Community Legal Centres NSW shares its Disability Action Plan with the sector as a starting point to make our sector more accessible to all workers.
People with disability are not only our clients; they are us! Many community legal sector staff members have disabilities. The community legal sector must take action to recruit, employ, and have accessible work environments for all people with disability.
Our Disability Action Plan is based on the model provided by the Australian Human Rights Commission in the Guide to creating an accessible and inclusive workplace and the NSW Disability Network Forum’s report Eliminating Discrimination and Embracing Diversity: Effective Disability Inclusion Action Planning in NSW.
It is based on the rights of people with disability according to the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — an international Convention created as a result of the persistent call of people with disability to have their human rights respected, protected and fulfilled on an equal basis with others.
For workplaces like Community Legal Centres NSW, the Convention provides principles and international standards to inform workplace policies and practices to ensure the full participation of people with disability in our organisation and the promotion of the rights of people with disability in our law reform work.
This Disability Action Plan sets out how Community Legal Services NSW will use these principles and standards to take steps to create an accessible and inclusive workplace, provide leadership for the community legal sector and advocate for the rights pf people with disability.
Our Disability Action Plan is also a starting point for a sector conversation about disability. In our November 2023 Quarterlies, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Network discussed this Plan and whether we might approach a shared Disability Action Plan as a sector. If you are interested in participating in these discussions, please join this network here!