Day One – Conference Dinner
TIM FERGUSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome, give yourselves a round of
applause!
(Applause)
Good evening, my name is Tim Fergurson, or if things don't go well, you can call me
Richard Wilkins.
(Laughter)
And you can say, "That Richard Wilkins, he wasn't interesting at all and he has
changed his hair colour". It’s great to be here this evening, this evening is an
evening of tremendous celebration. As you know, we are in a period that is the
starting period that will change the face of Australia, and it will do it for many, many
- well, centuries to come. It is an exciting time for everybody in Australia especially
for people who have to deal with wheels, or hearing aids, or, you know, or beautiful
dogs, I have seen a couple walking around the building, people who are disabled in
some way, and not just because their hair looks like Richard Wilkins died it brown.
(Laughter)
So it’s a tremendously exciting time for all the disabled people in Australia, all of us
just want to contribute, and so the NDIS DisabilityCare, is just going to make it
more possible to contribute, and to live lives and to cause as much trouble as
possible. We have some people here this evening who will be presenting things on
the screen, and we'll be able to see some videos explaining new programmes, and
new endeavours, and also we'll hear a couple of them talking about what they have
been doing and what they’re going to be doing in the future.
Just to get started straight away, I’d like to make a birthday wish for somebody, of
course, who doesn't want a birthday wish but she is turning 21 which is a very
special birthday. I will tell you something about her. Fiona Anderson is the
Queensland co-ordinator of the Every Australian Counts campaign, an amazing
achievement for someone who is only 21.
(Applause)
And she’s so keen about the NDIS, apparently she had an operation of some kind
recently, and they had to put her under, as they do, and when she woke up the
doctor said, "Do you realise what you were saying as you were, you know, going
under the anesthetic?" She said, "No". He said, "You were trying to, you know, tell
us all to sign up to the NDIS". (Laughs)
1
(Laughter)
(Applause)
And because this woman doesn't live with a handbrake, she said, "So? Have you
signed up?"
(Laughter)
It just goes to show that (laughs), you know, next time you’re going into an
operation, you can still be campaigning to keep things going. Her name is Fiona
Anderson, so let's wish her a very happy birthday. Happy birthday Fiona! 21 again!
(Applause)
So, we won’t, we won’t sing because we'll be able to do that in the bar afterwards.
Everybody will be able to ask you how you look so good for someone who is 21!
So I’d like to welcome, of course, all our guests who’ll be speaking tonight, and all
our special guests who’ve been working at the conference today who’ve just done
such an extraordinary job. These people were up at 4.30 in the morning, and they
haven't stopped, so a big thank you to everybody who has worked so hard today.
(Applause)
It would be great. But now let's have a Welcome to Country and what a fantastic
part of Australia this is, would you please make welcome Auntie Diane Kerr to
perform a Welcome to Country.
(Applause)
AUNTIE DIANE KERR:
Good evening everyone. I would like to pay my respects to my elders, elders past
and present, elders present here today, elders of different nations that are here
today. I would like to acknowledge Uncle Kevin Kirby who is in this room
somewhere, who has fought for aboriginal health for many years. I wish to
acknowledge Minister Macklin, special guests, community, wider community and pay
my respects to ancestors and families.
I'm very proud and honoured to be here today. This is part of the traditional country
of my grandmother and mother and ancestors. My family lived along the Miromar
The Yarra and when I come into this place I often feel like I’ve come home, even
though there’s lots of concrete and asphalt, I sort of picture it as what it would have
looked like. MCG is our traditional ceremonial ground so it’s very important this, this
area, and this is where we, we did our talking and sat down and shared, and this is
what you’re doing, sitting down and sharing a meal and talking about your future.
And I’d like to be able to talk about our future with health, and to also talk about our
future, a future that we can all live in harmony. We're very lucky people, and
sometimes we forget how lucky Australia is, because there’s all different cultures in
this room, and we're all sitting here without any fear of harm. And sometimes, in
our everyday life we forget to bless the creator and acknowledge that we are lucky
here. So I would like to ask you, while you are here, to talk to someone that you
2
don't know. Share a bit about your story and where you come from. I firmly believe
if we can understand each other we can get rid of racism and stigma. When we do
that we live in harmony, and as adults, when we live in harmony, our children live in
peace. So I would like to offer you my hand with cultural respect and dignity, as a
symbol so that we can all walk together. May (inaudible) surround you all and keep
you safe on country and on behalf of my elders I say (inaudible). That means
welcome to the home of (inaudible) country, and I wish to welcome you all from the
tops of the trees to the roots in the ground, because when you look after this
beautiful country it will look after you. Thank you.
