Module 1: Disability Experiences

We then ran a series of meetings where everybody could get back together, have a look at the draft training to make sure that we got it right. Therefore, everything within these training modules came from people who have a disability and the sectors that support them. I’d now like to pass over to my co-facilitator to introduce herself.

Thanks, Jane. Hi, everyone. My name is Tess Ivanovic. My pronouns are she/her. I am a disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent woman, and I’ve worked in the disability sector for about a decade in various capacities. Currently, I am the deputy chair of the ACT Disability Advisory Council. I have experienced some of the things, not all of the things, that we will be, discussing in this training.

So I’ve been pleased to be able to contribute to the development of this training, and now I am happy to be here facilitating the training for you with Jane.

So before we begin, we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we are both meeting from today. So I am joining you from the Quandamooka, the lands of the Quandamooka people. And I’m coming to you from Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. So we would like to acknowledge their ongoing connection to land, sea, sky and country, and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging So just a really quick reminder that we will be referencing experiences of violence today.

So we ask that everybody prioritize their wellbeing and step away if you need to take a break, and please stop the training if needed. If you are feeling upset or distressed by anything we discuss today, please reach out to one eight hundred Respect on one eight hundred seven three seven seven three two So just a really quick overview of WWILD.

WWILD supports people living with an intellectual disability age 12 and above of all genders who’ve experienced sexual violence, domestic violence, and other forms of violent crime. In our core programs, we offer counseling, group work, casework, case management, court support, and advocacy. We provide community education and training to broaden understanding of the issues faced by people who have an intellectual disability, and we have a project team who work alongside peer workers and lived experience experts to develop accessible and educational resources.

These resources are all on our WWILD website, so I encourage you to explore these if you haven’t had a chance to already So we have developed a workbook which has been designed for you to use throughout this training. Our hope is that this workbook will allow you to apply some of the knowledge learned in the training today, but also reflect on your work and your practice.

You can download the workbook from the WWILD website, and it can be found right next to this video. so we will prompt you throughout the training to pause the video and write your responses in your workbook So what will we talk about in module one today? So we’ll be introducing different models of disabilities and looking at how these models impact the way people understand, but also the way people work with people who have a disability.

We’ll be looking at the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of People who have a disability, and the right for all people with a disability to live a life that’s free from violence. We will unpack the term intersectionality, define what it means, and explain why it is important for support workers to understand this concept, and also give some tips around how to use it in their work.

We will share our understanding of cultural safety and in why it is important for support workers to provide cultural safe support when supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who’ve had an experience of domestic, family, or sexual violence. Lastly, we will put it all together in our takeaway slide, which can be found in all of the modules, where we hope to summarise what we’ve talked about today and give you some things to think about Just before we get going, a quick note on language.

we are using two different types of language when we are talking about disability in this training. There is person first language, so for example, that is like the phrase person with a disability, or girl with autism, or people with intellectual disability. So it’s putting the person before the disability.

the other way of speaking is identity first language, so for example, disabled person, autistic, intellectually disabled people. And if you are like me, you might have, done training at some point, in the past about, we should definitely use this kind of language because blah, blah, blah.

But the fact is at the moment there isn’t a consensus about which one is right or wrong. They are both fine, depending on the individual person’s preferences. So I prefer to use identity first language, because, these elements of identity, being a disabled person, that’s part of who I am, and it’s not something to be ashamed of.

So it… And it’s also not my personal fault, which we’ll get into in a tick. so I prefer that. Other people like to use person first language, because they like to acknowledge the person ahead of the disability. Both are fine, but do make sure that you are using the language that the individual you are working with or talking about prefers.

and we’ll get a bit more into why these things are so shortly.

the module today is all about different disability experiences. the way we think about people with a disability, and therefore the way we treat people with a disability, impacts the way they live their life and sometimes the way they view themselves. As we will discuss within this module and within the next modules, there are narrow and problematic views of disability, and they are one of the reasons that people with a disability experience such high rates of domestic, family, and sexual violence.

The quote on this first slide here says, “Disabilities does not arise from there any- being anything wrong with us.” Tess is going to share a little bit more about this quote and, what it means. However, before she does that, I’d just like to share that this quote came from one of the many people who have a disability and were part of the development of this training.

