I believe that ours is far less effective than it needs to be. The objective of our current legislations is: "To eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against persons on the ground of disability in the areas of: work, accommodation, education, access to premises, clubs and sport; and the provision of goods, facilities, services and land; and existing laws; and the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs; and to ensure, as far as practicable, that persons with disabilities have the same rights to equality before the law as the rest of the community; and to promote recognition and acceptance within the community of the principle that persons with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community."

At present, people with a disability do not have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community. As a person with a disability myself, I am discriminated against on the basis of disability every day, in many areas. Even in the 21 st century, we struggle to access education, work, services, accommodation, and many things far beyond the DDA objective. I strongly believe that a DDA with some teeth would give Australians with a disability greater control over their own lives. We need to build structures and systems which empower people to live at the centre of society, not exiled to its margins.

In a recent conversation with world-renowned disability rights activist Tom Shakespeare, I asked him where he thinks Australia might rank on a world scale in terms of disability rights. He said that in terms of facilities, we're not doing too badly, but in terms of government commitment; we are far behind the US and the UK. This should be of great concern to all Australians.

One of our most important challenges over the next 15 years can be met by the creation of better civil rights legislation, changed policies and barrier removal. Australians with disabilities need to see a commitment to the social model at a government level. Millions of people with disabilities around the world have become empowered through looking at their lives in this new way. Imagine what we could do if the government was committed to this same school of thought. Perhaps Nelson Mandela put it best when he said; "Those who are ready to join hands can overcome the greatest challenges."