(Applause)
TIM FERGUSON:
Auntie Diane Kerr, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you so much, there’s ah, there’s
some lovely thoughts to come into the evening with.
Well, I thought it might be helpful tonight if I tell you a bit of my story. You may not
have heard how I could go from being a tall idiot to a seated idiot. So I’ll tell you
how it worked. Well, when I left school I became a busker with two young women.
We formed a trio called The Dug Anthony All Stars.
(Applause)
They were very talented girls. They have since had the operation, and one of those
girls calls herself Paul McDermott.
(Laughter)
And if you've seen Paul on one of his television shows, that's his actual size.
(Laughter)
The name of the other girl eludes me but let's call her Richard Fidler, which is a very
hard name to get through high school with if you think about it, just give it a
second, Richard ... oh yeah.
(Laughter)
Yeah that's a toughy. So, we were buskers and we were in Canberra, the beautiful
city of Canberra. The wind swept, post-zombie apocalyptic city of Canberra.
(Laughter)
Canberra is a great city, a wonderful place, because the snow is about an hour
away, the coast is is about an hour-and-a-half away, so Canberra’s great because
it’s really close to somewhere good.
(Laughter)
We put on military jackets, the girls and I, and we decided to take over the comedy
universe. Now the place to do this was in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival, which
is the world's largest arts festival. So we flew over there with our silly bolero jackets
with badges and you know, little faces saying, "I wuv you", and we turned up, and
3
we thought, well, what are we going to do? We met a whole bunch of comedians
who are now super stars, but back then, Ben Elton was just some guy called Ben;
Eddie Izzard, we didn't even think that was a surname.
(Laughter)
But they all warned us, "Whatever you do, don't play at The Pear Pit". The Bear Pit is
a venue where you will be killed. It’s rough, and it’s tough, and we just said, "It’s
rough, it’s tough, they haven't heard of three middle-class boys from Canberra".
(Laughter)
So we book ourselves into The Bear Pit. The Bear Pit is a bit like a colosseum, where
the audience is ringed around in a big balcony as well as being in front of us. This
meant there were people directly above us, if they didn't like the act, they could just
poor beer from above. Well, we thought, "We can do this, we can survive". The
audience was made up of skinheads, and Scottish dockside workers, and the girls
who like hanging around skinheads and Scottish dockside workers. "Easy Morag, the
feeding shall commence at midnight". It was a tough crowd.
The first act on was a guy called Bobby Sparks, and Bobby Sparks was a big noise in
the New York comedy scene. We thought he’ll be great; he’ll start the show well.
Bobby Sparks walked out on stage, and he said, "Hi everybody, my name’s Bobby
Sparks, it’s great to be here in England ..."
(Laughter)
And the Bobby Sparks show was over.
(Laughter)
He seriously did not get one more word in. And he was taken outside and bashed
up. (Laughs)
(Laughter)
The next guy was a mime artist. He came out and did about a minute of mime. This
was a lot of mime at The Bear Pit, but then two guys got up and patted him on the
back, and took him outside and they stabbed him with a chair.
(Laughter)
Because why use a knife when you have household furniture around? (Laughs) The
police came and asked us about it afterwards, and because we were Australian we
said, "Well, that's not a chair ... this is a chair ..."
(Laughter)
They found it very amusing!
(Laughter)
So, we walk out on stage, finally, and we thought, "Well, you know, we're in real
trouble here". So we just - well, we just picked a fight, and I thought I would start
4
things off by saying, "You know, we're from Australia, we are descended from
people who, well, they used to kill the English, and they got sent as convicts to
Australia whereas you Scots are all descended from people who didn't want to get in
any trouble ..."
(Laughter)
They did not like this at all. They went totally mental! They did not find this at all
amusing! They were throwing furniture. They were hurling beer from above, I was
nearly killed by an ashtray the size of a house brick, Paul McDermott managed to
scramble his way up to the balcony and he was having a beer fight with some
woman, so there was a bit of girl on girl action.