You will see a number of quotes throughout this module and, the rest of the series, which are the direct words of people who have a disability who’ve had an experience of violence

That’s right. So in that quote there, we had our lived experience, person saying, “There’s … I’m disabled, but there’s nothing wrong with me.” And this person first and identity first language is really down to the medical model versus the social model. So we wanted to take a moment to unpack this because language is really powerful, and so I think it’s important to know the effect that words can have.

so there … When we’re talking about models of disability, we’re talking about the way that we think about and conceptualize the idea of disability. And for a long time in the past, and still in the present a little, the medical model was the, dominant way of thinking about disability. So having a disability or being disabled was a medical problem, and there was something wrong with your body or your brain or whatever, that needed to be fixed or cured because no one would want to be disabled.

No one would want to have a problem with their body or brain, that it’s not normal and all of these kinds of ideas. and the onus for, access and inclusion was on the individual who was disabled. So there was no particular responsibility of, say, building owners or organizations or anything like that to make things accessible for disabled people because there’s something wrong with you, so why would we bother, changing something for you who has a problem?

So that was how, disability was thought about for a long time. In more recent years, many people have moved to the social model of disability, and this change was a really significant shift for how, society thinks about disability. In the social model, it’s not actually that there’s anything wrong with me or any other disabled person.

the problem is we can’t gain access to something. that’s not because of my wheelchair or my stick or my whatever. The problem lies with the environment, with the building that’s only got a set of stairs when someone needs to enter with a wheelchair, or the door’s too narrow, or whatever it is. disability under the social model is just seen as a normal part of the diversity of being a human being, which is pretty darn diverse.

and the social model also says that it is the responsibility of everyone in the community and in society to make things accessible for disabled people. And the language that I was talking about just, before, the identity first versus person first, that also comes out of the medical model and the social model.

In recent times, people with, disability, disabled people, have, organized and come together and said, “Hey, there’s there’s nothing wrong with being us. we’re proud of being who we are.” And so when I use the phrase disabled people, I’m talking about it in the sense of the social model. So I’m disabled because the world is disabling me.

The world is not giving me the access and inclusion that I’m entitled to as any other human being. whereas a few years ago, it was, pretty common training to use person first language because, oh, you’re more than your disability. You’re more than your autism. you’re a person first, and then it’s your disability after that.

And I think that’s also very well-intentioned, and many people who experience disability do prefer that language. But it is ultimately a, individual choice, and yeah, that’s, all I really have to say. So yeah, think about, what language you’re using, and what language your clients like to use when they talk about disability.

So the social model of disability, as we’ve been talking about, is actually the basis of the ACT Disability Strategy, which is a 10-year plan, released by the ACT Government, working to make Canberra an inclusive and accessible, city for everyone in it. And the social model underpins that work.

and the social model of disability is based on the principle that society needs to change to remove these attitudinal and systemic barriers, rather than changing people with disability to accommodate society

So we have our disabled person standing in the middle of our social model of disability here, and they are surrounded by all of these barriers. there are environmental barriers, so things like inaccessible buildings, inaccessible services. we’ve got attitudinal barriers, so negative beliefs around disabled people.

Not believing disabled people have capacity to do whatever it is. and we also have, organizations that can be inflexible that haven’t really put much thought into their processes, their programs, their settings, and how they’ll be experienced by disabled people. So another example of, the different models of disability changing how we view a, an issue or a problem, perhaps you can imagine a teenager with, intellectual disability, and they are wanting to live independently.

They’re finishing school. They’re keen to live independently, but they don’t know how to pay rent. So in– under the medical model, the assumption might be that, oh, there, there are all these barriers in the way, that it’s, just not possible. unfortunately, this person is disabled. Look at, they don’t know how to do this.

They don’t know how to use the computer. They don’t know how to blah, blah, blah. Sorry, you’re gonna have to, live with mom and dad forever. Under the social model, we would recognize that, you know what? With the right support, we can actually give this young person the skills and capacity they need.

We can teach them. We can support them. We can give them resources. and this is doable. And, the way that society is set up, in this case, in terms of paying rent, shouldn’t stop us from, or shouldn’t stop this person from living a full life. and I’ll just finish this a little bit. Professor Mike Oliver, who talked a lot about the social model of disability, a quote from him, he said, “The problem isn’t that I can’t get into a lecture theater.

The problem is that the lecture theater isn’t accessible to me.” So we’re shifting the problem away from the individual and onto the way society is organized and saying it’s society’s responsibility to make things accessible for us

Okay, so just quickly, we thought it would be good to spend a few minutes talking about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. So this is a piece of international law similar to the Human Rights Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all of these different kinds of, instruments.

