Policy and Legislation

Question: Write an essay on Influencing Policy and Legislation. Answer: Introduction In the human service sector, the word policy is slippery in nature at least to some extent. The word or the term policy refers to those authoritative decisions that are being made by both the government and the non-government organization (Writing Policy Proposal. 2016). The government as well as the non-government agencies come up with new set of policies because the policies help the organizations, in achieving their intention. The government policies have huge amount of impact on the lives of the citizen and things like housing and employment of the people, are affected by the government policies that are there in Australia. The government policies in Australia, has a great influence on the social works that are being carried out in the country. Most of the social work agencies carry out their work with the help of the funds that are being provided by the government sector. The local policies that help in providing shape to the scope and the process of service delivery is influenced by the social work at the same time. Social work services, actually, provide shape to the local agency policies. Identification of organisation, group or individual In Australia, people who suffer from disability had to encounter human rights violation almost at a daily basis. There is more than one form of human rights violation, to which the people with disability are subject to (Disability Care and Support - Productivity Commission. 2016). The human rights violation that the people with disability encounter, takes place, because there is the lack of both the legislation and the policies. Thus, they do not receive the amounts of protection that they may have received, and thus they face the problem of discrimination and inequality. There are certain incidents, which took place in the year 2011, which distinctly show the inequalities that are there in the country. The incidents include denial of medical as well as the life-sustaining treatment to the people with disability. It also includes crimes such as rape, and assault, where the lack of legislation and policies allow people with disability, to be the victims of such crimes. The lack of legislation also gives rise to problems like the children being removed from their parents because most of the people equate disability with things like lack of parenting (Fulcher, 2015). Among the number of unemployment that is there in Australia, the people with disability, accounts for the most of the part of the unemployment that is there in Australia. The payment recipients of the full time workers, who have some disability, also face the problem of inequality that is there in the society. Nature, scale and significance of the problem It is true that every person in an Australian community has the right to be treated with dignity but this particular fact is such a fact that has turned out to be false in certain cases. In Australia, many people are suffering from disability, they, and their family and even the caregivers face and at the same time experience disadvantages. Australia has a national ideal and that is fair go, this particular ideal is negated or turned out to be an imperfect ideal, for the people living with disabilities. People, who do not have the first hand experience of disability, do not really want to think that the problem of disability is not their own problem. The problem of disability is the problem that is being faced by the other, and thus it is the problem of the other people. Unfortunately according to different official reports in Australia the people with disabilities are the forgotten people in Australia (National Disability Strategy | Department of Social Services, Australian Government. 2015). Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world but the people with disabilities; living in Australia has to fight for some of the necessities. Some of these are the right to live and the right to work. The families and the caregivers of the disable people living in Australia, although, are not only resourceful but at the same time, they are innovative in nature in as well (Wing Young Man, Llewellyn Wade, 2014). Therefore, these people could easily fight the challenges that they me Analysis of the problem It is true that the problem that the people with disabilities are facing in Australia is such a problem that requires not only the sympathy of the people but at the same time support from the government and the non government levels (20102020 National Disability Strategy. 2016). The National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 is such a strategy that helps in moving a step towards improving the life of the people in Australia. The particular policy is a ten year national policy framework, which had being designed in such a way that it will help in improving the life of the people with disability (Hollinsworth, 2013). The particular policy tries to represent the commitment not only at the government level but at the same time at the industrial as well as in the community also. The particular policy or the approach would help the people with disability, or the disable people, to face these challenges in the present day as well as in the future. Previously people with disabilities used to shut them in, and thus most of the time the problem faced by them remain unresolved. The things changes with the introduction of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020, because, today not only the disable people and their families or their care givers have come out and expressed their problems. According to one of the reports of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020, the people, with disabilities, and their families most of the time experience marginalization (SHUT OUT: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia | Department of Social Services, Australian Government. 2012). The particular framework requires social inclusion framework, which underlies all the programs and the policies. Identification and evaluation of options Pros The National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 framework, include the policy that allows the people with the disability with the right to get acceptance and awareness (section Violations, 2016). The particular policy is effective for reducing the discrimination that is there in the society. The framework encourages in the emergence of those policies that help in removing the societal barriers, so that the people with disability could participate equally with the normal citizens in the country. The particular framework encourages the emergence of those policies that help the people with disability to have an access to the justice. Thus, people could be a part of the legal proceedings at the same time (Recommendations for the 2012 - 13 Federal Budget | ACOSS Paper 179. 