(Laughter)
Which was entertaining, but it was getting dangerous. So I said to Richard, "Go to
Plan B or we are going to be in real trouble". So Richard started singing, "God save
our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen", and it worked. It worked. Because
you cannot have a bar fight to the sounds of, "God Save the Queen". In the same
way that you can’t make love to the strains of the Australian National Anthem.
(Laughter)
"Australians all let us rejoice" - like does that make you feel horny?
(Laughter)
So we beat the room. We survived. We sang another couple of songs, and then we
got the hell out of there. Word spread like wildfire through the festival, and we ruled
Edinburgh for ten years with an iron condom.
(Laughter)
Oh hey, it sounds like fun but you can’t really feel anything.
(Laughter)
And we used the same, the same technique in every city we could get our hands on
around the world. We went to Canada, we offended Canadians - Canadians! The
most polite people on earth! We turned up there, and you've heard that joke about
Canadians, how do you get 20 rowdy Canadian party-goers out of a swimming pool,
you say, "Okay everybody, get out of the pool please".
(Laughter)
So we walk on stage, in Montreal or as they call it Monroyal, in Quebec, or as they
call it Qebec, and it was Paul who said, "Hi, we're The Dug Anthony All Stars, we're
going to be speaking English tonight because, let's face it, French is a dead
language.”
(Laughter)
Bang! Up they went! They were screaming, shouting, there was a man in the front
row who was biting the back of the chair in front of him! (Laughs). He was that
5
angry!
We also played in Berlin many times, and, you know, the funny thing about playing
in Germany is, you know, they do laugh, the Germans do laugh at jokes, but they
laughed at us kind of like in the way that you say, you know, "Ha ha ha ha, soon we
will kill them."
(Laughter)
And round the world we started to go, and we went everywhere, we did everything,
we did everything we wanted to, all through America and here and there, and we,
we lived like comedy rock stars, and being a comedy rock star is basically sex, drugs
and Benny Hill music.
(Laughter)
Which is slightly better than the Australian National Anthem, but it still doesn't quite
work as horny music, so we went everywhere. And then one time we were in
London, this was in 1995, and we had been playing in Piccadilly Circus at the
Criterion Theatre. And we were living on Piccadilly Circus, and it was within dragging
distance of the theatre. And it was where - a theatre where Oscar Wilde used to go
to pick up boys who looked like me. One morning I woke up in our party house, and
I went to get out of bed, and I just kind of fell out of bed, and I tried to stand up,
and I just fell over again, and I realised that the left side of my body – it’s doing it
now - I realised the left side of my body had kind of gone to sleep or something. It
was like the physiological equivalent of the Greens political party, only 10% active
but strangely pleased with itself!
(Laughter)
And I thought, "This is odd! What’s going on?” Well, we kept doing the shows
because I thought I wanted to do the shows, but because the left side of my body
wasn't working, I was dancing like Beyoncé at a bouncy castle.
(Laughter)
And the annoying thing was that no-one seemed to notice the difference.
(Laughter)
I thought I, I should go and find out what this is, because this kind of thing had
happened before. When I was 19 my eyes stopped working. Now it wasn't for the
reason that you might think.
(Laughter)
Although the Pope would have said I was a good candidate for, for it, given my
proclivities, but they were just slightly crossed. It was weird. My eyes were just a
little bit crossed, but not much, only I noticed. Finally, after a week or so, it was
driving me crazy so I went to see this doctor. He looked into my eyes, and he was
the one who diagnosed me as having slightly crossed eyes.
(Laughter)
6
He said, "Go home, get some rest, do some exercise and if you keep your hands off
it, that rash will clear up."
(Laughter)
I didn't do any of that, but after a couple of weeks I felt fine, everything was better,
my eyes fixed themselves, but I didn't realise that a countdown clock had started to
tick - tick - tick – tick – tick – tick – tick – tick – tick – tick – tick, and every once in
a while I would get these weird symptoms. I’d have buzzing hands, and numb
knees, and then all of a sudden I’d feel like there were pins and needles that felt like
actual pins and needles jabbing in my head, and like weird things, and none of them
seemed related. Now I didn't tell anybody because I wanted to be a comedy rock
star.
