One in Five Melbourne Disability Institute

Directors of the Melbourne Disability Institute, Professor Bruce Bonyhady and Professor Anne Kavanagh in conversation with One in Five host Tessa DeVries.

Early intervention is something we talk about when children are first diagnosed, or acquire a disability. It includes specialised support and therapy, skill development, family centred practice and supporting families and caregivers. In this episode we look at what early intervention means, and how it works for different population groups. We talk about research projects that are looking at the best practice early intervention, developing tools that can be used in a range of cultures, and the changing landscape of early intervention under the NDIS. We also hear about what early intervention looks like for families, and how every journey is different.

Legal and mental health experts discuss consumer decision-making, human rights and ethics in the context of mental health legislation. We hear about the move from substituted to supportive decision making under the Mental Health Act 2014. And how this affects mental health professionals, their legal obligations and how, in practice, appropriate support can be provided to people with disabilities to make informed medical decisions. We learn about how compulsory medical treatment orders work and how the Mental Health Tribunal determines whether someone has or lacks capacity to make decisions themselves.

People with disability are significantly over-represented in the justice system in Australia. We ask the experts how to improve the justice system's responses to mental health and disability.
In this episode, we interview legal experts about how people with disability interact with the law. We hear about the practice of supported decision making, and how to protect the rights of people with disability.
We explore in some detail the Unfitness to Plead project (when courts determine an individual's capacity to participate in the justice system), where people with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disability can be subjected to unfair treatment when charged with a crime.
And we find out about how to ensure consumers with disability get equal access to goods and services.

The housing situation in Australia is a significant issue for many of us. For people with disabilities, accessing safe, suitable and affordable housing is an ongoing challenge with many layers of uncertainty.

Appropriate housing is a vital foundation that supports education and employment pathways, yet many Australians with disability face overwhelming housing inequalities. Current research shows that people with disability are at much greater risk of living in unaffordable housing.

This episode focuses on how the housing market is responding to changes under the NDIS and what the private rental and public housing options are for people with disabilities.

We also find out about initiatives such as individualised supported living and shared equity arrangements. We hear from a community housing group in regional Victoria working to address the disability housing shortage, and visit with a couple of young men who are thriving in a home sweet home of their own. We also hear about accessible housing design as championed by the Summer Foundation. The broader housing policy context is explored, as are the priorities ahead to deliver a system that's fair, equitable and safe for the growing number of Australians with disability.

What should employers be doing to create more inclusive workplaces and recruitment practices?

The work environment is so important to our productivity and wellbeing. In this episode, we learn about best practice in the workplace; prioritising what is needed to get the job done, destigmatising adjustments and offering flexibility as standard practice. We also talk about disclosure in the workplace and discriminatory attitudes such as the 'tyranny of low expectations of people with disability as barriers to employment. We hear about customised employment programs for people with intellectual disability, the Victorian Government's commitment to improve their disability employment practices and we hear from the late and great Allison Milner (1983-2019) about our relationship to work and the lifelong impact that job quality has on our health.

Note this episode features Allison Milner, who died in a tragic accident shortly after her interview was recorded. We are continuing her legacy with the permission of her family by featuring her in this episode, talking about her employment research and it's significance for the lives of people with disability.