Sydney, NSW —
DISABLED people have been largely ignored in the move
towards a more sustainable society, according to the
Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission.
In a speech to the City
of Sydney Access Forum last
week squarely aimed at local government, Graeme Innes,
the Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner
Responsible for Disability Discrimination, said the
debate on sustainability has not sufficiently addressed
questions of access, participation and community for the
disabled.
"Unfortunately, when
looking at the vast amount of material developed to
benchmark sustainable community indicators few, if
any, have identified data relevant to the access needs
of people with disabilities," he said.
"The simple message I have given
to local government throughout Australia is that a
community that is not accessible is not
sustainable."
Mr Innes said that 20 per cent of
people are currently identified as having a disability,
but with an ageing population many more people would
benefit from a more accessible community.
A recent report by the
Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare
on life expectancy and disability, had found that as
people live longer they are living a greater part of
their life with a disability. On average, people would
expect to live with a disability for almost 20
years.
"Local government
authorities, as direct service providers or
facilitators of services, are in a perfect position to
ensure today's services do not exclude or compromise
tomorrow's citizens," Mr Innes said.
"[They also] play a
critical role in supporting and maintaining a
sustainable built environment by exercising their
development approval and, in some instances, building
certification functions.
"One of the critical issues is
how to ensure compliance with the building code and
[council] development control plans in an
environment where building certification is mainly
undertaken by private certifiers and councils have
limited resources to audit developments
themselves.
"Much of the confusion and
duplication that currently exists will be resolved
when work has been completed on the proposed
disability standard on access to premises."
Mr Innes said councils usually meet
the requirements of the Disabled
Discrimination Act and
other federal and state laws on disabled access by the
adoption of an action plan. Such a plan can be considered
part of a defence of unjustifiable hardship in the event
of a successful complaint of discrimination.
