Civil rights or specialist services: recommendations for sector reform in NSW
Michael Bleasdale

Contact Email:   SallyRpwd.org.au

The disability rights movement has achieved significant recognition of the rights of people with disabilities across the world, resulting in disability service and disability discrimination legislation and increased pressure upon governments to meet their obligations in relation to the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. An important strategy of the movement has been to reframe the debate about the experience of disability from one of individual pathology and inevitable service reception, to one of societal disadvantage and oppression and the need to ensure that society meets its obligation to disabled citizens. However, the notion of services providing the “solution” to many social and other barriers remains strong within government and bureaucratic circles, and the recognition of inadequate resourcing of the service sector has meant that disability advocacy groups are locked into debates about increasing resources for services. This paper argues that particular strategies for reforming the disability service sector can and do bridge the divide between the discourse of rights and that of service provision, in particular those which highlight self-determination as a means and an end. Significant sector reform is recommended, building on initiatives in Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada, as an alternative to the resourcing of pilot “models” and “capacity building”, which are the current strategies of service development in NSW.

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