Exploring the Disability Royal Commission’s views on the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in the decision-making and governance of disability services

Abstract

Traditionally, people with disabilities have been excluded from the decision-making and governance of organisations that provide disability-related services. From a human rights perspective, people with disabilities should be involved in all decisions that affect their lives. This article is exploring the Disability Royal Commission’s (the Commission’s) findings on the inclusion of people with disabilities in the decision-making and governance of disability service providers, with a particular focus on findings that relate to people with intellectual disabilities. An analysis of the Commission’s findings and recommendations was undertaken, with reference to relevant Public Hearing reports and other Commission publications. During the public hearings, the Commission was critical of disability service providers that did not include the perspective of people with lived experience in their decision-making and governance. The Commission recognised the capacity of people with intellectual disabilities to undertake governance roles, provided they receive necessary support. The Commission made several recommendations to increase the leadership of people with disabilities within disability-related organisations, including policy development and co-design roles. While the Commission supported the involvement of people with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, in the governance of disability services, specific recommendations to guarantee, facilitate and resource such inclusion were missing.

Keywords:

• Intellectual disability
• inclusive
• governance
• decision-making
• boards

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).