Disability Awareness

Disability awareness is an important part of establishing inclusion for people with disability. Often our fears and discomfort about interacting with people with disability is based on lack of knowledge, uncertainties, and stereotypes that can influence your attitudes. It makes sense that the more informed you are the more likely that you will feel comfortable communicating and interacting with someone with a disability at work or in your community. Misconceptions about people with disability are often the result of lack of awareness. Developed as part of the Australian Government initiative, National Disability Coordination Officer Program, Disability Awareness Training is an eLearning training freely available in Australia. Its content is ideal for someone who has minimal or no knowledge of disability, and can be used as a refresher course to be applied across: The workplace: Incorporate into induction training for new or existing staff members. It complements cultural awareness and ethics training programs that you may already have in place. It can help you to achieve social equity targets by building the capacity of your staff to understand disability. The community: Build confidence in your interactions with people with disability, learn tips for better communication, discover where to find out more information about particular disability topics and share your new knowledge with others.