Disability Royal Commission: WWDA’s Submission on Guardianship and Financial Management

Written by Carolyn Frohmader, Dr Linda Steele, Hope Siciliano, Dr Evelyn Rose, and Emily Gosden-Kaye for and on behalf of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA): Hobart, Tasmania. ISBN: 978-0-9876035-6-2 and

December 2022

In December 2022, WWDA submitted a response on guardianship and financial management to the Disability Royal Commission (DRC). Our response focuses on the equality and autonomy of women with disability.

The response includes seventeen broad recommendations, which are prefaced by a clear call to action for the DRC:

That the Disability Royal Commission must recognise that guardianship and financial management laws and other substitute-decision making regimes, continue to enable violence against women with disability and undermine their equality and autonomy.
That the Disability Royal Commission must make recommendations for guardianship and financial management to be replaced with supported decision-making and other measures that facilitate disabled women’s equality and autonomy, including through deinstitutionalisation, desegregation, and reparations.