In our latest tutorial with health, community and legal practitioners from around the country, we discussed how health justice partnership (HJP) can contribute to improving health and justice outcomes for people with disability.
Three key themes emerged in the discussion regarding where things need to be improved and how they can be achieved in response to the needs of people with disability. They include planning transitions carefully, taking away one of the barriers that exists to getting legal help and building capability in understanding the needs of people with disability.
1. Plan transitions carefully
People with disability often must navigate poorly orchestrated transitions – whether that be from hospital to home, release from prison to community or from one service to another service.
For people with disability, any kind of transition can be a time where they are left to fall between service gaps, so it’s crucial that transitions are identified and mapped out carefully with the person (wherever this is possible).
2. Take away one of the barriers that exists to getting legal help
When people with disability need legal help and they or their family, friends or supporters think about lawyers, it isn’t necessarily positive.
For many people with disability, past negative experiences with lawyers and the justice system is understandably generalised to all lawyers and the whole justice system. The invisible barrier to legal help starts being built right here.
On top of this, the societal view of a stereotypical lawyer (that they cost too much to afford or they’re unapproachable) can build the barrier even higher. We know that legal assistance is life changing and can be delivered in a trauma-informed, high-quality way by compassionate legal practitioners. But we need to get this message out to people with disability and uphold their right to access to legal help.
3. Build capability in understanding the needs of people with disability
People with disability are not a homogenous group – there is diversity in the disability community as with any community. And with 1 in 5 people identifying as having a disability, you will be working with people with cognitive or intellectual disability, people who are, or identify as, neurodiverse, people with psychosocial disability, people with sensory disability, people with communication or speech-language challenges, or people with a physical disability.
Understanding the unique life experience of each person with disability can help to breakdown stigma and stereotypes, and open doors to important services by not taking a one-size-fits-all, box ticking approach.
It all adds up.
Zooming out – when thinking about ensuring people with disability access legal help when, where and how they need it, integrating legal assistance into services that support people’s health and wellbeing adds up.
Proactive planning and communication between partners can make transitions safer and smoother for people with disability. Having a trusted, non-legal partner in HJP raise the idea of legal help and make the introduction to a lawyer can support people with disability to feel more comfortable to accept working with a lawyer. Understanding that people with disability are not a homogenous group is vital to ensuring access to services and providing person-centred support to patients/clients accessing HJP.
So where to from here? We shared, and are turning to, these resources for guidance:
- People with Disability Australia (PWDA) Language Guide: a guide to language about disability
- Disability Australia hub: a hub to connect people with disability organisations around Australia.
- The Disability Gateway: information and services for people with disability, their family, friends and support workers, to find support in Australia.
- Health Justice Australia’s submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability: A submission in response to the Issue’s Paper: The experience of First Nations People with Disability in Australia.
- Social scripts, Canberra Community Law (CCL) and Autism Spectrum Australia: a series of social scripts and templates for justice organisations.
Continuing the discussion.
We are looking forward to continuing the discussion about how HJPs can respond to the needs of people with disability in future tutorials.
To see what’s coming up, head to our events page. If you’re a health, community care or legal practitioner or advocate in Australia and you haven’t joined the network yet, fill in the form below to receive a range of support, including free tutorials and regular email newsletters containing all the latest health justice partnership news, events, resources, practice tips and reading suggestions.
