Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Australian Government’s Next Steps in Supported Employment: Consultation on the way forward. WWDA’s submission calls for urgent, rights-based reforms to end subminimum wages and phase out segregated employment, including Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs).
Drawing on lived experience, consultation data and policy expertise, the submission outlines key recommendations to ensure employment reform delivers gender-responsive, inclusive and accessible pathways to open employment for women and gender-diverse people with disabilities. These recommendations include:
- Rights-based reform for equal pay and inclusive, open employment,
- Urgent reform to the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and its mechanisms,
- Co-design and disability inclusion at all levels of policy and employment supports,
- Action on gender-based violence and workplace discrimination, and
- Support for people with disabilities, their families and supporters through the transition away from segregated settings.
With powerful contributions from recent WWDA surveys and roundtables, the submission centres the voices of WWDA members, highlighting what a fair and inclusive future of work must include to uphold the rights of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities.
Read the full submission for more.