Good Access is Good Business

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Did you know that 1 in 5 Victorians have a disability? This equates to 20% of your potential customer and employee base.

There are some simple things you can do to make your business more inclusive and accessible for people with disability.

Lots of businesses want to be more inclusive and accessible but are not sure where to start. Our Good Access is Good Business resources can help you.

Improving the accessibility of your business benefits everyone, especially people with disability, parents with prams, people with English as an additional language and older residents. It also helps you meet your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 as well as Council’s Local Laws requirements.

The below video has tips from our All Abilities Advisory Committee members to help foster a more accessible and inclusive business:

Resources and training

Checklist: Evaluate your Business

Checklist_Evaluate-your-Business.pdf(PDF, 242KB)

Checklist_Evaluate-your-Business.docx(DOCX, 460KB)

Training resources and more information

Contact your local disability support provider to discuss in-person disability awareness training.

The Disability Advocacy Resource Unit (DARU) offers an online training module in disability awareness:https://disabilityawareness.com.au/ as well as many other courses: https://www.daru.org.au/courses-overview.

The Australian Network on Disability (AND) provides a range of courses including Disability Confidence Training to be able to confidently welcome employees, customers and other stakeholders with disability: https://www.and.org.au/pages/disability-confidence-training.html

More Information

Business Victoria: 'Accessible Tourism: It's Your Business' resource: 
Tourism_Accessibility_Digital.pdf (business.vic.gov.au)

Disability discrimination Act 1992:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04426/latest/text 

Association of Consultants in Access Australia (ACAA): 
www.access.asn.au

Australian Human Rights Commission:
www.humanrights.gov.au or phone: 1300 369 711

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission:
www.humanrights.vic.gov.au or phone: 1300 891 848

or contact the Business team via business@surfcoast.vic.gov.au or 03 5261 0600.

 

Employee Assistance Fund

Employing people with disability does not cost any more than employing people without disability. In addition, the Australian Government provides funding through the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) to support your business in making any required changes. There are a number of local employment agencies that can also help you find and support employees with disability. Visit www.jobaccess.gov.au for more information.

 

Remember - Little changes can sometimes make a big difference.

 

 

 

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