Strengthening Disability Advocacy conference 2012
Disability advocacy and the legal system: You be the judge!

Monday 26th March, 2012 | Park Function Centre , Melbourne

This event has concluded.
For more information about the event, access to resources and to read the transcripts, please click here.

Conference News

About

Our 3rd conference aims to make sure the disability advocacy sector understands and is well equipped to use the legal system in their work.

The second day of the conference will also provide a ‘best practice in advocacy’ theme.

This conference provides a great opportunity to consider the effects some of the new legislation could potentially have on people with disabilities. This includes the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the new Guardianship laws.

The conference is for anyone who undertakes advocacy in their working or personal lives. This includes disability advocates, self advocates, people with disability, legal workers, government and non government officers, community workers and allied health professionals.

Keep up to date with the latest conference news on X (formerly twitter)

Program

Sunday 25th March, 2012

Welcome and Opening Address

Time: 11:00pm - 11:30pm

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Andrea Coote, Parliamentary Secretary for Family and Community Services

The welcome address at the Strengthening Disability Advocacy Conference: Champions of Change was presented by Andrea Coote, Parliamentary Secretary, Family and Community Services in Victoria.

Keynote Address

Time: 11:30pm - 12:15am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Ian Gray, Chief Magistrate of Victoria

The Chief Magistrate will present a broad focus on the court’s programs and services for persons with intellectual disabilities including the Assessment and Referral Court List. He will give references to therapeutic jurisprudence principles and emphasis on the court’s problem-solving jurisdiction.

Twenty years of the Disability Discrimination Act

Time: 1:15am - 2:00am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Julie Phillips, Manager, Disability discrimination Legal Service
Speaker: Graeme Inness, Former Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
Speaker: Placido Belardo, Principal Solicitor, Disability Discrimination Legal service
Speaker: Rob Daly, Lawyer
Speaker: Beth Gaze, Lecturer in Discrimination Law, Melbourne University

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) is twenty years old. This panel session will look at what the legal landscape was like for the Act, how things have changed and how things can be improved. The topic will be explored from different angles and perspectives.

Accessing legal services

Time: 2:00am - 2:45am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Eleanore Fritze, Senior Lawyer, Mental Health and Disability Advocacy team, Civil Justice Program, Victoria Legal Aid (VLA).
Speaker: Robyn Mills, Program Leader, Mental Health & Disability Advocacy Program, victoria Legal Aid

This session is about accessing legal services, with a particular focus on the legal services that people with a disability might require.

Guardianship and supported decision making

Time: 2:00am - 2:45am

Location: Yellow Room

Speaker: Greg Leeson, Lawyer, Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service Inc.
Speaker: John Chesterman, Manager Policy and Education, Office of the Public Advocate (OPA)
Speaker: Sophie Delaney, Senior Lawyer, Mental Health and Disability Program, Victoria Legal Aid
Speaker: Anne Coghlan, Deputy President, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Human rights division
Speaker: Kevin Stone, Executive Officer, VALID

Nothing about us without us

Time: 2:00am - 2:45am

Location: Red Room

Speaker: Michael Aldridge, National Chairperson, People first NZ
Speaker: Cindy Johns, National Manager, People First NZ

Find out about People First New Zealand, who we are and what we do.

Lunch

Time: 2:45am - 3:30am

Location: Skyline

Voting is for everyone

Time: 3:30am - 4:00am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Alex Markham, Education Officer, Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC)

Find out who can vote, your rights and how to find help if you need it.

Strength in numbers: Let’s set up a self advocacy network

Time: 3:30am - 4:30am

Location: Yellow

Speaker: Sue Smith, Coordinator, Self Advocacy Resource Unit (SARU)
Speaker: Reinforce,

Round table workshop for self advocates to talk about setting up a Victorian Self Advocacy Network.

Rural access to justice

Time: 3:30am - 4:30am

Location: Red Room

Speaker: Richard Coverdale, Director, Centre for Rural Regional Law and Justice, Deakin University

The role and activities of the newly established Centre for Rural Regional Law and Justice will be outlined and the findings of a recent report will be discussed.

Empowering women with disabilities in local communities

Time: 4:00am - 4:30am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Lauren Hayes, Project Officer, Women with Disabilities victoria

A learning package designed to assist women with disabilities in representation and advocacy work has been developed.

Afternoon tea

Time: 4:30am - 4:45am

Location: Skyline

National disability consumer quality assurance tool

Time: 4:45am - 5:30am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Matthew Potocnik, Advocate

Discover how this tool identifies gaps in service delivery and how it can be used to match services to consumers.

Achieving systemic change – people with disabilities missing in action

Time: 4:45am - 5:30am

Location: Yellow Room

Speaker: Julie Phillips, Manager, Disability discrimination Legal Service

Is there enough activism in Australia or has grassroots action fallen prey to a new and different level of engagement with people with disabilities?

Deaf blind world

Time: 4:45am - 5:30am

Location: Red Room

Speaker: Deafblind Victoria,

An interactive experience of the Impact of Deafblindness.

A history of disability advocacy

Time: 5:30am - 6:30am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Sarah Barton, Producer

Highlights of the production of a documentary where 25 survivors of the rights movement are interviewed. Sarah shares her journey and tells stories about issues, characters and ideas that she discovered along the way.