Well - and also I figured, you know, I'm just partying too much. Wind forward to
1996 and the same thing happens. I had a total spazo attack. Now, I'm aloud to
say, "spazo", because I am one, in the same way Tom Cruise can say, "Short arse
psychopathic gay boy."
(Laughter)
He is one. So I went to see this neurologist. Now, if you’re not familiar with
neurologists, a neurologist is someone who went to university for so long, he doesn't
know how to talk to girls.
(Laughter)
He said, "Go and get an MRI" so I went and got an MRI. Have people here had an
MRI? Yeah. Yeah. So you lie in this cigar-shaped tube and it’s not claustrophobic at
all, and it took a photograph of my brain which is not at all freaking out me, and so I
take the photo of my brain to the neurologist and he pointed at these little white
spots on my brain and he said, “Do you know what those are?” And I said “Uh huh,
that's cocaine residue”.
(Laughter)
He said, “No, it is not, they are tiny, tiny tiny little scars, they’re clusters of scars,
we call them scleroses, and because you've got a lot of them we call it multiple
scleroses”. And I said, “Wow, there are lots of them so you call it multiple. Where do
you get your ideas?”
(Laughter)
“I mean it is not from girls, obviously.” He said, "You've got MS.” MS! Well, I had to
sit down, which is okay because I was already sitting down, and because I had MS I
couldn't stand up anyway. He said, “You've got MS, don't worry, the good news is it
doesn't kill you. The bad news is it doesn't kill you.” And I asked him then, “Is it
because I'm a comedian that you think saying stupid things like that is going to
make me happy?”
Well, I left those offices, and ever since then, of course, I have been dealing with
this MS thing. I kept it quiet for a long time but eventually I was walking with a
walking stick, and people kept asking me, "What’s wrong with your leg? What’s
wrong with your leg?" And, you know, I had to make up excuses. I told one guy,
7
“What’s wrong with my leg, I got bitten by a shark”, and he went, "Must have been
a pretty small shark".
(Laughter)
No matter what excuses I came up with, didn't work. One guy said, "What’s wrong
with your leg?" I said, "Iraq", he said, "Oh, that's crap" and I said, "Okay, it’s crap",
and he said, "Oh it’s real?" So then I went on Good News Week with little Paul
McDermott and I, you know, I told the world about this thing, and you know the
good thing is, that, you know, I thought everybody would be so sympathetic, but
since I, you know, announced to the world that I have MS, I haven't received any
sympathy at all. I said I haven't received any sympathy at all. Thank you so much!
That's great! Because that was spontaneous!
(Laughter)
So these days, I had to change my life. You have to, you know, I couldn't be a stand
up comedian any more so I became a sit down comedian. It’s a whole new thing. I
traveled the world and I show people how to write sitcoms, how to write comedy
and I do a comedy show called Carry a Big Stick, and the good news is, I'm
finishing, hopefully, if I can keep typing with these useless hands, my book called,
Carry a Big Stick, which is about carrying a big stick. I like to keep things simple.
So I am keeping busy. It’s very important to stay that way, and I should tell you
that all the money raised from my book will be going into the medical research of into Jager bombs.
(Laughter)
Why do they hurt the next day?
(Laughter)
There has to be an answer. But also I'm going around, and I'm trying to tell as many
people as I can that the NDIS, DisabilityCare, is going to change everything for
everyone, especially people who are disabled. But everyone's life is going to be
affected by this, because we have such a wonderful country that is now taking
charge of one of the most difficult problems any country faces, and that is helping
people who sometimes can’t help themselves, do every little thing. So it’s going to
be a wonderful time, it’s going to be a period where there will be mistake, but look
at this hair!
(Laughter)
You know, we all make mistakes! But it’s going to be a great adventure. Now I will
be back later as the evening goes to introduce people, and to keep the show rolling,
but for now, that's basically my story. If you want to comb and ask me any
questions, I will be running as fast as I can from the building, or I’ll be sitting down
here, you’re more than welcome to come and say hi. Thanks very much for your
time; entree is on its way. I'm Richard Wilkins!
(Applause)
8
TIM FERGUSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, the show continues. So calling all presenters, if you’re going
to be presenting on the stage, now is a good time to slowly start making your way
forward.
