On Tuesday night, every household in Australia is expected to take a moment to complete the 2016 Census.
It’s the first time that the nation-wide survey will be offered online, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has endeavoured to make it the “most accessible and inclusive” one yet.
After taking office as Australia’s new Disability Discrimination Commissioner last week, Alastair McEwin tells SBS that he’s confident a number of measures have been put in place to make the Census accessible to people with disability.
“My understanding is that the ABS has worked very hard to make sure that the Census is accessible,” Mr McEwin, who was born profoundly deaf, says.
“Online videos are available in AUSLAN, Australian sign language, for deaf people…and their website is able to be accessed by people who are blind or have vision impairment.
"Those are two great initiatives that the ABS has done so I commend them.
“However, we are yet to see how the Census will be carried out and I’ve not heard any comments yet.”
While it will soon become clear how effective the measure are, the Census’ online form and website were tested by Vision Australia to ensure they function well with assistive technology. The sequence of content, layout and navigation within the form, has also been designed to contribute to its accessibility.
In addition, people who are blind or have low vision are able to request a Census form in Braille or large print, while an audio version is available via YouTube or on a CD.
For the deaf and hard of hearing meanwhile, information about the Census is available on with closed captions and in AUSLAN.
Alastair McEwin is Australia's new Disability Discrimination Commissioner Source: Supplied
Tackling the subtle discrimination
Although Mr McEwin has only been in the job since August 1, he tells SBS that his priorities as commissioner will start with listening to the needs of the community.
“I’m going to meet with as many disability communities and stakeholders around the country within the next three to four months, I’m going to listen to them and ask them what they think the priorities should be for my five year term," he says.
Attention will also be paid to newly arrived Australians and people who speak English as a second language, with Mr McEwin saying, "all people with disability, no matter their background, no matter where they come from, no matter what level of socio-economic disadvantage they may have, will be on my radar."
Employment barriers for older people and people with disability are also high on his list, and Mr McEwin explains that discrimination in the workforce comes in a number of forms including the far from obvious.
“There is so much subtle discrimination going on,” he explains. “It might be a snide comment that an employer might make about an employee with disability in front of others.”
The ability to commute on accessible transportation, to easily enter their place of employment and have access to housing that is designed for their needs, are also examples of discrimination he describes.
However, Mr McEwin says, “most of [the discrimination] is around attitudes” which he believes, are everyone’s responsibility to change. One place to start is with children and “school programs where they are taught to embrace diversity - not just about disability, but sexual orientation, people from overseas, people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he says.
“Teachers play a really important role in that respect and I urge the government and the education department to think about the way they can work the curriculum and about embracing human rights for people with disability," he continues.
The problem with asking anything
Another broader societal attitude that needs to shift is around the negativity that is often associated with people with disability by the able bodied, Mr McEwin says.
Commenting on questions about the competition of everyday tasks that were asked during the ABC's recent You Can't Ask That episode on people in wheelchairs, Mr McEwin adds, "we need to get away from asking questions that focus purely on just their disability".
"If you have someone in a wheelchair, they have hopes, they have dreams, they hurt, they bleed just like anyone. I think it's ok to ask around things like, what does it mean for you to be employed, but don’t focus specifically on the disability."
Mr McEwin says that the attitudes often start young as "children are naturally curious, but if they see something and they’re taught by the adults around them to focus on the negative, then that’s when their curiosity will be shaped in different ways so again it’s a very subtle form of discrimination."
