Abuse: if someone hurts you or makes you feel bad.
Advocate: Someone who speaks up for other people to make sure their rights are being met.
Advocating: Speaking up for yourself or someone else.
Attitudes: thoughts, feelings and beliefs that can change the way we act.
Example: if you believe that everyone deserves to be treated fairly, you will act fairly towards other people.
Best practice: Services that are new and developed by disabled people for disabled people
Blue Knot Foundation: The organization that is working with the Disability Royal Commission to support disabled people who are upset about their experiences.
Closed facilities: places where people cannot leave without permission. Example: prison.
Cognitive disability: a disability, like intellectual disability, that makes it hard for the person to understand big ideas.
Collaboration: working together with other people.
Commissioner: A person whose job it is to investigate how disabled people are treated, and make suggestions about how they could be treated better.
Community forums: Meetings between people who are working for the Disability Royal Commission and members of the disability community. Disabled people can share their experiences at these meetings.
Community forums have been suspended because of COVID-19. This means there will be no more community forums until it is safe for people to meet in big groups again.
Complaint: When you speak up about something that is unfair and tell someone who can do something about it.
Confidential: when what you say will be kept secret and not shared with anyone else.
Example: What you say during counselling is confidential
Connect e newsletter: The online newsletter that comes out every 2 weeks. You can read it on the Disability Royal Commission website. https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/news-and-media/connect-newsletter
Counselling: talking to a professional about your feelings and what can be done to help you.
Counsellor: Someone who is trained in how to support other people to manage their feelings and work with them to feel better.
Day programs: activities that happen for a few hours during the day. The activities support disabled people to make friends and learn new skills. They can help you achieve the goals of your NDIS plan.
Day programs are usually run by an organization. You can tell the Disability Royal Commission about your experience with day programs.
Defamatory: damaging someone’s reputation, or changing the way other people think about a person or organization.
Detention centers: places where people who are coming to Australia from another country have to wait before they can live in Australia. Being in these places can be especially hard for disabled people.
Example: a refugee might be in a detention centre. A refugee is someone who was forced to leave their country because of war or a natural disaster. If a detention centre has lots of stairs and a refugee uses a wheelchair, it is not accessible for them.
Disability Support Pension (DSP): Money that some disabled people can get from the government every two weeks because their disability means they cannot work.
Discrimination: when someone treats you differently because of your race, gender, disability or other part of you.
Exploitation: you are being used, or your money or things are being used, by other people without your permission.
Feedback: information about how something is going well and what could be done better
Financial assistance: Supporting someone by giving them money.
Gatekeeping: When disabled children and young people are not allowed to go to the school they want to go to.
Group homes: Places where more than one disabled person lives together. Support workers are also there to help with different activities.
Hardship: difficult experiences. Example: not having enough money to afford food.
Harassment: when someone puts pressure on you or makes you feel scared.
Humiliation: when you are embarrassed in front of other people.
Infection control: what people can do to stop sickness spreading.
Example: Disability support workers washing their hands regularly.
Issues papers: A document that the Disability Royal Commission writes about a topic that has to do with disabled people. Find out more and read the Disability Royal Commission issue papers on their website.
https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/policy-and-research/issues-papers
Juvenile: a young person.
Neglect: means that you are not being supported or taken care of the way you should be.
Notice to produce documents: when the Disability Royal Commission asks you to show them proof of something you have told them. This could be an email or a receipt, for example.
Oath: A promise that you make about your behaviour. When the Disability Royal Commission hears your story under oath, it means that you have promised to tell the truth.
Passive neglect: When someone doesn’t give you the support you need because they don’t know what you need. They do not do it on purpose.
Example: a parent doesn’t know that having Deaf/deaf friends would be good for their Deaf/deaf child.
Physical restraint: when someone stops another person from moving their body how they want.
Example: holding them down.
Prevent: to stop something from happening.
Public hearing: when disabled people or their carers tell the Royal Commission about their experiences under oath in front of other people. Public hearings are recorded and anyone can watch them on the Disability Royal Commission website.
Private session: A meeting between you and someone from the Royal Commission. You can have a support person with you. Private sessions can happen in person, online or over the phone. Being part of a private session does NOT mean you are a witness for the Royal Commission.
Find out more about private sessions at the Disability Royal Commission website. Or read through this PDF. https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2020-06/Practice%20Guideline%205%20-%20Private%20Sessions.pdf
Reasonable adjustments: things that organisations can do to make sure that disabled people have the same access to the buildings or events as everyone else.
Example: making sure that there is an Auslan interpreter for a Deaf/deaf student at school.
Recommendations: suggestions about how disability services could change to make sure that disabled people feel safe and their needs are being met.
Restrictive practices: Anything that stops a disabled person from moving freely or limits their rights.
Example: Giving someone medication that makes them fall asleep when they do not want it. Or making someone stay in one room or one place when they do not want to.
Retribution: when someone is punished for something they have said or done.
The Disability Royal Commission can make sure that you will not be punished if you speak out about your workplace or support organisation.
Seclusion: when disabled people are kept away from other people, and they do not want to be.
Segregated settings: Places where a person or group of people are kept away from others.
Example: prisons
Services: Help that one person or organisation gives another person.
Solitary confinement: when a prisoner is kept in a separate cell for a period of time. Disabled people in prison are often put in solitary confinement.
Submission: the form that you fill out to share your story with the Disability Royal Commission.
Summons: when the Disability Royal Commission asks you to share part of your story with them.
Supported accommodation: a type of housing that disabled people who need support can live in. Support workers may help them with daily tasks like cleaning, cooking and personal care.
Terms of reference: a document that talks about what the Disability Royal Commission is going to do, and how it is going to do it. You can read the Terms of Reference on the Disability Royal Commission website. https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/about-royal-commission/our-terms-reference
Transcribers: People who write down information.
Transition: A change. For example, some young people transition from primary school to high school.
Trauma: a very scary or upsetting experience.
Unprecedented: Something that has never happened before.
Violence: when someone hurts you.
Voluntary: when you choose do something.
Vulnerable: easily hurt, needing extra care or support.
Witness statement: something that you write before a hearing, about what you will say at the hearing.
Witnesses: people who give evidence at a hearing.
Your Story Disability Legal Support: the organisation working with the Disability Royal Commission to support disabled people to understand how the law applies to their situation.