Self-advocates from across the country had a fantastic opportunity in April to talk with ABC News journalists about issues that are important to them in the lead up to the Federal election. The ideas shared during the forum will be informing the way the ABC News team will be reporting about election issues in the coming weeks. 

Living independently, health and employment were discussed, as well as issues that are influencing votes this election.

Brooke Canham from WA took part in the forum, and said, “I have already made a very strong decision about who I am voting for, based on how things were handled during the lockdowns.” 

Colby Hickey from Victoria said, “I like that we are sharing.”

The next issue of Voice is about to hit mailboxes very soon, and it is all about employment. 

In this special double-sized issue, we share how jobs can be customised, stories of successful employment outcomes, and discovery activities for employment goals that families can work through together.

Employment Ambassadors Naomi and Ellen recently held a presentation with the team at PricewaterhouseCoopers to talk about how to best support their new employees with Down syndrome. 

The Ambassadors talked about how employers can support employees in the right way to help them to develop into valuable team members. 

If you would like one of our Employment Ambassadors to talk to your organisation, contact us on employment@downsyndrome.org.au

During the school holidays the DSA team joined forced with DSNSW and Story Factory to hold a storytelling workshop with high school aged students with Down syndrome in Sydney. 

The students learned all about poetry and even got to practice some new writing techniques.

One parent shared: “Kids like [my son] don’t get these sort of opportunities or support and patience to help him get ideas out… His teachers at high school will be very impressed."

For many years Down Syndrome Australia has been advocating for change to discriminatory laws about voting for people with a disability. 

Down Syndrome Australia is supporting Australian Human Rights Lawyers’ open letter to the incoming government to make a public commitment protecting the rights of people with disability to vote.

AHRL is calling for Section 93(8) to be repealed from the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 because it is inconsistent with Australia’s international legal obligations.

Read the open letter here: 

After a few delays, the Scrapheap Adventure Ride was able to go ahead successfully in April. 

Scrap-heapers rode through NSW to the town of Gulargambone to raise thousands of dollars for Down Syndrome Australia. 

Watch some of the adventures on the road here: 

Down Syndrome Australia has been working with Council for Intellectual Disability and other disability organisations on advocating for the establishment of a National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health. 

The National Centre will be fundamental for delivering the National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability and addressing the health inequities faced by people with intellectual disability.

The Federal Election is being held on Saturday 21 May.

In Australia, all adults have the right to choose their representatives by voting at elections. People with Down syndrome have the right to vote, just like everybody else. It is your right to vote, and to vote for who you want to vote for. 

Read DSA’s Voting fact sheet for people with Down syndrome here: 

There are approximately 16,000 people with intellectual disability in Australia working in ADEs. The minimum wage in Australia is $20.33 per hour, but some workers in ADEs are getting paid as little as $2.37 per hour. 

Down Syndrome Australia supports Inclusion Australia in calling on the Government to make sure all people with disability who work in ADEs are paid at least the minimum wage.

Read their call for equal pay and equal respect here:

There are now two oral antiviral treatments provisionally approved for use in Australia for people at high risk of severe disease from COVID-19. Priority communities include people with a disability, especially those in a supported living setting. 

Treatments should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 to achieve the best outcome.

Prescribing doctors will need to work with individual patients to determine whether they are suitable. Find out more from the Department of Health here: 

Winter is just around the corner, which means it's time to think about receiving a winter COVID-19 vaccine dose.

People most at risk of severe complications and those most at risk of serious illness should receive a winter COVID-19 vaccine dose. The Australian Government Department of Health recommendation is for:

•    adults aged 65 years and older
•    residents of aged care or disability care facilities
•    people aged 16 years and older with severe immunocompromise (as defined by ATAGI)
•    Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 50.

ATAGI recommends that people from these groups should receive their COVID-19 Winter dose from 4 months after their initial booster dose.

Watch our video on why it is important to get vaccinated here: 

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and Down Syndrome Australia have been working together on the Welcoming Disability campaign. The campaign responds to ongoing discrimination faced by people with disabilities or health issues applying to come to Australia as temporary or permanent residents. The Welcoming Disability Campaign is calling on the government to review and reform the discriminatory aspects of Australia migration health requirements.

For the upcoming Federal election ALHR is asking for supporters to email their local candidates in the Federal Election to commit to reform. 

Email all the candidates in your electorate here: