Gunnedah is on track to a more inclusive future for people with disabilities but community input is needed to help shape it.
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Gunnedah council’s four-year Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) is being rolled out to address barriers faced by people with disability in our community.
Barriers such as mobility or disability access issues for services, amenities or facilities; issues obtaining employment or difficulties in participation and inclusion in the community.
GoCo Community Hub co-ordinator Kate Mackley is helping deliver the community consultation and believed there is scope for big participation.
She highlighted 2011 Census figures that show nearly five per cent, or 592 people in just the Gunnedah shire alone, reported needing help in their day-to-day lives due to disability.
“And that’s not counting people who are just getting by,” Ms Mackley said.
Capturing data and feedback from those “just getting by” can be difficult, Mackley said, as they are seldom linked to existing service providers.
But it’s exactly this sort of input they seek, from carers and people who identify through all levels of disability, not just those who rely heavily on support services.
She said often chronic disorders such as dementia were misinterpreted as not being a disability.
“That’s just not the case,” she said.
Six years on since Gunnedah’s last disability snapshot and with more people anticipated to need assistance, there has never been a greater need to focus on disability in the district.
Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey said the DIAP consultation would help council focus its attention where it’s needed most.
“It can be difficult to know what’s happening,” Cr Chaffey said. “That’s why this consultation is important.
“If we have shortcomings, we can look to remove those barriers [to disability].
“We are focused but we can always do better.”
Coinciding with the consultation will be a new council advisory group, made up of carers, people with disability and service providers, to complement current research undertaken.
Two community forums will be held in March where the community is invited to have its say about what’s working and what’s not in the disability space.
Surveys, both online and hardcopy will be available this month from GoCo and the library. Other engagement methods such as listening posts, also be trialled by council to source feedback.
