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Auslan
What is our research about?
This report is about research on the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building program.
We usually call it the ILC program.
Your capacity is your ability to do something, the skills you have, and knowing the right people who can support you.
The ILC program gives grants to organisations that support people with disability.
A grant is money from the government to pay for important work that can help others in the community.
We asked some researchers to look at data about the ILC program.
When we talk about data we mean facts, information and records.
Research helped us understand:
- The ILC program, and
- What people with disability think is important.
Why did we make the ILC program?
We made the ILC program for two reasons.
Firstly, so governments can follow their strategies for people with disability
A strategy is a plan of what we will do to make things better.
Secondly, to help the National Disability Insurance Scheme (the NDIS) last a long time.
The NDIS is a way of providing support to people with disability around Australia.
Our research can help us understand:
- How to work better with the community, and
- What parts of the ILC grants program need to work better.
What challenges do people with disability face?
Most people with disability face challenges in Australia.
They face these challenges because the Australian community is not always inclusive.
When the community is inclusive everyone can take part and feel like they belong.
A lot of people in the community don't have good attitudes about people with disability.
Attitudes are what you think, feel, and believe.
Some people with disability don't have chances or opportunities to have a job, get paid, or take part in the community.
Mainstream services are for everybody in the community to use.
They include health, transport, and education.
There are things that stop people with disability from using mainstream services.
For example, education might not be inclusive.
It is also harder for some people with disability to take part in the community, because there's something else that's different about them.
For example:
- People who don't speak English,
- Women with disability, and
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability.
What can the ILC program do about these challenges?
Making Australia more inclusive will take a lot of work, but the ILC program can be a big part of what we are trying to change.
The ILC program can help to change community attitudes towards people with disability.
It can make the community more inclusive, and can stop the challenges people with disability face.
What else is important for people with disability?
It's important for the ILC program to keep supporting people with disability, who don't take part in the NDIS.
We will look at supports and services for people with disability who don't take part in the NDIS in each state and territory.
This will help us work out what supports and services are missing for people with disability.
We think the ILC program can help fill these gaps.
It's also important for the ILC program to focus on building the capacity of organisations run by people with disability for people with disability.