Hypothetical

Time: 11:00pm - 12:15am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: David Craig, Consultant
Speaker: Kate Bergman, Program Manager, North East citizen Advocacy (NECA)
Speaker: Seth Howell, Individual Advocate, VALID
Speaker: Deidre Griffiths, principal lawyer and executive officer of Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service Inc
Speaker: Susan Arthur, Self Advocate

Using real life scenarios, panelists will respond to issues raised and discuss processes from their specialist perspectives.

Morning tea

Time: 12:15am - 12:30am

Location: Skyline

Disability advocacy and self advocacy working better together for change

Time: 12:30am - 1:30am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Paul Ramcharan, Associate Professor, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
Speaker: Pauline Williams, Advocate, Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation (AMIDA)
Speaker: Jen Rowley,
Speaker: Colin Hiscoe, Training Officer, Reinforce
Speaker: Rachel Walters, Self Advocate, New Wave
Speaker: Sue Smith, Coordinator, Self Advocacy Resource Unit (SARU)

Discussions about the long term mutual benefits and outcomes that can be achieved as a result of disability advocacy organisations working in partnership with self advocacy groups.

Fight for your rights

Time: 12:30am - 1:30am

Location: Yellow Room

Speaker: Eleanore Fritze, Senior Lawyer, Mental Health and Disability Advocacy team, Civil Justice Program, Victoria Legal Aid (VLA).
Speaker: Aimee Cooper, Civil Lawyer, Victoria Legal Aid

Small group discussions and practical information sharing on a range of legal topics which often affect people with disabilities.

Success stories about life by self advocates

Time: 1:30am - 2:15am

Location: Blue /room

Speaker: Heather Forsythe, Self Advocate Project Worker,VALID

Through the Keys to Success program VALID gives people who use disability support services the skills and confidence to speak up about what they want in their lives.

Rights, the web and video tape

Time: 1:30am - 2:15am

Location: Red Room

Speaker: Michael Buckley, Film Maker

Take a journey through an intriguing new website which creatively explores the Victorian Disability Act through animation, and video.

Disability Vilification

Time: 1:30am - 2:15am

Location: Green Room

Speaker: Deborah Randa, Solicitor, Disability Discrimination Legal Service (DDLS)

Are people actually hated, criticised or put down because of their disability? Is this a problem in Australia?

Lunch

Time: 2:15am - 3:00am

Location: Skyline

Everything you wanted to know about strategic lobbying and campaigning but were afraid to ask

Time: 3:00am - 4:00am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: David Imber, Account Director, Essential Media Communications

The ability to lobby and campaign are essentials for any advocate- whether you’re helping an individual, a discreet local cause or seeking to affect national social change.

Criminal justice system and people with disability

Time: 3:00am - 4:00am

Location: Yellow Room

Speaker: Jessica Richter, Lawyer, Victoria Legal Aid
Speaker: Kerry Stringer, Chair, Victorian Coalition of ABI Service Providers (VCASP)
Speaker: Peter Persson,
Speaker: Patrick McGee, Coordinator, Aboriginal Justice Campaign, Ofice for the Public Advocate (OPA)
Speaker: Ben von Einem, Case Work & Policy Lawyer, Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service

In spite of law reform efforts to strengthen the rights of victims of crime who have a cognitive impairment, there are still significant barriers in prosecuting these cases.

Employment for people with disability

Time: 3:00am - 4:00am

Location: Red Room

Speaker: Sharon Granek, Coordinator, Disability Advocacy Resource Unit (DARU)
Speaker: Riki Domagalski,
Speaker: Kairsty Wilson, Principal Solicitor, Association for Employees with a Disability (AED) Legal Service
Speaker: Gordon Prior, Self Advocate
Speaker: Michael Aldridge, National Chairperson, People first NZ

Explore the facts, statistics and experiences of people with disabilities in open employment, supported employment, unemployment and under employment both here and New Zealand.

My house, my home, my rights

Time: 3:00am - 3:30am

Location: Green Room

Speaker: Colin Hiscoe, Training Officer, Reinforce

New training resource, featuring actors from Dream Theatre, takes you through a series of events showing a day in the life of people living in a CRU.

Supporting self advocacy: Reflections on empowerment, trust and respect

Time: 3:30am - 4:00am

Location: Green Room

Speaker: Heidi Peart, Self Advocacy Advisor

This workshop examines the findings from a discussion paper on developing a code of conduct for self advocacy advisers and workers.

Afternoon tea

Time: 4:00am - 4:15am

Location: Skyline

Tear down the walls

Time: 4:15am - 5:15am

Location: Blue Room

Speaker: Johnny Crescendo, Disability Civil Rights singer/song Writer and activist

Johnny talks about the Independent living movement from its birth to present day and beyond. He talks about core philosophy, how it has developed and its future. He talks about ADAPT in the US and the UK’s Direct Action Network’s struggle for IL services and their relative success in “Freeing our people” from institutions and compares British and US policies and practice. He talks about his concerns for the future and the principle of consumer control.

Wrap up

Time: 5:15am - 5:30am

Location: Blue Room

Venue

Getting There

Tickets

Prices

Ticket type: Full Delegate
Ticket description: For organisations, government and individuals.
Price: 0

Access Information

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