Australian Network on Disability Monthly Newsletter 

Enter our 2023 Disability Confidence Awards

The deadline to enter our Disability Confidence Awards is fast-approaching.

You have until Friday 31 March to nominate yourself, your organisation or a colleague for one of five awards. Winners will be announced at our Awards Night in Sydney on Monday 5 June.

Launched in 2022, the awards recognise and celebrate organisations that have made systematic changes to their workplaces to become inclusive of employees and customers with disability, as well as individuals who have worked to promote disability inclusion.

You can apply for the following awards:

• The Disability Inclusion Changemaker of the Year
• The Disability Employee Network of the Year
• The Supervisor of the Year
• The Inclusive Initiative of the Year
• The Mentor of the Year

Don’t forget to save the date of our 2023 National Conference. The hybrid event will be held virtually and in-person at The Hilton Hotel in Sydney on Tuesday 6 June. Registrations will open shortly.

Join our new Stepping Into alumni network

We are thrilled to announce the launch of Alumni Connect, Australia's first alumni network for talented university graduates with disability. The network will connect over 2200 alumni who have taken part in our award-winning Stepping Into Internship Program over the past 18 years, with employers who want to broaden their recruitment pool.

The Alumni Connect network will provide our graduates with further opportunities to fast-track their careers by building relationships with employers, attending development events, networking and gaining confidence in the workplace.

Alumni Connect also presents an exciting opportunity for our members who are dealing with a tight labour market and are looking for highly skilled employees across a broad range of industries.

Launching the Alumni Connect network would not have been possible without the support of our founding partners, Deloitte, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, QBE, Life Without Barriers and Acciona. We are grateful for their vision and commitment which aligns to our goal of connecting Australian organisations to more people with disability and creating a disability confident Australia.

Read more about this unique opportunity

Multi-organisational training launched

Australian Network on Disability is excited to announce we are launching a brand new Multi-organisational training calendar today, designed to make booking into a range of disability confidence training quicker and easier.

The new training calendar allows members to book individual employees into training and participants can share in the experience of learning alongside employees from other organisations in these online facilitated sessions.

The traditional 1-hour Disability Confidence and Awareness “Lunch and Learn” webinar will still be available. Longer sessions promise greater engagement through activity-based learning made possible through a ‘flipped classroom’ model where learners first engage with ideas through pre-reading and a ‘snack-sized’ quiz. The facilitated online training which shows participants how to put disability confidence ideas into practice to cement their learning and focus their disability awareness into an individual action plan.

Find out more about the new training.

Have your say on accessibility in the banking sector

Australian Network on Disability is overseeing the review of the Australian Banking Association’s Accessibility Principles. The principles ensure that banking services in Australia deliver the best accessibility and inclusive experience for their users.

Here are the current Accessibility Principles for Banking Services.

We are seeking feedback from people with disability, carers and advocates on their experiences of everyday banking. Fill out this survey to share your experiences and feedback with everyday banking which will be open until Friday 31 March 2023.

All responses will be confidential and anonymous. Your personal responses will not be shared with anyone else. If you require this survey in an alternate format you can contact Hayley Brooks on 02 8270 9209 or email hayley.brooks@and.org.au.

We will also be facilitating online focus groups for customers and carers with disability on:

• Tuesday 21 March 2023 from 6pm to 8pm (for people living in major cities and surrounds).
• Thursday 23 March 2023 from 6pm to 8pm (for people living in regional and remote areas).

People will be paid for participating in focus groups, and adjustments to participate can be provided.

If you are interested in being involved in the focus groups you can contact Hayley Brooks on 02 8270 9209 or email hayley.brooks@and.org.au

Welcome to our new members

Australian Network on Disability is delighted to welcome our new members who joined our rapidly growing network since February.

Silver: 

• Legal Aid Commission of WA
• National Archives of Australia

Bronze: 

• Department of Finance WA
• People for Purpose
• PEXA
• ReadyTech

Read our full list of members and explore our new member charter.

Our Members

The Australian Network on Disability is a member-based national powerhouse of private, public and for-purpose organisations actively committed to inclusion of people with disability in business. Find out about the benefits of membership.