Laura Cowell, the Australian CEO of TLC Disability Services, says there is room for improvement.
Laura is joined by disability advocate, Dr. Louise Gosbell; and Paralympic silver medalist, Jamieson Leeson in this episode of Helping Hands to discuss how we can better understand the disability sector, and play our part in making the world a better place for people who are living with disability.
Laura says that most Australians who are not living with a disability do not understand what it takes for people who have a disability to navigate everyday activities in everyday environments.
As the CEO of one of Australia's leading innovators in the disability sector, Laura oversees disability support, training and employment pathways, home care and advocacy along the east coast of Australia, and works to normalise the inclusion of disability services and programs into mainstream society.
As a disability advocate and consultant, Louise Gosbell works with organisations and community groups to create environments which do not exclude people who have a disability. She says that understanding what it means to live with a disability can be a challenge, as no two people share the same experience of disability - even between two people who have the same diagnosis.
“The World Health Organisation talk about disability as being a combination of what’s going on in your body and mind with the environment that you actually live in. It’s this complex relationship between these two things,” says Louise.
She says the common experience for people living with disability is the barriers they have to overcome every day.
While the nature of the barriers differs from person to person, they share the experience that “there are things that make it harder to navigate, and to be part of society on an equal basis.”
What can everyday Australians do to help remove the barriers for people who have a disability?
Paralympic silver medalist, Jamieson Leeson says that we all need to beware of making assumptions that increase the obstacles for people living with disability instead of helping to remove them.
“The biggest challenge (for me) would be peoples’ attitudes towards my disability … there’s so many things that people assume I couldn’t do in the beginning, and I had to prove them wrong in order to get over that barrier.”
Jamieson continues to say that community awareness plays a big part in making it easier for people living with disability to enjoy everyday activities.
“Whenever I look to go to an event or an activity, I have to do research, and I have to either call the company or look on the website to see if the event is even accessible because 50% of the time it’s not.
"It’s important to get the disabled community involved in the decision making. If there’s an event being held, people with disability know best how to suit those environments,” says Jamieson.
Louise adds to Jamieson's comments, saying the awareness needs to apply to everyday activities as well as large events, and encourages us all to take time to consider the positive difference we can make.
“It’s important for us to be aware of our own sphere of influence and to think about what we have control over, or what we have an input into, and then be thinking about ways we can make those spaces more accessible."
See the UNDERSTANDING THE DISABILITY SECTOR discussion and the full catalogue of Helping Hands panels at helpinghands.tv. Catch up on full episodes of Helping Hands on 9NOW.
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* Our panellists, Laura Cowell, Dr. Louise Gosbell and Jamieson Leeson, and the Helping Hands producers are available for interview on radio, TV and online to discuss this topic. Get in touch at helpinghands.tv/contact/
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