Date: 30 Sept 2019
To Department of Health – Therapeutic Goods Administration
People with Disabilities ACT acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we work and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders past, present and emerging.
Copyright June 2019 People With Disabilities ACT Inc
This publication is copyright. Apart from use by those agencies for which it has been produced, not-for-profit associations and groups have permission to reproduce parts of this publication as long as the original meaning is retained and proper credit is given to People With Disabilities ACT. All other individuals and agencies seeking to reproduce material from this publication should obtain the permission of the Executive officer of People With Disabilities ACT.
Contact person:
Rachel Sirr Executive Officer Phone: 6286 4223 (w) 0410 881 775 (m)
Email Rachel.sirr@pwdact.org.au
About PWDACT
People With Disabilities ACT Inc. (PWDACT) is a disabled peoples’ organisation (DPO) governed by people with disabilities. PWDACT works to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of community life, to remove barriers to our inclusion and to inform the wider community discussion of disability issues by bringing to bear the daily lived experience of people with disabilities. PWDACT advocates from a human rights perspective. PWDACT also conducts its advocacy in an ethical manner. Accordingly, PWDACT strongly supports measures to protect the environment and to promote ideas of sustainability and social responsibility. PWDACT strongly supports measures to fulfil Australia’s and the ACT’s obligations with respect to the UN Goals for Sustainable Development.
PWDACT also acknowledges the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The text of this Convention can be found at: https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf. The most relevant Articles for this submission include Article 25 (Health) and Article 26 (Habilitation and rehabilitation).
Overall, PWDACT supports Option 1A over 1B in order to maximise the information available to people with disabilities, and facilitate more informed decision making around health issues.
We also wish to highlight that information provided through Option 1A available on the Therapeutic Goods Administration website needs to be compliant with the tools and aids people with disabilities may use to aid in communication. Currently the relevant section of the TGA website is cluttered and difficult to use for people who use screen readers, even if it is broadly compliant with web accessibility standards.
This increased level of accessibility is crucial for achieving the wider health literacy aims of Option 1A, and for creating equitable access to vital information.
PWDACT would be keen to partner to ensure any future changes are implemented in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities.
