Disability values in Australia
UN Convention
The United Nations Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities was agreed in 2006 and signed in 2007.
You can read it in the link below.
United Nations Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities
Australia ratification, including option protocol
In 2008, Australia ratified the Convention, and also signed up for the Optional Protocol (included in the link above). In essence, the Optional Protocol means that if someone in Australia feels their rights under the Convetion have been compromised, the Australian Government has agreed they can take their concern to the United Nations.
Consultation, and being 'shut out'
Following the ratification, Australia decided to put a National Disability Strategy in place, to advance people's rights and experiences in line with the Convention.
An extensive consultation with people living with disability and their families around Australia showed that there was a shared and deep-seated experience of social exclusion, of people being 'shut out'.
In other words, Australia was failing to live by the values it wanted to stand for. Read the Shut Out report.
Australia's National Disability Strategy
The National Disability Strategy runs from 2010-2020. You can read about it, and read the progress reports, in the link below. It is perhaps fair to say the Strategy has been overshadowed by the campaign for, and emergence of, the NDIS, and Strategy progress isn't obvious.
National Disability Strategy webpage
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
The NDIS is an element of the National Disability Strategy. The Productivity Commission looked at the future of disability support funding, and released its findings in 2011. This paved the way for bipartisan support for a National Disability Insurance Scheme. You can read the report via the link below.
Productivity Commission report: Disability Care and Support