Systemic reforms

• The Department of Health, Department of Justice and Community Safety and Victoria Police established committees and networks of people with lived experience to share knowledge and experiences. This informs policies, systems and processes.
• The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing worked with disability organisations to develop information campaigns, to challenge perceptions about employment and workplace opportunities for people with disability.
• Sport and Recreation Victoria’s Access for All Abilities program worked with people with disability and lived experience to make the active recreation sector more inclusive, whilst developing more disability confident workforces.
• Family Safety Victoria continued to develop programs with key sector networks to call out and prevent gender-based violence impacting women with disability.
• Emergency Recovery Victoria continued to embed co-design approaches across emergency response, relief and recovery planning. This includes proactively identifying pathways to increase the representation of people with disability, their families, and experts in community-led emergency relief and recovery planning.
• Disability Liaison Officers (DLOs) in health services have led a number of co-design projects including the following:
  • The Kyabram District Health Service DLO team partnered with people with disability in their local community to launch a Sunflower project, to support people with hidden disabilities. Alfred Health and St Vincent’s Hospital have also joined the Sunflower network.
  • The Eastern Health DLO team partnered with Expression Australia to deliver mental health communication cards so that health service staff are better able to communicate with Deaf and hard of hearing patients while they wait for an Auslan interpreter.
  • The St Vincent's DLO team collaborated closely with lived experience consumers to develop the ‘About Me’ health passport tool which enables people with disability to communicate their care needs to the health service.

Parks Victoria worked with disability organisations to ensure that people with disability can enjoy more of nature and the great outdoors. This included the following initiatives:

• Following a successful pilot program with Blind Sports and Recreation Victoria, the monthly Birding by Ear sensory walks at Westgate Park are led by a volunteer with low vision.
• Walks programs along 24 trails in 14 parks were supported by 65 trained volunteers. The volunteers undertook sighted guide training (facilitated by Blind Sports and Recreation Victoria) to build their confidence to lead walks for people who are blind or have low vision. Walks participants reported the walks had a positive impact on their physical health (84%), mental health (81%) and social health (80%).
• In 2024, the first Wheelchair Nature Scoot and Shoot (photography) event was led by volunteers using a powered wheelchair to guide visitors (both wheelchair users and ambulant walkers) at Churchill National Park. These events now occur once a month.
• The Active in Nature pilot program successfully engaged 265 young people (aged 16–24 years) who were less active due to social, physical and cultural barriers that led to less involvement in nature-based activities. Thirty-one per cent of Active in Nature participants had a disability (20% had an intellectual disability and 11% had a physical disability).
• In 2023–24, 28 half-day nature-based activities were delivered across 5 parks (four metropolitan and one regional) with participants reporting an improvement in confidence, wellbeing, social connection, physical activity and connection to nature.

• Sport and Recreation Victoria sought involvement by First Peoples with disability as part of a pilot with the Equity and Inclusion Community Consultation Group that provided input into policy and sport and recreation program design.
• The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing developed jobs and skills campaigns aimed at attracting First Peoples with disability to the workforce and supported this with disability and inclusion scholarships.
• The Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions promoted and encouraged cultural equity to fund creative organisations by implementing the ‘First Peoples First’ 4-year strategy.

• Fairer Victoria delivered a statewide grant program that celebrates and supports LGBTIQA+ communities, including people with disability. Through the Equality portfolio’s new 2023–24 LGBTIQA+ Sector Strengthening program, Inclusive Rainbow Voices, Australia's only LGBTIQA+ organisation run by and for LGBTIQA+ people with disability, has been funded to:
  • further build organisational sustainability and the incorporation of a new fee-for-service income stream.
  • develop an intersectional LGBTIQA+ disability training program for organisations aligned with contemporary LGBTIQA+ disability frameworks.
• Research by the Department of Government Services into digital inclusion trends and barriers in 2022 and 2023 informs the Australian Digital Inclusion Index reports. The research will inform future policy and program considerations regarding digital inclusion barriers for people who experience multiple forms of disadvantage, including people with disability.
• The Department of Health funded 12 Women’s Health Organisations that support health promotion, including Women with Disabilities Victoria. They provide training for women and other health professionals to provide suitable and safe sexual and reproductive health services for women with disability.
• The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Disability Liaison Officer team established a partnership with the Hospital’s LGBTIQA+ Patient Liaison Officers, so they can jointly support LGBTIQA+ patients with disability. DLO teams in some other health services are now establishing similar partnerships.
• The Office for Youth have a number of programs for Victorian young people. Opportunities for young people with disability run by Fairer Victoria include the Regional Presence Project that enables:
  • rural and regional young people to access education and employment supports
  • capacity building of local services to provide young people-centred services
  • activities funded through the Engage! program, such as a mentoring program for Deaf or hard of hearing young people
  • access to the statewide youth programs including FReeZA, a program that focuses on career pathways in the music and creative arts industries and Youth Fest, which funds youth-led events to celebrate the achievements of young people during the month of September.
• The Youth portfolio also supports the annual Victorian Youth Parliament in partnership with ‘The Y Victoria’ to fund and prioritise young people with a disability to access and increase the accessibility of the program.

