Therese Sands

Therese Sands has recently been seconded from her Co-CEO role at People with Disability Australia (PWDA) to take on the role of Director of Disabled People’s Organisations Australia (DPO Australia), formerly the Australian Cross Disability Alliance. She has worked for 25 years in education, policy development, capacity building and advocacy in the area of disability and human rights.  Through her work, she has gained extensive theoretical and practical experience of United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms, and how to use UN mechanisms to further domestic advocacy for the rights of people with disability.  A major focus of her work is on violence and abuse, in all its forms, and advocacy projects to prevent and respond to this violence. Therese has a Master of Human Rights Law and Policy, and won the University of NSW Law School Public Defender’s Prize in 2012.  She has a strong commitment to organisations constituted and led by people with disability, and is a Life Member of People with Disability Australia (PWDA) and a member of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA).

Session

Spotlight: When rights go wrong

Time: 3:30am - 4:30am

Location: The Hall

Facilitated by: Lauren Henley, Independent Trainer/Consultant - Disability access and inclusion

How can we protect the most vulnerable from abuse and neglect? Is the time we are spending on getting quality assurance processes right at the expense of the needs and human rights of people with disability? The panellists drew on the recent glut of inquiries, reviews and investigations to discuss the role of advocacy in …