A Voice for Young People with Disabilities: Introducing the Youth and Disability Advocacy Service

The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic), in partnership with Youthlaw and the Disability Discrimination Legal Service has been funded by the Department of Human Services to establish the Youth and Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS). To date, the service has undertaken a consultation phase to find out what young people with disabilities would like from the service. Through these consultations, it became clear that young people with disabilities wanted the service to give them an opportunity to speak out on the issues that were of concern to them. Issues that came out strongly in the consultation were around the lack of accessible recreation for young people with disabilities and the problem of bullying in schools.

The service has now entered the setup phase with the employment of a coordinator for YDAS, Dr George Taleporos who will establish, promote and run the new service. George will be primarily involved in systemic advocacy for the service, however, in the second half of 2006, the service will commence providing individual advocacy. It is expected that the individual and systemic advocacy will complement each other to provide the best outcomes for young people with disabilities.

George has extensive experience in disability advocacy. One of his first tasks is to set up a steering committee of young people with disabilities to ensure that the work of the service is relevant to them and that it is actively addressing their advocacy needs. "This is a fantastic opportunity for young people with disabilities to get involved in advocacy. In my experience within the disability advocacy sector, I have found that it is rare to find a person under 25 who is actively involved in disability advocacy and this new service will work to change that." George said.

For a young person with a disability with an interest in disability rights, membership of the steering committee of YDAS, is an opportunity to increase their skills, work in a team and participate in disability advocacy. The work of the committee will involve developing policy and campaigns that will increase access for young people with disabilities in a variety of areas including buildings and transport, information and technology, schools and universities, support and the equipment, sport and recreation, as well as shows, pubs and clubs.

Members of the steering committee will decide, with other young people, what issues they would like to address and what action they would like to take. For example, the committee may decide to develop a campaign to reduce bullying in schools. Together, they will prioritise what is most important to young people with disabilities.

For more information about the service, please contact:

George Taleporos
Phone: 03 9267 3755
Mobile 0412814851
email: gtaleporos@yacvic.org.au

Individual Advocacy at the Youth Disability Advocacy Service

The Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS) has commenced providing individual advocacy for young people with disability between the ages of 12 and 25 throughout Victoria. Michelle Bowler is the Individual Advocate for YDAS. Michelle can support young people to access their rights in a range of areas including employment, education, housing, social security benefits, disability services and discrimination and with a wide range of access and equity issues. Michelle works on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and is available to support young people with disabilities with their individual advocacy needs.

For more information about the service, please contact:

Michelle Bowler
Phone: 03 9267 3733 (Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays)
Toll-free number (for callers from outside of Melbourne): 1300 727 176
email: mbowler@yacvic.org.au