Page 2659 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016

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To assist with raising awareness and further employment inclusion initiatives across the ACT public service, the ACT government will coordinate the establishment of ACT public service inclusion practitioners. As part of current employment inclusion programs and initiatives, support, education and training for directorates has been provided to assist NDIS and job access involvement, leading to funding and development opportunities such as Auslan interpreter services, equipment and training for both individuals and the work area. To promote the ACT public service commitment to increasing the number of employees with disability in the workforce across the ACT public service, employment inclusion targets have been set for each directorate by the head of service, with targets of 3.4 per cent to be met by June 2019.

The ACT government is firmly committed to making sure that all Canberrans can access government information. Improving accessibility, especially in the area of communicating with the community, is really about better engagement and making sure that no-one is disadvantaged by the way that we provide information.

We understand that accessibility is essential to ensure that we provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. One of the ACT government’s main information opportunities is through our online channels. A well-structured online presence offers many people with disabilities unprecedented access to information and ways to interact with the government. Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can effectively use the web. Specifically, web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with our content. One of the ways we demonstrate this commitment is through our mandate to adhere to the web content accessibility guidelines to the AA standard. For example, last week we launched our new community consultation and engagement website, your say. The your say website has been specifically designed with both accessibility and usability in mind. Examples of our accessible design include minimum font sizes, descriptive text images, colour contrast and transcripts for all video content.

We are continually evolving our processes and looking for better ways to communicate with the Canberra community. The ACT deaf community advises that there are around 60 people in the ACT who use Australian sign language, Auslan, as their primary communication mode. The supply of Auslan interpreters is to be considered by the National Disability Insurance Agency as it rolls out the NDIS in the ACT. The NDIS will provide people with disability, including those with hearing impairments, with the opportunity to access a wider range of services and supports whilst allowing individuals to choose the supports they want when they want them.

The number of Australians who are experiencing hearing loss to any degree and the expectation that this number will rise as the population ages highlights the importance of raising awareness of hearing impairment and ear disorders. The ACT government is pleased to support the ACT Deafness Resource Centre to provide information, referral and advocacy services to people with deafness, hearing impairment and chronic disorders of the ear. The ACT Deafness Resource Centre supports people with hearing loss and also seeks to raise awareness of hearing loss in the general community.


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