2012). Disable people often face violence, exploitation and neglect and thus the particular framework encourages that policy that helps in protecting the people with disability. The people facing heightened vulnerable problems and the disable people with complex needs could find help from the strategy framework, because it encourages such type of legal policies (Walbank Hill, 2014). The particular strategy framework helps in bringing a change in the mainstream services as well as the programs. The framework will bring about a change in the community infrastructure at the same time. Cons The particular framework has encouraged the social inclusion of the disable people in the society but these particular inclusions have the segregation of both the economic and the social factors. Thus, this thing is a drawback to this particular framework, because there is difference between closing the doors and making changes in the policies. Thus, this drawback, of this particular framework, requires improvement and changes, for the better working of the society. Moreover, the women with disability have to face huge amount of discrimination, and the National Disability Strategy has not addressed this particular thing properly. The graph here shows that the women with disability have little access to the higher education in Australia. Thus, the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020, should improve in this particular area. They should work more in this area and encourage the women with disability to be a part of the society. Implications Financial The particular framework helps in providing economic security to not only to the people with disabilities but at the same time, it helps in providing economic security to their family and also to the caregivers. The particular framework provides financial independence to the people with disabilities, along with job and business opportunities. Apart from all these things, adequate income support is provided to those who could not carry out any kind of work and along with everything; this particular policy helps in providing housing support to the people as well. Therefore, these are the main financial implication of this particular framework in Australia. Political The people with disability have to face lots of discrimination the introduction of this particular framework has helped in removing this particular discrimination that is there in the society. The anti-discrimination measures that are there in the society helps in removing that discrimination. The justice and the legislation in the particular framework are structured in such a way that it is not at all difficult for the people with disability to seek protection. Organisational The organizational centres such as the educational centres that are there in the country help in providing early childhood education as well as care to the people (Brett, 2016). Apart from the early childhood education, the people with disability are being provided with the vocational training and at the same time skills regarding any kind of employment should be developed among the individual at the same time. Apart from all these things, life-long learning is being provided to the The health care organizations too, provide support to the people with disabilities. The health care organizations organize programs for the improvement of the health promotion and at the same time it helps in developing an interaction between the disability system and the health care organization. Therefore, previously, the disabled people are not provided with the adequate healthcare support, today things have changed and the health care implication helps in proving that explicitly. Thus, these are the o rganizational implication of this particular framework and the implication shows that this framework has brought lots of changes in the society. Technical The technical implication includes the improvement of the physical environment that is there in Australia. It include the improvement of the public transport as well as the improvements of the basic amnesties that are there for them which, include the pars and the housing as well as the buildings that are there within the country. The technical implication also includes accessing the digital information as well as the communication technologies. It also means that there is the improvement of both in the civic and the cultural as well as the sporting life of the people with disability. Conclusions The lives of the people with disability require certain changes and the transformation and that changes and the transformation is only possible in a society. The legislative policies from the part of the government are the way or rather a step towards including the disable people in the society. The disable people want to have their rights recognized by both the society and the community. The disable people have some of the basic requirements, which include the right to live work, and the right to access the good and the better health care services. They want to participate in the activities in the community and they want that their family and friends to not face any challenges and difficulty in the society. Thus, the things that they require include a particular framework that will help in the development of the policies. The development of the policies will actually, help the people with disability to enjoy these basic rights. It can thus be concluded by saying that the government policies are required for the improvement of the living condition of the disable people and the society, but these are not the only thing. Along with this particular thing, another thing that is required is the support from the society and the community as well, because it is not possible for the government to carry on their work in isolation. Recommendations The proper development as well as the working of the policies is only possible if there is the regular monitoring and the evaluation of the framework that is there. The regular evaluation of the framework will help identifying the drawbacks that are there and accordingly changes could be brought in the whole structure as well as in the whole framework. Initiatives should be taken to help the people to understand the problem so that the people living in the community do not encourage discrimination in any way. Therefore, proper measures should be taken to spread awareness, along with developing policies for protecting the people with disability. References 20102020 National Disability Strategy. (2016). Retrieved 13 June 2016, from Brett, M. (2016). Disability and Australian higher education: Policy drivers for increasing participation. In Student Equity in Australian Higher Education (pp. 87-108). Springer Singapore. Disability Care and Support - Productivity Commission. (2016). Pc.gov.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from Fulcher, G. (2015). Disabling policies?: A comparative approach to education policy and disability. Routledge. Hollinsworth, D. (2013). Decolonizing indigenous disability in Australia. Disability Society, 28(5), 601-615. National Disability Strategy | Department of Social Services, Australian Government. (2015). Dss.gov.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from Recommendations for the 2012 - 13 Federal Budget | ACOSS Paper 179. (2012). www.acoss.org.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from section, S. Violations, H. (2016). Human Rights Violations. Pwd.org.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from https://www.pwd.org.au/student-section/human-rights-violations.html SHUT OUT: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia | Department of Social Services, Australian Government. (2012). Dss.gov.au. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from Walbank, S., Hill, C. (2014). Submission Title: Submission to the National Disability Service The Place for Block Funding in the NDIS Policy Paper Date: January 2014. Wing Young Man, N., Llewellyn, G., Wade, C. (2014). Estimated prevalence and living circumstances of parents with intellectual disability in Australia from selected national surveys. Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney. Writing Policy Proposal. (2016) (1st ed.).