And in this case, countries have come together to say, “You know what? People who are disabled have all these rights that are fundamental, that automatically apply, that should be enforced, and we all have a responsibility to make sure this happens.” so the convention was, came into law in 2006, and Australia ratified the convention in 2008.

So that means our government has said, “We support all of these, rights that people with disability have. We agree, and we are taking responsibility to make sure they happen in Australia.” of course, I don’t think we’re there yet, and if you think about some of these as we go through them, I’m sure you can think of examples of areas we can improve.

However, the fact that the commitment is there is still important. So just to share a few articles from the convention that apply to what we’re talking about today. for example, disabled people have a fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination. the CRPD was also the first time the UN included the concept of intersectionality, which we’ll be talking about in a tick, in their, in, in anything that they had put out.

So Article 6 identifies the fact that women with disabilities in particular have additional barriers that they face due to the fact that they are women, and so the disadvantage they experience, we need to work extra hard to overcome. Article 16 says that disabled people have the right to freedom from all exploitation, violence, and abuse.

Article 19 talks about the fact that we have the right to live independently and be included in the community. Article 23 talks about respect for home and f- the family, and this is an interesting one, and an important one. People with disability have the right to marry and to found a family, to have children.

and countries need to provide effective and appropriate support to people who are disabled in bringing up their children and providing care when needed. And the last one that is, relevant for us perhaps is Article 25, which is our right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination and on an equal basis with non-disabled people.

So these rights exist. all disabled people, this is the goal that we are aiming for. Yeah. so yeah, it’s important to keep these in mind and recognize that this is what we’re all working towards. Yeah. Absolutely. I think in, from my perspective as a supporter of people with a disability and advocate, these are, it’s so important that we carry this with us because as you’ve said, these rights, I, don’t think we’re there yet, we’re there yet.

and really important that we’re continuing to step into the advocacy that is needed to ensure that, that people with disability have, these rights as they’re entitled to. So this is another quote from one of our lived experience, stakeholders, so someone who has a disability who’s been a part of our project.

“Disability is very individual. For many of us, disability does not arise from the disability because many of us have never known anything else. It arises from the people around us.” So I think this quote really summarizes what Tess has been talking about, the social model of disability and how we all have a responsibility to ensure that our language, our systems, our buildings are accessible, and that we are inclusive of people with disability.

Because as we’re going to learn within the next few modules, it’s the exclusion, the inaccessibility, and ableism are actually the drivers of violence against people who have a disability

Okay, so we’ve been talking about disability and just because people are, have disabilities, impairments, are disabled, however we want to speak, we’re not one amorphous group. We are all individuals, and not everyone experiences disability in the same way. so the term disability does include a wide range of people with all kinds of different experiences, and it’s really important, as people who work with disabled people to acknowledge that range of individual needs and to be able to adapt to them.

some of the people that you work with may have disabilities that can be described as invisible disabilities. and this is just to do with the fact that, there’s not a, visible marker like they’re holding a cane or they’re sitting in a wheelchair or whatever it is. they are, what they’re experiencing on the inside that you can’t see or feel, can be huge and significant and painful and whatever else, but we might look completely fine to the casual observer on the outside.

chronic illness and chronic health conditions are also part of this, invisible disability- category. although sometimes chronic illnesses are also, visible, of course. there’s also some people are born with a disability, others acquire their disability over their lifetime. And on that, since we’re talking about language, we’ve been talking about how we refer to disabled people, with a disability, but how do we refer to you non-disabled people?

you might have heard the term able-bodied, and Jane, I don’t know if you can think of any pros or cons around a term like able-bodied. what might be an issue there? I think having describing someone as able-bodied, the onus is on their ability to do things or to be able, which I, think it’s suggesting that is the, that ability is the preferred way to be- and there’s a lot of assumptions that can be made around ability or not having the ability. so I personally think that type of, that way of describing someone, it wouldn’t be my preference. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And I guess the other thing that disability isn’t always about the body per se.

Like- Yes … disability can, for example, include psychosocial disability. Yes. so being able-bodied or not, like a person with psychosocial disability can be able-bodied, so it doesn’t necessarily capture everyone- Yes … in experience. Yeah … I think the- Yeah … term that you, that we hear most often these days is non-disabled versus disabled.

but I would like to even challenge that one a little bit because, I think society’s still… the general consensus is, “Oh, I hope I don’t become disabled,” but the thing is, we’re all just, one accident or one health condition away from becoming disabled. So I’ve heard terms like not yet disabled versus disabled, because if, even if you live to old age, I’m sure you’re gonna experience, something that affects your, ability to be in the world or- Yeah

temporarily able-bodied or temporarily non-disabled. Yeah … so yeah, so thinking about, the fact that everyone’s gonna be disabled one day- Yeah … disabilities can be progressive or degenerative. They can be relatively stable over time. And we also have the idea of dynamic disabilities. If we just jump to our next slide

So dynamic disabilities mean every day is different, and every hour can be different. And this was from a lived experience stakeholder. And

I have dynamic disabilities, and basically I can wake up feeling fine and be in bed by lunchtime. I can wake up feeling unwell and stay unwell for three weeks, or I can need a day to recover, or an hour, or… So when you’re working with people, you might see them on different days, and some days they’re doing something by themselves, and the next day they’re saying, “Can you do this for me?”

Or, “I can’t do it,” or whatever. That’s not them being lazy or difficult. Their capacity does change every single day- and that’s totally fine, and that’s part of what needs to be accommodated. Yeah. I actually remember this discussion really well, actually, this in our, in our group. And, a lot of other people were also talking about this assumption, I think, that’s made around a disability, and that it does always stay the same and it doesn’t change.

And so therefore- Yeah … the support that’s provided, there’s no adapt- There’s no… Nothing’s adapted or changed around that level of support. if we think about people who have an intellectual disability and decision-making capacity, we would always assume that people can make their own decisions until, yeah, proven otherwise or until there’s another reason to believe they can’t make that decision.

But even decision-making capacity changes, and that’s not just for people- Yeah … with intellectual disability. That’s, trauma impacts decision-making. mental illness can impact decision-making. Being tired can impact- decision-making. So I think we need to be really careful around some of the assumptions that we make around people with a disability, and consider, working with that person as they are within that moment, and not thinking, “Oh, they were doing this yesterday.

Why aren’t they doing this today?” so being really adaptable in your practice.

Okay, so we’re going to turn to our workbook for the first time. Bit exciting. and we’re going to answer question one, and question one says or asks you, “What do you do in your role to ensure that you’re using the social model of disability when supporting your clients?” So pause the video here, have a think, and write down your answer, and we’ll see you in a moment

So thank you, Tess. Welcome back, everybody. so we’re now going to have a look at intersectionality. So Tess has been talking about the social model of disability and disability experiences not being the same. So people’s experience of, disability, their life, accessing services, power, and their experience of domestic family and sexual violence are impacted by all of parts of their identity.

So this might be whether they have a disability or not, their gender, their religion, where they’re from, whether, who they’re attracted to. So intersectionality means that people’s lives are impacted by these things, and because of this, they experience overlapping forms of discrimination. So if we consider a disabled woman who is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman.

So because she’s a woman, she would experience some forms of gender inequality and sexism. Because she has a disability, she would be experiencing ableism. So that is attitudes or acts that, believe that people with a disability are inferior or don’t have the right to access the same type of things as people without a disability.

And she would also be experiencing racism So these different, experiences of discrimination overlap and means that her experience of the world, of services, of violence are vastly different to somebody who is, say, who is a woman and doesn’t belong to other marginalized communities. so I think really importantly that when we’re supporting people who have a disability, we need to be considering the other parts of their identity that make up who they are, but also make up how they experience the world.

So within your role, having an understanding of intersectionality means that you can be curious about other people’s experiences, compassionate about what they might be going through. Also, it might help you think of your own privileges or your own challenges and reflect on those, be able to advocate and understand people’s experiences, particularly, if we’re thinking about people with a disability’s experience of accessing a domestic and family violence service may not be the same as women who don’t have a disability.

so these things are all really important to consider in your practice and means that we aren’t just providing, the same type of support, to every single person that we’re supporting because it, just doesn’t work like that. People need, to be provided a support that understands the different communities that they, they belong to, the different experiences and of course the different overlapping forms of discrimination.

And, sorry, I was just gonna add there, Jane. Yeah. I think the other thing to keep in mind when you’re working with clients is that- Those of us who are members of multiple marginalized groups or systemically excluded groups, such as disabled people, First Nations people, whatever it is, those parts of our identity are always present.

even though, you might not be thinking about the fact, this person is a migrant, and they’re queer, and they’re this, and they’re that, but I’m here as a disability support worker- so I’m thinking about disability. We don’t chop bits off and present, our dis- disability identity today, and tomorrow I’ll go and be a queer person over here, and then the next day- Yes

I’m a woman over here. Yeah. These are

parts of at all times. The, experience of moving through the world is harder because of- Yeah … each one of these identities. So even if it’s not immediately apparent to you, we are… We have this sort of heavier burden that we are carrying with us at all times. Yes … not that the… Not to say that there’s anything wrong with these identities.