In June 2023, the department established the first LGBTIQA+ Disability Inclusion Expert Advisory Group to co-design more inclusive policies and inform decision making by government that recognises a person’s diverse identities and lived experience.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in conjunction with other agencies, partnered with the department to deliver ABC Regional Takeover in Mildura in 2023. Winners of the ABC Regional Takeover the Latrobe Valley were announced in September 2024.

Through the ABC Regional Takeover program, the ABC ran storytelling workshops in schools and co-produced youth-led stories, which featured across various ABC platforms.

This program allowed under-represented voices, including culturally and linguistically diverse, Indigenous and young people with disability, to be heard and spread awareness of their experiences and perspectives to the wider community.

• The Department of Transport and Planning developed and delivered accessible guidelines for travel options, including modes of transport and the assistive technology available on the network, to inform people with disability so they can plan their journey prior to travelling.
• With student voice being a vital part of the Disability Inclusion reform being rolled out across Victorian government schools, the Department of Education has delivered a range of accessible resources to support students with disability to participate and have their voices heard in the Disability Inclusion Profile process. The resources were co-designed and developed with young people with disability and the Youth Disability Advocacy Service. The Department of Education has also developed information about the reform in a range of formats, in over 30 languages, including Easy-English and videos in Auslan.
• By re-developing the Access for All Abilities Play service 2023–25 website, Sport and Recreation Victoria will ensure higher standards of compliance with website accessibility standards.
• The All-Abilities Workforce and Sector Support Program (AAWSSP) communications are accessible including:
  • program documentation such as program guidelines, webpages, virtual meetings are delivered with Auslan interpreters and captioning as well as providing transcripts / recordings post meetings
  • workforce projects will ensure development of an accessible web platform, training resources and place-based activities.
• Victoria Police explored a range of options to develop policies to enhance police knowledge and skills to improve interactions with people with complex communication needs. Due to the mobile nature of Victoria Police, a disability training needs analysis is underway. The review is considering e-Learning and face to face training opportunities, as well as formal and informal learning opportunities to determine which training method best fits the various roles across the workforce.
• Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victorian Public Sector Commission, and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing partnered to deliver online information sessions for Victorian public servants for Accessible Communications Month, May 2024. This included 5 events, including 3 events focused on plain language. All events included Auslan interpreting and live captioning. Outcomes included:
  • 2,948 total registrations for 5 events with 1,790 people attending the sessions
  • 97% of attendees said they are likely to apply the learnings to their work
  • there was significant attendance across all Victorian government departments.
  • there was significant and widespread interest in continuing to learn about plain language and how to use it
  • a plain language Community of Practice was established after the events.
  • supported by the Victorian Public Sector Commission, resources will be stored on the Innovation Network for all Victorian public servants to access.

• Creative Victoria is developing Creative space and design guides to provide detailed advice about designing and building creative spaces that incorporate the principles of universal design.
• Parks Victoria’s Infrastructure, Planning and Operations division provided training forums for up to 80 staff in order to highlight good practice and embed Universal Design principles in park project planning.
• Parks Victoria are updating accessibility evaluation manuals and audit tools to focus on the 'visitor journey' (from pre-trip planning, arrival at a destination and getting around a venue). This will enable staff to identify and prioritise improvements at key visitor points.
• Department of Families, Fairness and Housing ran Changing Places and Universal Design Grant rounds, which encouraged applications from local councils and not-for-profit organisations to build and upgrade infrastructure to ensure community venues and facilities are universally accessible for all.
  Highlights from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
• Upgrades and improvements were made to 450 government owned Specialist Disability Accommodation properties. The improvements provided improved quality and amenity of homes, including new accessible bathrooms, kitchens, revised floor plans and layouts, producing more inclusive and functional spaces to support resident independence.
• Housing Victoria’s new social housing future builds will align with the Liveable Housing Guidelines, meeting universal design principles and ensuring that homes meet the diverse needs of residents throughout the property lifecycle.

• Parks Victoria facilitated 4 Licensed Tour Operator (LTO) Forums for businesses registered with Parks Victoria. These forums were held in Melbourne, Morwell, Alexandra and Halls Gap and included strategies to improve the inclusiveness of tourism experiences.
• In 2023, 49% of Parks Victoria's registered LTOs were offering accessible tourism experiences, which has now increased to 55% in 2024. A further 35% of LTOs are seeking further training opportunities to increase accessibility of their experiences.
• LTOs registered with the NDIS have increased by 5% in 12 months (2023 to 2024).
• The Impact21 work and readiness program run by Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions saw a number of young adults living with Down syndrome gain employment and built the readiness of employers to sustain a diverse workforce.
• The Department of Education has employed Inclusion Outreach Coaches to assist schools to set up schoolwide systems to build capability, practice and confidence for teachers and other staff to meet the learning and wellbeing needs of all students with disability. Inclusion Outreach Coaches have partnered with more than 322 mainstream schools.
• Through the Diverse Learners Hub, the Department of Education is building capability across all schools in Victoria to meet diverse learners’ needs, including students with autism, ADHD and learning difficulties. The Diverse Learners Hub regional workforce has engaged with over 120 mainstream schools.
• Department of Health encouraged health services to establish Disability Champion models in their current disability action plans. The level of implementation varies across the sector. For example:
  • as noted in Alfred Health’s Disability and inclusion action plan 2023–26, the Director of Allied Health has been appointed the Alfred Health Disability Champion and is chair of the Disability Committee. Alfred Health has also appointed Disability Project Officers who will provide disability expertise and resources to support departments across the organisation to achieve the actions to which they have committed.
• DLO teams in health services have been leading a range of initiatives to build workforce capacity. For example:
  • The Austin Health DLO team delivered 19 education sessions for 600 staff in 2023-24 on how to support patients with disability.
  • The Monash Health DLO team coordinated the delivery of 8 Deaf cultural competency training sessions for clinical staff in 2023–24 that highlighted the need for booking and using Auslan interpreters for Deaf patients.
  • The Eastern Health DLO team delivered 32 training sessions for health service clinical staff in 2021–22 and 2023–24 using informed and best practice treatment processes when caring for people with autism and intellectual disability in healthcare settings.
  • The Northeast Health Wangaratta DLO team in partnership with the Office of the Public Advocate delivered the Healthy Discussions project to health practitioners, seeking to improve communication and informed decision making by people with disability.
  • The St Vincent’s DLO team established an online disability resource hub for health service staff which includes training and resources as well as information about reasonable adjustments. The hub has had 271 visits since January 2024.
• Family Safety Victoria’s Gender and Disability Workforce Development Program has developed resources including:
  • a Taking Action Guide, which is a micro webinar series, a self-paced online course
  • the Resistance and Backlash to Gender, Disability Inclusive Practice resource.
  • the Preventing Violence Against Women with Disabilities from Multicultural Communities resource, developed by Women with Disabilities Victoria. This program builds capacity of the prevention workforce to deliver interventions which meet the needs of women with disability and empower women with disability to also lead this work.
• The Victorian Public Sector Commission ran a number of programs in order to build a confident and inclusive diverse public sector. A number of highlights include:
  • delivering mentoring programs for public sector employees with disability in 2022–23 and coordinated tailored mentoring for emerging leaders with disability as part of the 'Leading together' program in 2023–24
  • supporting the Neurodiverse Confident Services panel, a panel of 5 organisations that provide counselling and awareness training to employees, managers and teams
  • publishing a policy and a range of resources to support workplace adjustments on its website
  • continuing to convene the Deputy Secretary Disability Champion Round Table (quarterly) to drive cultural change and whole of government actions.

• National Disability Data Asset. This national project brings together information from different government agencies about Australians with disability and without disability. It helps us understand the experiences of people with disability
• Health services’ annual reports. These reports help health services make disability action plans
• Independent Third Person Program – Victoria Police collects and reports on people using this program. The program helps people with disabilities during police interviews.
• Department of Education - The department is improving the way it collects and uses information about children with disability. It also has a new data project about children in kindergarten with developmental concerns. This project will help us give these children the right support.
• The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) also collects data about people with disability employed in the Victorian public service. In 2023, 8.5% of the Victorian public service said they have a disability. The VPSC shares this information every year on its website.