This year’s Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week highlights a very important message: Accessibility equals opportunity.
Access is not only about physically accessing venues and services, it’s about providing a comprehensive, accurate information for people to be able to find quickly and easily.
Information is key to making society a better, more inclusive, place and empowering everyone within it.
As businesses and tourism destinations recover from the impact of COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to provide people with spinal cord damage the opportunity to participate in and contribute to their local communities.
When a community is accessible, everybody wins.
During the week we will be updating you with information to empower you to make more informed choices and things you can do to help pave the way to better accessibility.
Here are some tips and recommendations:
- Advocacy is one of our most powerful ways to make sure that people know how important access is, whether out and about out in the privacy of our own homes. SCIA’s Policy and Advocacy team is always on hand to advise you on systemic, individual, family and self advocacy access matters.
- Do you have a public access concern? Don’t wait. Approach your local council and ask to speak to a disability access officer, or someone who is specific to disability access and inclusion. Find your local council contact information for New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Tasmania. Our Policy and Advocacy team will be able to assist you making contact with your LGA if needed.
- Our Peer & Family Support team share their thoughts about how access has changed for them since their injuries. Watch their video.
- Want to know about the National Disability Strategy? Read the Australian Local Government Association’s Disability Inclusion Planning – A Guide for Local Government
- Knowledge about accessible travel accommodation is extremely important. Accessible Accommodation covers accommodation for all mobility needs.
- Beach accessibility is one of our most popular topics. Everyone deserves to be able to access public spaces. Accessible Beaches have provided a comprehensive directory to accessible beaches right across the country.
- Accessibility to specialised services, such as exercise physiology, is incredibly important. NeuroMoves Adelaide client, Hayley Sands, shared her story about how our NeuroMoves service helped her after her spinal cord injury.
