Our commitment to supporting people with disability

Australia has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international agreement that protects and promotes the rights of people with disability. It requires governments to consult and actively involve people with disability, including children, through their representative organisations. Read about the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the United Nations website.

Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 (the Strategy) builds on the CRPD principles. The principles ensure people with disability and their representatives are included in developing, designing and implementing policies, programs and services.

The main purpose of the Strategy is to promote the equal and active participation of people with disability. This ensures those people and their families and carers are included when designing and delivering products. It also assists when considering employing staff who in turn deliver services.

Read about Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031 on the Department of Social Services website.

We’re a member of the National Disability Strategy Interdepartmental Committee (NDSIDC) which coordinates Australia’s Disability Strategy at the national level. The members of the NDSIDC develop agency specific protocols to engage people with disability.

The Strategy in action

We’re working to improve service delivery for people with disability and their families or carers. We’ll also create an inclusive workplace for our staff with disability.

We’re following the Strategy to:

Design stakeholder and customer engagement strategies that respond to the individual and complex needs of people with disability.
Consider the principles of universal access and inclusion for people with disability in the physical and digital environments.
Listen to and understand the needs of people with disability.
Train staff in the principles and objectives of the Strategy so they can provide inclusive services.
Make sure Service Officers understand how to provide services for people with disability.
Involve the disability community and stakeholders in the design of our services.
Employ and foster an accessible and inclusive workplace.
Increase workforce representation of people with disability.
Review our progress against the objectives of the Strategy.

We already apply the principles of the Strategy to improve business outcomes through our:

Co-design approach to service delivery

Co-designing is about early and ongoing engagement with the community by providing opportunities for richer customer insight and participation in the design of the services they use. We use a co-design approach working with customers, staff, and stakeholders to design better services and outcomes for customers and government.

We use a range of customer and community engagement methods including face to face forums, interviews, online discussion groups, and telephone surveys to give people with disability a voice in service delivery design.

Workplace accessibility and inclusion

We aim to be an employer of choice for people with disability.

We have workplace diversity and accessibility plans and strategies that underpin our commitment to providing equal opportunity for our staff including those with disability.

Our approach was developed with staff, and in partnerships with the Australian Disability Network and other government departments. It ensures all aspects of the workplace are accessible and inclusive to employees. You can read more on the Australian Disability Network website.

Our practices and strategies to improve workplace accessibility include:

employment support for people with disability
a National Disability Access Coordinator for advice on recruitment, employment, career development and retention of people with temporary or permanent disability in the agency
the Disability Inclusion Network for staff with disability, staff that are carers, and staff with an interest in disability inclusion and participation
the Accessibility Support Unit to provide training and assistive technology support to staff with accessibility needs
a reasonable adjustment policy to remove workplace barriers for staff with disability, and provide equal access to learning and career advancement
corporate memberships and Senior Executive Disability Champions.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability are among the most disadvantaged of Australians. They often face barriers within their own communities including barriers to accessing disability support services.

We have Indigenous Specialist Officers (ISOs) who support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability. ISOs promote our programs and services, and identify service gaps and trends for customers and the community including the disability service sector.

ISOs increase the understanding, awareness and uptake of services by Indigenous Australians and their communities. We convey appropriate messages through established relationships, service delivery experiences and capacity building activities as well as internal and external information management.

ISOs help vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people achieve outcomes that improve opportunity for individuals with disability and the community.

Multicultural services for people with disability

Our Multicultural Servicing Strategy 2023 to 2025 makes sure services meet the needs of multicultural customers. We provide free interpreting and translation services so customers can do business with us in their language.

Our Multicultural Service Officers (MSOs) help migrants and refugees connect with Australian Government services and provide feedback on initiatives to government.

Auslan interpreters

We provide Auslan interpreters in person or via video to assist customers who are deaf or have hearing loss. Customers can also use their own accredited interpreter in person, or via video chat on their own device.

Nominee arrangements

Customers with disability can, for some payments and services, authorise a person, such as a family member or friend, or an organisation to:

receive copies of mail
act and make changes on their behalf
get payments on their behalf.

People with disability can take up these arrangements in any of these ways:

on an ongoing basis
if they are not confident to manage their business with us
if they need help for a period of time, such as during hospitalisation.

Social work services

Social workers have strong connections with disability community organisations and give referrals to our staff. Social workers provide assessment, short term counselling and support for customers claiming assistance from us.

Social workers are available in many of our service centres around Australia or over the phone. They also provide outreach services for vulnerable customers in the community.

Through their work with vulnerable and marginalised members of the community, social workers identify disability or barriers to access and inclusion not identified earlier. They also help customers access suitable payments and other services.

Staff education

We offer training programs to increase disability awareness, including:

workplace diversity and inclusion
reasonable adjustment
disability awareness
disability confidence
social inclusion mental health awareness.

We also maintain a Disability Inclusion Network, which enables staff to share ideas, and to engage on initiatives and strategies which relate to people with disability and carers of people with disability.

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower

We’re proud to be one of the first federal government agencies to join the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.

The program helps people with non-apparent disabilities feel seen, supported and respected. The Sunflower is a simple way to let others know you may need help, more time or understanding.

All our customer facing staff are trained to support people with non-apparent disabilities. Our staff will recognise people wearing Sunflower lanyards, badges and wristbands and respond with kindness and respect.

Intervention process for vulnerable customers

If a vulnerable customer’s payment is suspended or cancelled for more than six weeks, we review their circumstances.

This helps us contact those at risk and reconnect the customer to appropriate local support. This is based on a customer’s record and any history of mental illness, homelessness, or being frail, aged or disconnected from support and community.

Ensuring accessible communication for customers

A shift to provide more information through digital media has helped to provide more accessible communication and engagement for people with disability including those with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities. We’re committed to providing accessible information including:

accessible transcripts and live captions for all videos, audio and other multimedia on the website
text to speech options for website content read by an integrated screen reading application
improved quality of reading order with screen readers friendly content
alternative file formats including Portable Document Format (PDF) and Word Document (DOCX).

We follow the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy, that makes sure Australian Government websites and web applications meet international benchmarks for web accessibility, and comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

The WCAG guidelines set a single international standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organisations, and governments. The WCAG outlines techniques to create and manage the web in ways that make it more accessible for people with disability, including the use of assistive technologies like screen readers.

More information

The National Ethnic Disability Alliance is the peak body for people from non-English speaking backgrounds with disability, their families, and carers throughout Australia. Read more on the National Ethnic Disability Alliance website.

Our Workplace belonging strategy 2025 to 2029 is our commitment to a workplace culture of respect, inclusion, and diversity, that embraces the unique skills and qualities of our staff.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is an independent statutory body reporting to the Australian Parliament through the Attorney-General on human rights issues. Read more on the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

Our agency has legal obligations with these pieces of legislation: