Developing and implementing an action plan is a voluntary, proactive approach to compliance with the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992. It has benefits for both you and for people with disability.
The development and implementation of action plans enhances your corporate image, will assist in delivering services more efficiently and will allow you to access a wider market.
This guide provides information on developing disability action plans with links to examples of action plans for both small and large business.
What is a Disability Action Plan?
A Disability Action Plan is a way for an organisation to plan the removal, as far as possible, of discrimination against people with disability. An action plan identifies ways that you as an organisation can ensure that your goods, services, premises and facilities are accessible and non-discriminatory to people with disability.
A Disability Action Plan should:
- eliminate discrimination in an active way
- improve services to existing consumers or customers
- enhance organisational image
- reduce the likelihood of complaints being made
- increase the likelihood of being able to successfully defend complaints
- increase the likelihood of avoiding costly legal action
- allow for a planned and managed change in business or services
- open up new markets and attract new consumers.
Although the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 defines action plans in regards to service provision, it makes good business sense to also include employment policies and practices to more adequately address your responsibilities under the Act.
How is a plan developed?
The first step to developing an action plan is to have all key people who are responsible for delivering goods and services:
- review current practices to identify any barriers
- develop policies and programmes aimed at eliminating those barriers
- allocate responsibility for each action to a key employee
- devise evaluation strategies to monitor progress against each action
- develop communication strategies.
In a small business, this may be relatively straightforward and you may choose to implement changes rather than formally develop and lodge a Disability Action Plan.
However, in large complex organisations with multiple outlets, the required changes may need to be planned over a period of years and should consider the following:
- Each business unit manager needs to establish how accessible their goods and services currently are for people with disability. This can be done in consultation with people with disability stakeholder groups.
- Actions need to be prioritised to eliminate the barriers that have the greatest impact first.
- Action planning needs to allocate the financial and people resources required to implement the required changes. An action plan that is not supported by financial and people resources is destined to fail.
- Once developed, an action plan can be registered with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Registering your plan assists other organisations to learn from your work and experience, and allows people with disability to see what your business has committed to achieve. See our Related Links for more information.
Examples of Disability Action Plans
The following examples of Disability Action Plans may be useful (please note that these links will take you to an external site in a new window).
If you are a large organisation, visit:
If you are a small to medium organisation, see the Bellington Markets plan on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Register of Disability Discrimination Act Action Plans: