Community Conversation Guide

Our IDPwD Community Conversation Guide is designed to help the community talk about IDPwD and disability. We encourage you to download this guide to have conversations about disability all year round in your workplace, school or community group.

If you would like a printed copy of the guide, please email us at idpwd@health.gov.au

Overview of the Guide

IDPwD is a United Nations Day recognised around the world on 3 December. The day promotes awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability.

There are 5.5 million people with disability in Australia. That’s 1 in 5 people. You may be a person with disability or know someone with disability.

By talking about disability, we can:

  • respect and value people with disability
  • help reduce stigma around disability
  • build a more inclusive society.

Disability can be physical, mental, intellectual or sensory. It can be visible or invisible. It can be permanent or temporary. People’s support needs can also change.

The social model of disability says people are disabled by barriers in society. Barriers can include systems, policies, attitudes, lack of knowledge and physical barriers. This is different to the medical model, which sees the disability as something to fix or cure.

When you are talking about experiences of disability, it’s important to:

  • be open and respectful
  • involve people with disability in the conversation
  • pay people with disability for their participation
  • recognise that people can take part without speaking.

If you are planning an IDPwD activity or event, you could incorporate a theme. This might be the official United Nations IDPwD theme.

It could also be a theme about disability and inclusion. For example, you could focus on:

  • ableism – discrimination based on disability
  • unconscious bias – attitudes people may not be aware of
  • disability rights – freedom from discrimination
  • being a disability ally – supporting the rights of people with disability
  • intersectionality – overlapping identities that increase discrimination
  • Equality vs equity – treating everyone the same may not result in fairness.

Words can shape how society views and treats people with disability. You should always:

  • focus on the person, not the disability
  • use person-first language (e.g. person with disability), unless someone prefers identity-first
  • ask the person with disability what language they prefer.

People with disability are diverse and have different ways to communicate. When communicating with people with disability:

  • don’t talk down to the person
  • speak directly to the person, not to their carer, support worker, family member or interpreter
  • don’t assume what someone can or can’t do – ask first
  • respect privacy – not everyone wants to share details about their disability
  • ask people with disability what works best for them.

If you are organising a meeting or event, think about providing:

  • ramps and accessible bathrooms
  • captions, Auslan interpreters, Auslan videos and Easy Read materials
  • sensory friendly spaces
  • allowing enough time for people with disability to take part fully.

Keep informed

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