Some of Our Parts

The Minister for Education and Training, in consultation with the Attorney-General, is required to conduct a review of the effectiveness of the Disability Standards for Education every five years. Urbis has been commissioned to undertake the 2015 review.

The Standards seek to ensure that students with disability are able to access and participate in education on the same basis as students without disability. On the same basis means that a student with disability must have opportunities and choices which are comparable with those offered to students without disability.

People with disability and their families are particularly encouraged to consider making a contribution, as are educators and education providers. Organisations representing or working with these groups are also encouraged to consider making a formal submission.

Learn how to participate by checking out the Review of the Disability Standards for Education website.

Happy Friday every body!

• The Attitude Foundation has been established to develop and promote media content to shape a new understanding of disability throughout Australia.
• Toys Like Me are also seeking to change the way we represent disability in young children’s playthings.
• Stella’s Challenge, inspired by the late Stella Young, is a new national campaign designed to change social attitudes towards people living with disabilities.
• This week is Schizophrenia Awareness week – and one writer wants you to know that its nothing to fear.
• The town of Selby in North Yorkshire has just elected the UK’s first mayor with learning disabilities.
• “If only one ramp on one beach for one day can make a difference, imagine what an access-friendly India could feel like.”
• The Hallmark Disability Research Initiative presents a free one-hour lecture covering the current disability discrimination law for European and Australian jurisdictions.
• Check out the Victorian Writer’s profile of disability and queer activist, Jacki Jax Brown.

The Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education at the University of Newcastle currently has a scholarship opportunity for a PhD student to study Equity & Excellence in Australian Higher Education under the supervision of Professor Geoff Whitty & Professor Penny Jane Burke

The Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education will award a PhD studentship for research examining the policies, discourses and practices of ‘excellence’ and ‘equity’ in Australian Higher Education.

The research will consider how different universities address agendas of excellence and equity, the possible tensions and dilemmas this raises, differences and similarities across institutions, contexts and regions and the ways policy impacts on the different strategies, practices and perspectives within and across universities.

The candidate will be supported with a stipend to the value of $30,000 per annum for a period of 3 years. This scholarship is open to domestic and international students.

Inquiries in the first instance should be made to Professor Penny Jane Burke via email: PennyJane.Burke@newcastle.edu.au, no later than Friday 29 May 2015.

Happy Friday every body! Hope you are all keeping cozy inside.

• Ever wondered how people who are blind do their make up?
• Backyard floristry in Canberra working for the future employability of people with disabilities.
• The Tribe is garnering some high praise from critical reviews  and possibly changing the game in deaf film.
• Dopa-kinesia, created with the assistance of support artist/curator Kim Anderson, is artist Pezaloom’s series of experimental self-portraits intended to challenge the many myths and misconceptions surrounding Parkinson’s Disease – at No Vacancy Gallery in the city, 15 June–5 July 2015.
• Gigwise – a documentary on what its like to go to a gig in a wheelchair.
• The 8th Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (HRAFF) has announced its 2015 program of films, art and forums – Many of HRAFF’s films have English subtitles.
• Dogs on double shift – the service dogs who work two jobs for their owners

No verbal dialogue, no subtitles. A film, now showing at ACMI, shot entirely in sign language, is not only for people who are deaf. It’s about time for a film communicated entirely in sign language – but who expected it would be the sign language of Ukraine, spoken only by a few thousand people.

A new student arrives at a Ukranian boarding school for the deaf. He is immediately inducted into a shady underworld of violence, prostitution and robbery.

The Tribe is brutal, uncompromising and sometimes uncomfortable, but its near-silence, along with strong performances from a cast of unknowns, makes this hypnotic viewing.

The Tribe is playing at ACMI from May 2–10.

acmi.net.au/film/seasons-and-screenings/the-tribe/

Warning: film trailer features nudity.

Via Broadsheet Melbourne.

Happy Friday blog followers!

Here are some links to take you through the weekend.

• Microsoft: Why employing autistic people makes good business sense
• Studying is difficult but Alex Lawley wants to change how people view disabilities
• Queer and disability activist, Jacki Jax Brown writes about her desirable disability.
• Nick Davis writes about his coming out as a journalist with a disability.
• Are you a change maker interested in providing great access and opening doors to new and diverse audiences?
• Service dogs making a difference for ex-service people with PTSD.

And the must read story of this week…
“I am his hands, he is my eyes – we are good partners.” beautiful story in cooperation and friendship.

There’s been a number of Greek-Australian tennis players on the scene this year, but few have confronted the challenges facing Christos Cypreou.

