What is the one thing that people with a disability or people who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing hate the most as a collective? I reckon it’s waking up each day and knowing that at some time and some place today that society has forgotten us. Not deliberately, of course, but simply through ignorance and a good dose of neglect, society forgets us in one way or another virtually every day.

That probably sounds very cynical, but sadly that is just the way it is. I started thinking this because I read that the Federal Government is reviewing the Disability Standards for Public Transport. Says the Government, ” …. the new standards will improve accessibility and support independent travel for a range of users, meaning they can plan and undertake their journeys with a greater level of certainty.”

Did you roll your eyes? I know I did. Through my work I have been involved in at least three reviews of the Education Standards. These reviews are very extensive, and I dare say, expensive. If memory serves me correctly, Disability Standards must be reviewed every five years.

The reviewers nod, uuuummmmm and write it down but nothing changes.

Each review that I have been involved in we basically told the Government that the Standards are not worth the paper they are written on. Each review we told them that Reasonable and Necessary Adjustments can mean almost anything. One person’s reasonable is another person’s not fair. Each time we have told the review that the Standards need to be more prescriptive and that providers need to be compelled to provide. The reviewers nod, uuuummmmm and write it down but nothing changes.

Each review we say providers need to be compelled to provide access by stronger laws that demand access and lead to fines and punitive measures for those that do not comply. Each year we remind the Government that the complaints process severely disadvantages people with a disability and favours providers. Nothing can happen unless people with a disability complain. Each review we remind the Government that the Unjustifiable Hardship clause is systematically abused by providers.

The review is consistently told that the fact that conciliation needs to happen first and that providers are not even compelled to attend is a standing joke. The only recourse if providers do not attend conciliation is court. This means that most people with a disability just give up in fear of being lumped with legal costs. This is a travesty. Each review we say the same things and each review leads to NIL change…. Absolutely NIL!

We go about our business knowing that the laws designed to protect us are not worth the paper that they are written on.

So, when I read that Public Transport Standards are being reviewed, I naturally become very cynical and roll my eyes. Cos the Standards are just nice words written on paper. The Standards are next to useless because providers are not compelled to act unless someone complains. Without fines and punitive measures for providers that will not comply, the Standards are worth next to nothing!

So, we people who are disabled or who are Deaf/HoH tend to wake up each day knowing that there will be a barrier somewhere that is likely to piss us off. Sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. We go about our business knowing that the laws designed to protect us are not worth the paper that they are written on.

I don’t know how wheelchair users feel when they go to a new and spiffy accessible tram stop only to find out that its being served by an inaccessible tram with steps. I don’t know how they feel having to wait at the end of the platform for someone to come along with a portable ramp because none of the carriages are fully accessible.

I was in Brisbane recently. They have beautiful trains. But when you get off there is a little step so that none of the carriages are fully accessible to wheelchair users until someone brings along a ramp. I’m pretty sure that parents with prams find the step awkward as well.

I don’t know how they feel, but I can empathise. In Geelong there was a lengthy train delay and the screen read, “Listen for announcements”. Every Deaf/HoH persons worst nightmare. More than once I have ended up on the wrong train because the platform got changed and it was announced over the speaker. Consequently, I found myself going to an unknown destination. I know the feeling of exclusion when a train just stops in the middle of nowhere and there is an announcement over the speaker which I cannot hear. Likewise at airports when planes are delayed.

I know what it’s like to have to plan weeks ahead to see a movie simply because cinemas won’t provide me and other Deaf/HoH people with full access. I know substandard access too, through the dreaded Craptiview.

Or education online with videos that are not captioned meaning I have to check all of the learning material before I sign up and waste my money. Or private providers that won’t provide disability access meaning that I and other people with a disability only have the options of public university and TAFE.

I know, almost to a certainty, that the disability law is so useless that I have virtually no protection unless I complain and want to risk an arm and a leg in legal fees if I have to go to court! I know that when and if I go to court the providers are gonna scream UNJUSTIFIABLE HARDSHIP and most times the judge will agree with them.

Another meaningless review of the Standards isn’t going to change any of this. We need a strong and proper reform of our disability laws! Give people who are disabled or who are Deaf/HoH strength through a law that will protect them without having to endlessly complain. Give us a society that will provide and design services that are accessible without us having to always ask.

HELLLLLLLOOOOOO, we are over here!!! Or have you forgotten us again?