People with Disability Australia

People with Disability Australia Ltd (PWDA) is a national Australian disability rights and advocacy organisation founded in 1980 and based in Surry Hills, New South Wales.

People with Disability Australia
AbbreviationPWDA
Formation1980
TypeNGO
PurposePeak disability rights and advocacy organisation
Location
Region served
Australia wide
President
Samantha Connor
Websitepwd.org.au

PWDA is a Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO), with an elected board of people with disability, and a national membership of people with disability. PWDA is one of the funded national disability representative organisations for people with disability in Australia.[1]

Former presidents

A list of former presidents of the PWDA:[2][3][4][5]

  • 2002 : Wendy Potter
  • 2003–2006 : Heidi Forrest
  • 2007–2008 : Robert Farley
  • 2009 : Vacant
  • 2010–2011 : Jan Daisley
  • 2012–2015 : Craig Wallace[6]
  • 2016–2017 : Bonnie Millen
  • 2018–2019 : David Abello
  • 2020–current : Samantha Connor[7]

History and mission

PWDA was founded in the year 1980 leading up to the International Year of Disabled Persons to provide people with disabilities a voice of their own. In 2002, PWDA's membership approved a repositioning of PWDA as a national disability rights and advocacy organisation. The organisation's name was changed from "People with Disability New South Wales" to "People with Disability Australia"[8] to reflect this new positioning on 21 July 2003.[9] The principal reasons for the change were to position PWDA to undertake work on national policy issues.[8]

Between 2003 and 2006 PWDA played a valuable role in the development of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), organising national consultations and consultations with members, making submissions, hosting seminars, and supporting delegates to attend sessions of the UN Ad Hoc Committee. Through this work PWDA gained Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.[10]

From 2009 onwards, PWDA continues to play an ongoing role in monitoring the implementation of the CRPD in Australia, and is part of the NGO CRPD Shadow Report Project Group.[11] Along with the organisation's national work, PWDA has undertaken international development work in the Pacific since 2004.[12][13] This non-profit, non governmental peak organisation has been described as "the national cross disability rights and advocacy organisation run by and for people with disability... [representing] the interests of people with all kinds of disability.[14]

Craig Wallace, a former president of PWDA,[15] was commended in Parliament on the occasion of his resignation in June 2016. Jenny Macklin MP credited Wallace for the organisation's contribution to the development of a National Disability Insurance Scheme and for elevating "PWDA to the status of a leading disability advocacy body".[6]

PWDA appeared and gave evidence during the 2019-2020 Australian Disability Royal Commission.[16]

Controversy

In 2020, it was reported that the activist group 'Mad F-cking Witches' (MFW) were involved in a 'nasty' internal dispute involving a campaign to remove two PWDA female directors over claims of alleged abusive posts on social media. PWDA had said it was an internal matter even though MFW, an external group, had submitted complaints under consideration.[17][18]The Age reported that "both women [directors] deny they were abusive, but say they were highly critical of postings from the activist group [MFW] involving disabled people".[18] The attempt to remove them did not succeed.[17][19] Spiked had previously said MFW manufactures storms of outrage on social media and spends "their time trawling the internet for reasons to be offended".[20] MFW is an online feminist pressure group known for agitating for advertisers to boycott radio broadcaster Alan Jones.[19]

Activities

PWDA provides the following services:[21]

  • Rights-related information, advice and referral services for people with disability and their associates
  • Short-term individual and group advocacy assistance to people with disability and their associates
  • Advocacy for reform around systemic issues that adversely affect people with disability and their associates
  • Representation of the sector of interest constituted by people with disability and their associates to government, industry and the non-government sector
  • Coordination of the sector of interest constituted by people with disability and their associates
  • Disability rights-related research and development around issues of concern to people with disability and their associates
  • Disability rights-related training and education for people with disability and their associates, service providers, government and the public. This work is supported in part by grants of financial assistance from both the State and Commonwealth Governments.[22]

See also

References
  1. "National disability representative organisations". Disability and Carers. Australia: Department of Social Services. 5 September 2018. Archived from the original on 19 March 2019.
  2. "(Archive of) Who's Who". PWDA. Archived from the original on 9 December 2002.
  3. "(Archive of) Our Staff and Board". PWDA. Archived from the original on 20 November 2010.
  4. "(Archive of) Board Directors". PWDA. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
  5. "(Archive of) Our Board". PWDA. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019.
  6. Macklin, Jenny (12 July 2016). "Statement on resignation of PWDA's Craig Wallace" (PDF). Parliament of Australia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 November 2019.
  7. "PWDA Board Elections". Members Email Campaign Archive. 13 November 2020. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020.
  8. "PWDA - Our History". PWDA. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018.
  9. "Historical details for ABN 98 879 981 198". abr.business.gov.au. Australian Business Register. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019.
  10. "List of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council as of 1 September 2016 (E/2016/INF/5)". United Nations. Economic and Social Council. 18 July 2017. p. 88. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019.
  11. "Endorse the Shadow Report on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities". Disability Advocacy Resource Unit. The NGO CRPD Shadow Report Project Group. 25 May 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018.
  12. "Sydney Social Justice Network | Disability rights research collaboration". The University of Sydney. 18 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019.
  13. Sands, Therese (18 July 2017). "Capacity building through disability rights partnerships" (PDF). Crawford School of Public Policy. ANU. pp. 130–131. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2019.
  14. "Submission to the 2017/2018 Federal Budget" (PDF). Australian Government Treasury. Disabled People's Organisations Australia. January 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 August 2020.
  15. Ireland, Judith (7 March 2014). "Budget savings should not be found at the 'expense' of Australians will disabilities". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016.
  16. Barro, Christiane (15 October 2020). "Story of Hope: How an AFLW star has to learn how to explain the unexplainable". The New Daily. Motion Publishing Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020.
  17. Kruger, Colin; Brook, Stephen (26 August 2020). "Disability group split by activist battle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. Archived from the original on 26 August 2020.
  18. Brook, Stephen; Hutchinson, Samantha (11 August 2020). "Disability Dispute". The Age. Nine Entertainment Co. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020.
  19. Hutchinson, Samantha; Brook, Stephen (8 September 2020). "From swear word to acronym: feminist group tones it down". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020.
  20. Cater, Nick (22 October 2019). "Woke, Inc". Spiked. spiked Ltd. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020.
  21. "Community Resources: People with Disability Australia". Intuit Benefits (Australia). 2019. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019.
  22. "NDIS House and Land Packages".
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