Accessible National Consultations for the Disability Discrimination Act Review

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) makes discrimination on the basis of disability unlawful in key areas of public life, including employment, education and access to goods, services and public places. More than 30 years on and following major inquiries such as the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS Review, the Australian Government was reviewing the DDA to ensure it is stronger, clearer and better protects the rights of people with disability.

The Attorney-General’s Department engaged us to design and deliver a national, accessible consultation program to support the DDA Review. Our role was to gather views from people with disability, families and carers, disability advocates, service providers and duty holders, making sure the community and stakeholders could meaningfully engage with these proposed complex legislative reforms in ways that felt safe, inclusive and practical.

Working closely with AGD, we developed a two-stage engagement approach. The process recognised consultation fatigue in the disability community and built on the significant evidence already gathered through recent reviews and inquiries.

Stage 1 – Launch and submissions:

We supported the launch of the DDA Review consultation process, including a detailed submissions pathway and a community survey. To make the material more accessible, we developed:

• a Plain English summary of the issues paper
• Easy Read and Auslan translations of the summary issues paper
• a community survey written in plainer language for people who may not have a detailed understanding of the Act.

Questions combined quantitative and qualitative items to understand support for potential reforms and to gather practical ideas for improving the DDA.

Stage 2 – Engagement events and discussions:

After launch, we undertook a range of online and in-person activities designed to reach different audiences and create safe spaces for discussion, including:

• a national Introduction webinar to explain the review, outline key themes and show people how to take part in the next phase.
• 8 hybrid community forums across states and territories, with in-room and online participation to include people in regional, rural and remote areas and those that prefer or require access from home.
• 4 themed online roundtables focused on settings such as employment, education, access and inclusion and community safety.
• 4 themed online roundtables focused on settings such as employment, education, access and inclusion and community safety.
• targeted consultation activity with small and medium sized businesses.

We also delivered 8 focus groups co-designed with partner organisations for priority cohorts, including:

• people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• people with intellectual disability
• people from the LGBTQIA+ community
• people with complex communication needs
• young people
• women, girls and gender diverse people with disability
• rural and remote communities
• First Nations people with disability

Across the engagement program, we prioritised leadership by people with disability. Roundtables and forums were led or co-facilitated by people with disability in paid professional roles, and people with disability were represented on expert panels in all hybrid forums and online events. We worked with disability representative organisations and other partners to recruit participants, especially from groups who are often under-represented in national consultations.

Accessibility and safety were central to our approach. For all events we:

• asked about accessibility requirements at registration and followed up directly where needed
• booked fully accessible venues and ensured consideration of transport, wayfinding, accessible bathrooms and low sensory options
• provided detailed information to participants about venues, parking and online/face to face participation for each community event, through dedicated participant packs
• engaged Auslan interpreters and provided high quality live captions for online and in-person events where required
• used trauma-informed facilitation, clear ground rules and content warnings, with quiet spaces and flexible options for people to participate
• provided a counsellor for all community sessions and as required for focus groups
• ensured support line information and post-event contact channels were available so people could seek help or provide further input after sessions.

To support promotion of the Review and broaden reach, we developed stakeholder and communication kits for government agencies, disability representative organisations and other sector peaks. This helped others share information about the Review through their own channels and networks.

Reporting

We analysed and reported on consultation data, providing:

• themed summary reports for each event, outlining participation and insights
• collated, de-identified datasets from online tools (e.g. Mentimeter)
• structured raw data from submissions and surveys mapped to each event and key themes identified.

Through this work, the Attorney-General’s Department is equipped with an extensive evidence base from people with disability, their families and carers, advocates, service providers and duty holders. This will support the Government to consider reforms that make the Disability Discrimination Act stronger, clearer and more effective in upholding the rights of people with disability into the future.