Well, it’s time now to introduce the Practical Design Fund projects. As you've heard
earlier today, the Australian government has provided ten million dollars for the
Practical Design Fund. So let's, let’s hear it for that ten million dollars! We love that!
(Applause)
Thank you to the government! That's fantastic. These are projects around the
country that will help people, that will help organisations, and the disability work
voice, the transition to DisabilityCare Australia, which is a gigantic undertaking.
Tonight we will hear about two of these projects. The first is from Carpentaria
Disability Services. The organisation is located in Darwin and works across the top
end of Australia. Who here is from Darwin? Yay! Security, there they are.
(Laughter)
Great to have you here, thanks for coming all this way. It is partnered with another
organisation, isee-ilearn to develop stories that will help indigenous people in remote
communities become trained disability workers. The resources can also be translated
into ancient aboriginal languages with the click of a mouse. What a world. Please
join me in welcoming Kim McKenzie from Carpentaria Disability Services and
Christopher Brocklebank from isee-ilearn to tell us more. Take it away Kim and
Christopher.
(Applause)
KIM McKENZIE:
Hello. We ready to go? Ok. Let's imagine that you want to become a disability
worker, but to get your qualifications you need to be able to read books in
(inaudible) and answer questions in (inaudible). You’ll need to know the meaning of
words like (inaudible). That means to walk while twisting your foot and you make a
squeeky sound in the sand. Or maybe a word like (inaudible), that means to make a
decision but for somebody else.
And you’ll also be told to do things in your training that are unheard of in your
community, and sometimes go against your culture. If my auntie says she doesn't
want to walk, I can’t negotiate with her. That's, that’s very rude. Individual choice?
Well, my family show they care for my disabled sister by making all the decisions for
her. Pads? How do I throw them away? We don't have a garbage service here.
Perhaps you can see now why at this time there are only a handful of aboriginal
people from remote communities who have training in DisabilityCare. Aboriginal
people transfer knowledge through stories. In our project we took ten units of
competency that are required to obtain an Australian Certificate 3 in Disability, and
we turned them into stories. The stories are about life on a typical indigenous
community, they are a bit like a soap opera, some stories are funny, some are sad.
All are designed to be entertaining, so you can sit down in the evening, when it’s
cool, and you can watch them with your family on a laptop, or an iPad or a mobile
9
phone. The stories are available now to anyone at any time via the Internet, through
the open access, "I Talk" library. Have we got a picture of the I Talk, of the I Talk
library? Great. Okay.
Each story contains elements of learning that are required to pass the unit of
competency. There’s a mapping document accompanying each story that highlights
these elements. Of course, we're not saying that you can just see the story and
have the knowledge, but our stories start many conversations about important
things like what you should consider when you give someone a wash, working in a
routine, the right way to give medicine safely, listening to people. You’ll also learn
how to conduct oral hygiene on a four-meter crocodile, but that's another story.
But what about language? In the Northern Territory today there are 27 different
aboriginal language groups. Within each group there will be many distinct dialects.
And it was, it was a surprise to me when I first went to work in remote communities,
how little English is spoken. And that's where our project partners, the I Talk library,
or isee-ilearn, come in. Each of our stories can be translated by people on the
community into their own language with just the click of a mouse. You’ll see a
demonstration of how that really neat piece of software, I Talk software, works, just
at the beginning of our film.
So, what will our training system, our stories, change for disabled people in remote
aboriginal communities? It’s pretty simple. If there are more aboriginal people with
training in DisabilityCare, it means more aboriginal people with disabilities can stay
living on country with their families, there will be better care outcomes for disabled
people living in remote communities, and we can please get away from the crazy
situation that exists at the moment, where people are flown in from Adelaide,
Sydney, Perth, to work in remote care centres. Aboriginal people have a right to
receive appropriate training and mentoring so they can work in these jobs.
When you work in disability services in the Northern Territory there are two things
that really break your heart. And the first are aboriginal people with disabilities who
have become stuck living in supported accommodation services in town because
their home communities do not have staff or services to care for them. It’s almost
another stolen generation. Connection to family and country are life blood for
traditional aboriginal people but unfortunately I have seen people just waste away,
quite literally die of a broken heart, when year after year passes, and they realise
they will never again see the (inaudible) wetlands or sit with family beside a fire
looking at stars telling stories.