Of course, there’s not. The burden is due to, again, this kind of social model, the idea that society isn’t supporting us in the way that we need. Yeah. So it’s that idea of supporting the whole person. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. That’s a such an important point. we will now, talk about how we can support people who have a disability and are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

So as discussed, the best support, to provide the best support, we not only need to learn about the person’s disability and their experiences of disability, but we also need to learn more about the experience and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And to do this, we need to understand cultural safety.

So why is cultural safety important? It’s important because the ongoing effects of colonization in Australia mean that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s lives are affected by racism and inequality. This means that they are more likely to experience domestic, family and sexual violence due to overlapping experiences of discrimination.

So overlapping experiences of ableism and racism. So ableism is a belief, that people without a disability are superior, and therefore spaces, languages, language, sorry, or services are often not developed with people who have a disability in mind, and therefore, people with a disability are treated unequally.

Racism is a belief or action that treats someone differently because of their race or cultural background. So if you’re interested in learning a little bit more about this, we will discuss this further in module two. So because of these experiences and the culture, accessing support and receiving support may be very different to non-indigenous people, and therefore, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have a disability need to know that their culture and experiences are going to be respected to feel safe.

This might mean working differently and being guided by what feels safe for the person, rather than doing what you normally would do. So unfortunately, we know that many services and systems are not set up to provide cultural safety and are often underpinned by racist attitudes. This means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to disclose violence or seek support after an experience of violence.

And I was actually just having a look at some research around this, and one of the studies that I was looking at indic- said that up to ninety percent of violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people goes undisclosed to services.

Yeah, I, knew that it was, quite high, because of course there are a lot of barriers around disclosing violence. But 90% is- Yeah … is huge. so what can we do? What can we do within our practice to provide cultural safety? So we need to think about what it is. So it’s about ensuring the person that you are supporting knows that their identity and their experiences are respected.

So in order to do this, in order to, respect someone’s identity and their experiences, we need to be learning more about these experiences. So we need to be learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences in Australian history. We need to learn about the impacts of colonization and what that means, what that still means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.

And then we need to reflect on our own, our attitudes and biases towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. So when we think about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have a disability, what comes to mind? Are these thoughts based on racist attitudes or stereotypes? Where did they come from?

We need to spend some time unpacking and thinking about this in order to provide a service that feels safe. So we need to remember that it is the person who decides what feels safe for them, and this can be different for everyone. So as we talked about in the intersectionality slide, it is important to remember that someone’s identity is more than one thing.

We all belong to different communities, and that make us who we are. Therefore, the way we support one person will not be right, the right type of support for another. The person you are supporting gets to decide what feels safe to them, for them, and we need to listen and be guided by that

So this is another quote from one of the lived experience stakeholders, which I think sums up, intersectionality, but also this person’s cultural experience. So diversity factors do not create a sum. It cr- increases the disadvantage ex- exponentially. For example, I identify as a gender diverse, visibly African, I am autistic, and I am living with disability.

So we can see, as we’ve discussed, the intersecting identity of this person’s life compound, overlap, and means that they have a very experi- a very unique experience of di- discrimination that we as supporters need to try and understand and, work with in a way that feels safe for this person So we would like you to pause the video here.

Please turn to question two in your workbook. This question asks you to consider what you are doing in your role to e- ensure you’re not using a one-size-fits-all practice within your role

So key takeaways. So we all have personal thoughts and beliefs about different people, communities, and culture. So what we need, what is so important for our work, that we take some time to reflect on these views, why we hold these, and consider how that might impact our work. We need to remember that not all experience of disability, of violence, or support are the same.

Intersectionality teaches us that people’s experience of violence and seeking support, navigating through the world, are impacted by different parts of their disability. So it’s important to consider this in the support we are providing and what we can, and think about what we can do to try and learn more about people’s experiences in order to work with them in a way that feels safe for them.

It- and it’s therefore our job to make sure that the work that we do and the support we’re providing is based on what the person wants and needs, and they, define safety, what safety looks like in the relationship, and it is the attitudes, the phys- the physical structures and environments that are disabling, not the disability itself So that is the end of the module.

Thank you very much for tuning in, and we hope to see you in module two. Thank you