The ABC has the sad news that our diabolically bad taxi service is suing the Government for trying to help disabled people get taxis:
Last year the government set up the centralised system to take bookings for and dispatch wheelchair accessible taxis.
Aerial Capital Group has asked the Federal Court to declare the laws putting the [...]

Construction started on the Boundless Canberra Inclusive Playground. A playground that is designed to be accessible for all children.
Katy Gallagher today turned the first sod in one of those odd ceremonies that I don’t understand.
Nevertheless, building an inclusive playground is a very cool thing.
“Boundless Canberra is a fantastic statement of how this city provides for [...]

100 Bricks is a series of eights ceramics workshop for people with and without disability running in Belconnen during May and June.
The project will be structured in a series of 8 free workshops creating ceramic tiles and opened to 12 adults with and without disability, with the aim of sharing the experience through the creative [...]

Canberra’s school, government and corporate communities banded together to demonstrate their support for the Boundless Canberra project.

ACT Minister for Disability Joy Burch outlined the plans for the National Disability Scheme today.
“From July eligible ACT residents with disabilities or mental illness will be able to apply for one-
off grants that may be used in a variety of ways to improve their quality of life,” Ms Burch said.
“These grants may be for aids [...]

So, the term “several thousand” would have to mean “at least 3,000 families, in common parlance. Katy Gallagher has announced that $10 million will be spent on funding “several thousand” families with “$5,000 a year” under the first stage of the NDIS, “from July” with “full rollout by 2014″.
It turns out that the full rollout [...]

Team Katy is dispensing more largesse, this time for those with a disability:
If re-elected ACT Labor will deliver almost $15 million for more disability support:
Funding for an extra half-day support per week to young people with a disability who have graduated from school, equating to an additional $5000 per person annually
$1.48 million to establish payroll [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher has the happy news that the Civic Merry-Go-Round is being given to “Canberra community group LEAD (Live, Experience, Access, Develop), a specialist not-for-profit organisation supporting people with disabilities”
“It is a fantastic outcome that LEAD has been awarded the trial contract to run the Civic Merry-Go-Round. LEAD, who has been working in Canberra [...]

Raising my eyebrows this morning is Meredith Hunter coming to the Dozspotian view on sending government education dollars chasing disabled students where ever they may be found:
The ACT Government announced one off, ad hoc funding of $2m to the non-government sector to support students with disabilities in the 2012/13 budget.
The ACT Greens today committed [...]

Yesterday the ACT Young People’s Plan Progress Report was released, and within fifty-five pages of waffle and spin are some interesting tidbits.
School programs have been fairly successful, with improvements in school sustainability, healthy food programs starting to spread out into a hundred schools, and 22,500 students ACT-wide participating in physical activity programs.
Programs giving money to [...]

Chief Minister Stanhope has proudly announced a new employment strategy to double the number of disabled employees of the ACT public service to 700.
The target would be achieved through training and mentoring programs and through the earmarking of dedicated jobs for employees with disabilities across the service.
Mr Stanhope said while 16 per cent of working-age [...]

This morning Joy Burch kicked things off by announcing she was going to scope out the demand for after-school care and holiday programs for older children with a disability.
(Experience suggests the demand for services provided free can be near-infinite)
“The ACT Government recognises that there is interest across the community for such services, and that there [...]

The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan is making the call for an end to disability transport integration and the start of a segregated service.
ACT Greens Transport spokesperson, Amanda Bresnan MLA will place on the notice paper a motion calling on the ACT Government to establish a dedicated Wheelchair Accessible Taxi (WAT) service with salaried drivers that [...]

In a big day the Minister for Children and Young People has again sallied forth with a strange $7 million project called “Intentional Communities” mixing disabled youth with other public housing tenants.
ACT Minister for Housing, Disability and Community Services Joy Burch was today joined by
three families of young adults with a disability in Phillip to [...]

Yesterday Mr Stanhope announced reforms to Canberra’s much despised taxi system.
Today the Greens’ Amanda Bresnan has expressed her displeasure with the changes because they don’t do enough for taxi drivers or the disabled.
“We’ve seen this response to release more taxi licences before, and it has failed before. Taxi drivers are already struggling to earn [...]

Chief Minister Stanhope has announced the change we’ve been waiting for in Canberra’s taxi fleet.
The key measures are:
– the release of at least 25 new standard taxi plates and four new wheelchair taxi plates in 2011;
– annual increases in taxi licence numbers to ensure that taxi supply meets demand;
– the introduction of a centralised [...]

I know its a long shot and will probably just attract derision from some of you lot but worth a shot.. does anyone know of any fragrance free workplaces in canberra?
As in, workplaces where there is a policy of no fragrance. I get migranes from the chemicals in perfumes etc which makes it hard [...]

Andrew Barr has today announced that he’s released the Excellence in Disability Education in ACT Public Schools – Strategic Plan 2010-2013.
He made particular, nigh on excruciating, reference to the Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools who have agreed to “join” the ACT Government in working “more closely together for the benefit [...]

I’m a CIT media student and for this semester I have to produce a 15 minute program.
I’m going to do a Chaser’s War On Everything type program, but for people with a disability, and I’m looking for people with a disability to appear in it.
At present, I am looking for two people to be the [...]

As a (very) occassional supplier of goods to the Independent Living Centre, I have received a letter from the management detailing a number of Government decisions impacting on the service.
The Independent Living Centre supplies a wide variety of impliments, appliances and advice to mobility reduced clients to allow them to lead as normal a life [...]

Chief Stanhope is announcing yet another review of the taxi industry.
Commencing in August 2009, the review will include an assessment of the supply of standard and wheelchair accessible taxi (WAT) licences; fare structures; and the level of industry regulation.
“Canberrans and visitors to our city deserve to have reasonable access to taxi services that meet their [...]

It’s been to Australia’s shame that for many years now young people with severe disability have been shoved into aged care facilities and promptly forgotten. If your idea of fun is playing Halo 3 with the volume all the way up there can be issues with fitting in.
The ACT Minister for Disability and Community Services, [...]

[First filed: June 19, 2009 @ 21:49]

TAMS has unveiled their review into disabled parking.
A quick reading of the executive summary suggests all is not not in compliance with standards in the ACT. (Would we really expect anything different?)
Only a few disabled parking spaces comply with all of the criteria identified in the relevant standards. This [...]

Here at RiotACT we consider ourselves connoisseurs of the fine art of complaining.
But we doff our lids to Steve Doszpot’s latest effort:
Shadow Minister for Education and Disability, Steve Doszpot, has today condemned the Stanhope-Gallagher Government for failing to acknowledge the rights of 411 students with a disability currently enrolled in the non-government school sector.
The ACT [...]

Steve Dozspot is raising a hue and cry over the case of Karyn Costello who has, apparently, been living in hospital for two years because her disabilities have on into the “too hard basket”.
“Ms Costello has been confined to a wheelchair, forced to wait since 2007 in Canberra Hospital for a Disability ACT Individual Support [...]

At Cook shops today I came upon a bunch of flowers, and a sad note informing customers that Damian Caesar has passed on suddenly.
For those of you who didn’t know him, Damian was a quite profoundly disabled  chap, who used to sell lollies and other items outside Cook shops, to raise funds for the ACT [...]

Andrew Barr has announced he’s roped in “Professor Tony Shaddock, an internationally respected expert” to conduct a review of education for students with special needs.
“The ACT Government is determined to ensure equity for every student in the ACT,” Mr Barr said. “This means ensuring that every student gets an education that challenges them, meeting both [...]

I see lots of Gubby agencies advertise jobs,,and state they employ a diversity of people….(including race, age and disabled) BUT when did you last come upfront with a disabled person????????
The Gubby offers extra money ect apparently for businesses to hire disabled people,,but where is that??
If you ring the Tax office you get some  person (asian) [...]

Living in my street, I tend to notice who does what, and the neighbours and the gossip factory are well established.
One of the people in our street, a young lad, has been working for a real estate company. He’s got a flash new car.
He lives at home, with mum and dad, we all know [...]

The Greens are finally online with an interesting view on the funding of disability services:
“The Disability Commissioner needs to be separate from the Health Services Commissioner,” Ms Bresnan said today.
“A clear recommendation from the Gallop Inquiry into a number deaths in disability services and the Disability Reform Group – which was set up to oversee [...]

[ 2 February, 2009; ] Inclusive Sound & Movement Programs in 2009

with the founder & facilitators of The Radiance Dance Project

This new 10 week program will be offered each term in 2009 and is open to people with and without disabilties. Sessions offer community based, participant-driven performing arts activities aimed at enabling people with a wide range of [...]

[First filed: December 10, 2008 @ 10:05]

Like most sensible men in Canberra I’ve always got time to talk to Min Mae. In common with those men, despite never having seen her express any anger, I’ve also picked up a certain air about her suggesting it would be a very, very bad idea indeed to be [...]