The second heartbreaker is receiving disabled people from remote communities for
respite care in town services. It’s not unusual to welcome (inaudible) who just need
a better level of care. They have got bed sores, chronic urinary tract infections, toe
nails that impede walking, infected teeth, along with contractures and muscle
wasting that just sap independence. And let's imagine you live in (inaudible), you
only speak (inaudible), you live in a camp on the beach with your grandma, and
you've got an intellectual disability. Your life has always been this way. One day,
some white fellas come along and they say, "You need respite care", so they put you
on an aeroplane, send you to Darwin to sleep in a strange house with people who
can’t understand you, they give you horrible food, and then the first thing they do is
entertain you with a visit to a crocodile park. What exactly are these aliens planning
for me?
(Laughter)
10
The National Disability - DisabilityCare Australia - will create unique opportunities for
aboriginal people trained in DisabilityCare to gain paid employment in their own
communities, but please, can we do the training in an appropriate way? A bit more
lively than just flying into the community every two months, handing someone a
unit of competency saying, "Finish this", and then coming back several weeks later.
A way that doesn't just tick the boxes, but actually creates a learning conversation,
what I can teach you and what you can teach me. A story.
So come and see us at our booth. As I said, you’re all welcome to use the resources
that we've created. We are delighted to have the opportunities to put them together,
and we want as many people to use them as possible. Our story tonight is about
dementia, but keep in mind that early ageing of aboriginal people, dementia is found
in people from about 45 years onwards, so thank you so much for the opportunity.
It’s all about working together, and that's what we'll do in the future. Thank you so
much.
(Applause)
TIM FERGUSON:
Okay. So ladies and gentlemen, once again, let's hear it for Kim McKenzie and
Christopher Brocklebank.
(Applause)
From beautiful the top end of Australia.
CHRISTOPHER BROCKLEBANK:
And we’d just like to show you a quick story called, "Love in the time of dementia".
Have you ever been in love?
So I’ll open up the I Talk story, and put it into edit mode. I’ll just get myself a
speaker button, put that there, and we'll have a listen to the English.
(Video plays)
And we'll go to record that.
(Video continues to be played)
And listen. Is that okay?
(Video continues to be played)
Great. And then we'll just move on to the next page to do the next speaker buttons.
(Video continues to be played)
TIM FERGUSON:
That certainly was a love story from the great people at isee-ilearn, and what an
amazing facility that is. So once again, let's hear it for Fabulous Love Story, and
isee-ilearn, and thank you Kim and Christopher.
11
And while we're up here, let's, please, thank our AUSLAN interpreters, this is Paul
and that is Michelle, and Susan is also part of the team.
(Applause)
She’ll be up soon. And they are legends. That's how you say, "Legend".
(Laughter)
Our second project tonight is by Speak Out Tasmania, down the other end of the
country. Where are the Tasmanians? Okay, we’re going to need a lot more security
now.
(Laughter)
Now welcome to our country!
(Laughter)
Speak Out Tasmania – I’m in real trouble now. Speak Out Tasmania provides
independent advocacy to people with disability all around Australia for its practical
designed fund project it worked with young people with intellectual disability to
make an animated DVD and other resources to help them learn about making
choices and decisions.
We are joined tonight by Julie Butler and Dominic Vittori, advocates from Speak Out,
and also Coleena and Matthew Spurling, members of Speak Out to tell us more.
Please make them very welcome.
(Applause)
COLEENA SPURLING:
Hello, I'm Coleena. I want to introduce you to Matthew, Julie and Dominic. We're
from Speak Out Tasmania. Speak Out is an organisation that helps people with
disabilities to have a voice.
DOMINIC VITTORI:
Thank you.
(Applause)
As Coleena mentioned, we are an advocacy organisation, and we also have a
membership of self-advocacy members of over 300 people all across Tasmania. Our
project was designed to help young people with intellectual disabilities to learn about
making choices and decisions.
Tasmania is a launch site for young people 15-24 years old. Our focus group
involves 70 young people with intellectual disabilities, representing about 10% of
this launch group. The majority of young people in our focus group live, lived at
home with their parents or carer. We also conducted our online survey of parents so
that we could compare.
