Media releases

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) conducted a large online survey of women about their experiences of domestic violence during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the request of the Disability Royal Commission, a separate analysis of women who reported having a long-term health condition was carried out.

The thirteenth public hearing of the Disability Royal Commission will examine the response of a particular disability service provider to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability. The Royal Commission will also investigate how effectively the current systems of funding and oversight of disability services protect people with disability from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

The Disability Royal Commission will hold an additional day of Public hearing 7 on Friday 7th May 2021 commencing at 9am (AEST) to receive submissions on the key barriers encountered by students with disability when trying to access a safe, quality and inclusive education.     

The Royal Commission will hold a one day hearing on 17 May 2021 to examine the approach of the Australian Government and its agencies to the vaccination of people with disability and disability support workers.

People with disability routinely experience being called ‘inferior’, ‘a burden’, or ‘a menace’. They say they are subject to assumptions that they are ‘of no value’, ‘not fully human’, ‘objects of pity’, ‘eternal children’ or ‘better off dead’.

The Disability Royal Commission has published the Overview of responses to the Restrictive practices issues paper.

In a summary of responses to the Disability Royal Commission’s “Employment issues paper” published today, several respondents singled out Disability Employment Services (DES) and raised numerous concerns about their design and implementation.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability wishes to thank Dr Hannah McGlade for her contribution to the First Nations Peoples Strategic Advisory Group.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability extends its congratulations to June Riemer on her recognition as NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year.

A new report published today reveals that in the last year women with disability were more than twice as likely to report sexual violence as women without disability. A quarter of young people with disability reported violence in the last year compared to 11% of those in older age groups. And people with cognitive and psychological impairments reported higher rates of all types of violence compared to people with other types of impairments.