Past Events
Access to Justice - Challenges of developing a holistic legal service for people with a disability - VLAF
Last Thursday more than 70 people attended a very successful forum which explored some of the legal problems experienced by people with a disability, and began working on possible solutions.
In the battle for human rights, achieving true equality for people with a disability has sometimes been described as the ‘last frontier’. Because disability is so often associated with other forms of inequity such as poverty, housing and social isolation, people with a disability are among the most marginalised and socially disadvantaged in the community. As one speaker put it, ‘If we get things right for people with a disability, we’ll get it right for everybody.’
The event was the latest initiative of the Victorian Legal Assistance Forum, formed last year to build collaborative relationships between providers of legal assistance services. It attracted the attention of Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, who sent a message of support and expressed keen interest in hearing about problems and road-blocks identified by the forum, as well as suggestions on how systemic issues could be tackled.
The event attracted a broad audience, including representatives from disability advocacy organisations, the Departments of Human Services and Justice, and the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s department. The emphasis on the day was on problem-solving and looking at co-operative ways forward, with each organisation present also having the opportunity to reflect on how they could change their own practices to make a difference.
Some of the issues that were identified as priorities for future work included: the needs of people with mental health needs or intellectual disabilities in prisons, who often ‘fall through the cracks’; how the justice system deals with so-called ‘nuisance offenders’ who get repeatedly fined and criminalised for their behaviours; and the need for better training for people working in the justice system in understanding and responding to the needs of people with a disability. The findings of the forum are currently being collated and will be distributed further in early 2010.
For more information on the Victorian Legal Assistance Forum (VLAF), visit www.vlaf.org.au/about.php