“After I lost my sight I thought a lot of things would not work out for me because of the sight difficulties but coming to blind sports has really changed my life,” he said.

Chris lost most of his sight in 1999, a complication from a chronic illness. He had to quit playing Australian rules football, and he says he became so withdrawn at one stage he feared leaving the house on his own. But after discovering blind tennis, he says his confidence returned and so did his desire of becoming a professional sportsman.

“I would love to play internationally, I would love to play professionally blind tennis I want to get to that international level, I’m working really hard at that.”

Blind tennis is a relatively new sport in Australia. Various tennis programs have a general disability category, with scope for blind players. Blind Sports Australia runs the only internationally recognised league for the vision impaired. Organisers are working towards holding Australia’s first blind tennis open with Japan next year. Blind Sports’ Ray Fitzgerald says the goal is to eventually push for a category in the Paralympics.

“They’re hoping to have it go there in 2030. However to do that you have to have your own local tournaments and an international tournament as well so we’re working in that direction,” he said.

It’s an exciting prospect for vision impaired athletes. Blind Sports Victoria’s Maurice Gleeson says sport participation for blind and vision impaired people can be limited.

“Your opportunity to be involved in sport and recreation is minimal, having a tennis program like this has given them a whole new way of life, a challenge they excel at something new they love and have a passion for.”

Blind tennis differs from regular tennis in that players warn each other when the ball has been served, and – depending on the vision capabilities of the player – more bounces are allowed before the ball is returned. Some players use a shorter raquet and the ball is larger and made from foam, with a bell or noise maker inside.

But Christos Cypreou says the game is just as competitive.

“You got to watch out for other balls too coming for other courts but it does get pretty competitive but I enjoy it. That’s why I do it for the competitiveness and the fun.”

Via http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/14/blind-greek-aussie-tennis-player-christos-cypreou-chases-stardomhttp://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/14/blind-greek-aussie-tennis-player-christos-cypreou-chases-stardom#mce_temp_url#.

Happy Friday! A short list of links today.

• Designing for disability at the New York Fashion Week shows
• Good news for disability conferences in Australia!
• The Australian Human Rights Commission has launched Willing to Work: A National Inquiry into Employment Discrimination Against Older Australian and Australians with Disability.
• Where are the best places in the world to live if you have a disability?
• Buzzfeed hosts Santina is an actress, writer, and improviser—she’s also been in a wheelchair since she was 5 years old.

Happy weekend, every body!

Organisations that support Australians with disability will benefit from a $250,000 Abbott Government investment into disability-related conferences. Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield, said 25 groups were receiving Government support to maximise the participation of people with disability at conferences this financial year.

“This funding has been provided to support conference organisers to increase participation of people with disability at disability-related conferences.”
“The funding will help to facilitate the open discussion of important issues facing people with disability and the organisations that support them, particularly as we transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme,” Minister Fifield said.

Minister Fifield said the funding will assist organisations with the expenses such as the costs of conference fees, accommodation and travel for people with disability, and the provision of Auslan interpreters.

“Support for these national conferences demonstrates the Government’s commitment to backing organisations that are working to improve the lives of people with disability,” Minster Fifield said. “It’s important that people with disability and disability support organisations have the opportunity to come together to learn, to impart knowledge and skills, and to chart the way forward for their organisations.”

Minister Fifield said the funding for disability conferences builds on the Government’s commitment to supporting vital social services in communities across Australia through the DSS grant process.

“The funding is being delivered under the Department of Social Services New Way of Working for Grants, which has seen 18 grant programmes consolidated into seven, and substantial funding committed across these programmes for new and existing services,” Minister Fifield said.

Further information on the new way of working for grants is available at www.dss.gov.au/grants

Happy Friday (again!) – these long weekends and short weeks can stay! Here are some links to take you through:

• The inspiring A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story premiered at SXSW last month.
• After a transgender diva and a bearded drag act, a group of middle-aged punk rockers with learning disabilities could be the next performers to challenge prejudice at the Eurovision song contest.
• Check out Jackie Hagen’s comedic celebrity take on her “stump”
• Seems you can now use the same technology that Stephen Hawkings does to speak with facial expressions – for free!
• Sensory gardens are outdoor spaces designed to stimulate the senses and increase awareness of the body.
• Not everybody wants to be “fixed” – an insight into living deafnesss
• New York – Glamazon Amputees.
• In March and April 2015, the National Gallery of Victoria will be offering free access tours of their general collection.