So what we have learned, we have learned that young people had limited
12
opportunity and experience in making choices and decisions. One of the examples I
want to talk about is the choice of clothes. When we're asking people about
decisions about what clothes do they wear, they all said yes, they did make the
decisions. However, when we explored this a bit further, it became apparent that the
clothes were actually bought for them, they chose them from the cupboards at
home. The majority of young people didn't even go to the shop. However, they
indicated to us that they would like to do so. We found this experience replicated in
many other areas of their lives, in what time to go to bed, what to do on weekends,
and in many different areas of their lives. I will pass on to Julie now.
JULIE BUTLER:
One of the things that we did was we developed a four-minute DVD using animation.
The key messages of the DVD were developed by the young people themselves. The
animation style and the characters of Casey and Reece, that you’ll see a bit later,
was tested on the young people, and they really liked the style of animation and
they really connected with the characters. And they, and we, can see lots more
applications for Casey and Reece in the future.
You can find the DVD on YouTube, if you search Casey and Reece. And one of the
other things that we did was we developed a number of worksheets, or things to
work with young people with. These can be used by anyone who supports young
people to build their capacity to make decisions. There’s just a couple of them.
These worksheets are based on the key messages from the DVD, and here Casey
and Reece are asking young people to think about who it is that they trust in their
lives to help them make decisions, and also what decisions they would like to be
more involved in.
Once we engaged young people in this process they readily provided examples and
there were many areas of their lives where they wanted more say. These sheets are
designed to be, to support and encourage young people to build their capacity to
make decisions and to see decision-making as an ongoing process where they start
with small decisions like what to have for breakfast, and then they move on to larger
decisions like service selection. The idea here is that young people have an
opportunity to identify what is important to them in selecting their services and
supports, and again, it was these ideas came up from the young people.
CASEY:
Hi, I'm Casey. I want the people who support me to treat me like an adult, see me
as the boss of my own life, really listen to me, help me to do things with people my
own age.
(Applause)
JULIE BUTLER:
And then Reece invites people to add their own ideas. So this worksheet is a, is a
blank text document so you can put in your own text and, in the conversations that
you have with young people around lots of areas, around decision-making and
choice. We've got a poster and, that promotes the DVD and we've also got a work
book with activities around self-determination that people can work through with
young people.
13
So, Matt, when all these people out here see the DVD in a minute, will they
recognise anyone?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
Yes. They will recognise mine and Coleena’s voice as Casey and Reece
JULIE BUTLER:
And how did you do it?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
In a box with a microphone.
JULIE BUTLER:
So you sat in a box with a microphone?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
Yes.
JULIE BUTLER:
And a script?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
Yes.
JULIE BUTLER:
And you got paid?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
Yes.
JULIE BUTLER:
That's not bad work. (Laughs)
(Applause)
So what feedback are you getting from people who have seen the DVD so far?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
I have had my friends and family say it’s nice, good, and funny.
14
JULIE BUTLER:
Have they learned anything?
MATTHEW SPURLING:
They learned about things to do with decisions.
JULIE BUTLER:
Okay.
MATTHEW SPURLING:
This is our DVD. We hope you like it.
JULIE BUTLER:
And we hope the technology works!
(Applause)
(Video plays)
(Applause)
TIM FERGUSON:
Well, great decision! Thanks everybody and congratulations on a great DVD all the
way from beautiful Tasmania!
(Applause)
And seriously, Tasmania is part of Australia and it is possibly the most beautiful
place in Australia. If you haven't been to Tasmania, go. You have Freycinet, there’s
Cradle Mountain and there are people, if you get lost, grab yourself a map of
Tasmania if you don't have one already. Hands up if you've got one?
(Laughter)
And half the hands in the room go up! Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to
take a break now and have some dinner, but once again, please thank our special
guests and speakers for their tremendous audio visual presentations.
(Applause)
Thank you. Enjoy your meal.
15
TIM FERGUSON:
Hey, ladies and gentlemen, did you enjoy dinner? Hooray! Let me hear you roar!
(Cheering)
And you can do a Mexican wave. I went to Mexico, and this is how they wave, so
give a Mexican wave. Yes, just like ours really. So, it is time now to hear from one of
the most important, crucial and exciting people involved with this whole gigantic
project. I'm delighted to introduce Graeme Innes back to the stage. I know many of
you heard Graham speak earlier today. Tonight Graeme is going to share with us
two videos from Twenty Years: Twenty Stories, a DVD that was produced to
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act, can you believe
it? Will you please join me in welcoming the fantastic Graeme Innes.
