INTRODUCTION
Critical disability studies aims for changing conventional ideas related to disabled people like tragic victims who need to adjust to the people around them (Grove et al, 2025). This subject works towards worldwide accessibility to all disabled people in terms of right to education, employment, access to resources etc. The key theme is going to be evaluated in this project is to raise awareness about the social injustice faced by disabled people. For this, reflective approach is going to be followed in order to understand own preconception, biases regarding disability. Therefore, project is going to cover human rights for people with disability, along with the issues they are facing. Moreover, reflection is also going to be made on own role in supporting disabled people and strategies to overcome the long term issues.
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Understanding of human rights approaches to disability
Human rights approaches (HRA) to disability implies for every person need to be treated equally and consider as an active subject with legal claims (Hadley et al, 2024). These rights also encourage disable people to equally involve in every aspect of society as their non-disabled peers. Australia approved The CRPD (United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities) in the year of 2008 which identifies the disability as a natural element of human diversity and humankind. Under this, article 19 says people with disability should be provided with the resources to help them living independently and being involved in the community. Likewise, article 16 says that disabled people need to be protected from exploitation, violence and abuse (AHRC, 2025). I have come across to the fact that in Australia, it is crucial for all the organisations whether education, business, hospitals or others need to align their policies with Disability discrimination act 1992 (DDA). This act governs the right of disabled people and provides them equal opportunities as others. This statutory measure also protects disabled people from being discriminated at the workplace (People with disability Australia, 2025). My understanding in human rights reflects the basic rights and independency which every person enjoys their lifetime. However, I have noticed that people with disabilities faced discrimination at every aspect of their life.
I have come to the fact that human rights focuses on the principle of equality for all the people and discard discrimination against disable people in every areas of life including education, employability, healthcare etc. I have also learnt that human rights model appreciates impairment, where government needs to play a crucial role in supporting those with disability (DARU, 2025).
Articulating systemic issues faced by disable people
The key systematic issues which I have found disable that disabled people are facing in Australia mainly include poverty, poor housing condition, poor self-esteem etc. I was astounded to learn that disable people in Australia are living in poor conditions with limited access to resources, people are not yet fully welcome in workplace discussion and have lower employment rate. They are often forced to live in isolation and have minimum access to education as well as employability (Pitt et al, 2024). When I dig into the matter I have found that mental illness due to the social stigma, violation of human rights is the major cause towards disability, affecting quality of life for the people. Along with this, I have seen that due to inequality among the different groups low socio-economic status people are facing huge housing costs, due to this problem of homelessness is increasing (Garcia‐Lee et al, 2024).
Intersectional feminism is another factor that I have come across where I have found that black women generally experiences distinct form of gender oppression to white women. Further, inadequate infrastructure remains a persistent issue for the disable people in Australia. As per Australian human rights commission (2025), in the year of 2022 disable people have reported that they are facing difficulties in using public transportation system. Despite of regulatory efforts in promoting inclusivity in education, people with disability is still facing barriers in education (Australian human rights commission, 2025). Healthcare disparities are also common; I was surprised to know that in 2018 around 7.6% disable people of age 65 or below have delayed their medical treatment due to the cost barrier. At the same time 24% of disable people age 15-64 have faced discrimination at healthcare, they were forced to wait for longer to confirm an appointment with GP (Australian government, 2025).
Own role in supporting people with disability
I would like to support disable people by improvising their social life and encouraging them to enjoy every scope of society (Gur and Klein, 2024). For this I would like to prioritise stress control measure for the disable people experiencing mental distress and assisting them to do basic exercise, meditation to calm their mind. I feel that working voluntarily with NGO’s helps in interacting with disable people, also it offers a chance to identify a cherishable things that gives meaning to disable people’s life (Costa et al, 2024). To support people facing discrimination, disadvantage and inequity at every life phases, I will educate them about their basic human rights. This will help them in raising their voice against such dilemmas (Jenkins and Powers, 2025).
I will also work towards raising awareness in communities to inform people about social stigmas that disable people faced. It will help in providing social interaction opportunities for disable people (van Toorn, 2024).
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Strategies for working towards systems-level change to address the longer-term causes underpinning the problems
The strategies which I believe can be effectual in addressing longer terms causes of discrimination, inequity and disadvantages are discussed below-
Social model of disability: As per this framework disability is socially constructed, where it sees disability as an outcome of the interaction among normal people living with disable people, in such environment, disable people faces communicational, physical and behavioural obstacles. Therefore, it is crucial to change this kind of environment and let disable people to live their life fullest by involving in every sphere of life (PWDA, 2025).
Strong law enforcement: I feel that DDA act is impactful in its approach, but I do feel that inclusive policies need to be introduced at every level. This type of policy offers fair chance to the disable people at employment, provided proper access to the educational resources and encourages their involvement in the policy formulation (Creaser et al, 2025).
Inclusive education system: I feel that providing special learning resources to disable people helps them in completing their education efficiently. For instance extra learning support through lesson plan liaison with health professionals helps in providing a curriculum that supports academic success of disable person (Olawade et al, 2025).
CONCLUSION
From the reflective journal I have developed my understanding in issues faced by disable people at every aspect of life. Exploring human rights helped me in developing self-awareness in me about disable people’s rights, so that in future I will be able to advocate their needs. After learning that disable people are more prone to discrimination due to their health conditions are affecting their life standards. Poor education and employability level restricting these people’s to have quality standards and also exposing them to develop serious health conditions. Overall, I felt that changes in legal system would be helpful in addressing all needs of disable people and making them involve in every aspect of society.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
- Costa, N., Ambrens, M., Delbaere, K., Wilson, L., & Sherrington, C. (2024). A systems approach to aid policy action on falls prevention among community-dwelling older people in Australia. Public Health Research & Practice, 34(1). < https://www.phrp.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/phrp3412405-april-2024-volume-34-issue-1-a-systems-approach-to-falls-prevention-policy.pdf>
- Creaser, A., Dowling, L., Helme, Z., Crowther, J., Casana, L., Williams, R., ... & Hall, J. (2025). Adapting ripple effects mapping for evaluating public health initiatives in complex systems: reflections and recommendations from seven case studies. Evaluation, 31(1), 92-110. < https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13563890241285032>
- Garcia‐Lee, B., Strnadová, I., & Dowse, L. (2024). Researching belonging in the context of research with people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review of inclusive approaches. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 37(1), e13178.< https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jar.13178>
- Grove, R., Clapham, H., Moodie, T., Gurrin, S., & Hall, G. (2025). ‘Nothing about us, without us’: Research priorities for autistic girls, women and gender diverse people in Australia. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 55(7), 2522-2538.< https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-024-06330-5>
- Gur, A., & Klein, M. (2024). Social work supervision in the disability field: a systematic literature review. Social Work Education, 1-22.< https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615479.2024.2319251>
- Hadley, B., Rieger, J., Ellis, K., & Paterson, E. (2024). Cultural safety as a foundation for allyship in disability arts. Disability & Society, 39(1), 213-233. < https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687599.2022.2067468>
- Jenkins, J., & Powers, E. (2025). Listening, reflecting, and protecting: Empathy as a priority for local journalists covering underserved communities. Journalism Practice, 19(4), 709-726. < https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2023.2202648>
- Olawade, D. B., Bolarinwa, O. A., Adebisi, Y. A., & Shongwe, S. (2025). The role of artificial intelligence in enhancing healthcare for people with disabilities. Social Science & Medicine, 364, 117560.< https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624010141>
- Pitt, H., McCarthy, S., Randle, M., Daube, M., & Thomas, S. L. (2024). Young people’s views about the use of celebrities and social media influencers in gambling marketing. Health Promotion International, 39(1), daae012. < https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/39/1/daae012/7604737>
- van Toorn, G. (2024). Inclusion interrupted: Lessons from the making of a digital assistant by and for people with disability. Government Information Quarterly, 41(1), 101900.< https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X23001004>
- AHRC, 2025. About disability rights, [Online]. Available through< https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/about-disability-rights>
- Australian government, 2025. People with disability in Australia, [Online]. Available through: < https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/health/access-to-health-services>
- Australian human rights commission, 2025. Statistics about disability rights, [Online]. Available through< https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/statistics-about-disability-rights#fn10>
- DARU, 2025. Human rights model, [Online]. Available through< https://daru.org.au/daru-publication/how-we-talk-about-disability-matters/how-does-the-human-rights-model-differ-from-the-social-model/>
- People with disability Australia, 2025. Disability discrimination act 1992, [Online]. Available through< https://pwd.org.au/about-us/about-disability/key-disability-legislation/>
- PWDA, 2025. Social model of disability, [Online]. Available through< https://pwd.org.au/resources/models-of-disability/>