(Applause)
GRAEME INNES
Well thanks very much, Tim. Important, crucial and exciting, that's a bit to live up
to, I’m a bit concerned. And thank you to all of you, it's not often that people have
to put up with me speaking twice at the same conference but it’s ok, I promise you I
won't speak as long as I did this morning, and Tim has promised to hit me with that
big stick that he carries if I do.
Twenty years ago I sat as a young and keen lawyer across the table from a minister
in the Keating Government, Brian Howe, the Deputy Prime Minister, advocating for
the Disability Discrimination Act. And as one does, when one’s a young and keen
lawyer, I explained in probably far too much detail all the legal ramifications of this
law and what the government would be able to do and wouldn't be able to do and
what we’d put in the draft and why we’d put it in there, and after about twenty
minutes when I hadn't actually heard a yawn but I could sort of feel one coming at
me across the room, he asked me for - he said - he asked me for a story. He said,
"Tell me, who, who lives in my electorate in Melbourne, who has a disability, who
will this help?" And pleasingly I had received some good advice from someone and I
had prepared a few stories and I was able to tell him, and he and other ministers
piloted the Disability Discrimination Act through the Australian Parliament. But it
taught me one very important thing and that is the value of a story. And what an
important part they play in law and in policy and in many other aspects of life.
The Disability Discrimination Act was 20 years old in March of this year, and we
thought it was appropriate to tell twenty stories around the legislation, some of
change, some where change is still needed. Why did we want to tell these stories?
Well, we wanted to encourage more people with disability to use the law to change
their lives, and the lives of many others, and we also wanted to raise the awareness
in, amongst the general community of the barriers faced by people with disability.
I'm really pleased that we’re going to have the chance to see two of those stories
tonight.
They tell the stories, so I won't, but, and of course, they are captioned and they’re
audio described, and they’re all on YouTube, so my challenge to you tonight, to all of
you, and you know, I've got a bit of a history of making challenges - thanks very
much, Bernie - my challenge to all of you is not just to go home and watch the rest
of these stories on YouTube but to use social networks, your Facebook, your Twitter,
your LinkedIn, whatever it is, to share them with other people because if we’re
16
going to achieve change in disability and continue to achieve change, we have to get
those stories out there.
We’re going to see two films tonight. The first is called Reaching Out and the second
is called Let Me Win. So as I said, I won't tell the stories, let's see the films right
now. Thanks very much.
(Applause)
(Video plays)
(Applause)
TIM FERGUSON:.
So let's hear it for Twenty Years: Twenty Stories.
(Applause)
Okay, well, it’s brought us to the end of our evening except there is about to be
dessert and there's going to be tea and coffee and talking. We’ll go for a while, but
make sure you don't stay up too late because tomorrow morning events will start at
8.30am sharp and we will be filming in the morning. We will be getting intense
close-ups of everybody's face.
(Laughter)
So make sure you put on as much make-up as you can, because cameras will be in
the room but if you can, yes, turn up by 8.30 sharp so that we can get started
without you having to walk in front of the camera.
It’s been great being here tonight and one of the great things here is not so many there are so many disabled people that I've met and people have been coming up
and saying hello, and it's great to connect with everybody. It's also great to meet so
many people who are going to be putting this DisabilityCare organisation together,
and the template for this is gigantic. It's going to take hundreds of people and a
huge amount of effort, but possibly the most important people here tonight are the
families, the parents, the guardians, the spouses, the partners, the carers, so can
we hear it for the carers who are here tonight.
(Applause)
Hey, and see it too. Yay! Thank you very much especially to you. I know I couldn't
get by if I didn't have my wife telling me to push my own damn chair! (Laughs)
(Laughter)
So thanks very much, my name is Tim Ferguson, because I think it's gone pretty
well..
(Laughter)
But I hope to see you all in the morning bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and smothered in
make-up. I will be. Thanks very much for your fun tonight. Lovely to meet you all.
17
(Applause)
Woo hoo, hey!
(Applause)
And thanks to our Auslan friends, who are legends. He’s done it again.
(Laughter)
Thanks, everyone.
(Applause)
18