Disability Inclusion - Mary MacKillop Today

Disability Inclusion

Definitions

Disability:

Mary MacKillop Today defines disability as the interaction between a person’s impairment and the attitudinal, legal, physical or communicative barriers that exist within their environment which restrict their realisation of human rights and full participation in society.

Commitment

Mary MacKillop Today is committed to demonstrating inclusion in all aspects of our work practices from our programmatic approach to our human resource management, finance and administration, fundraising and communications.

is committed to providing equal opportunities for people with disability including providing a work environment suitable for people with disability, employment based on merit and adapting the work environment to meet the needs of current staff who may have disability.

Mary MacKillop Today is committed to the inclusion and empowerment of people with disability in all programs.

Focal point

The CEO shall appoint a staff person to be the disability inclusion focal point for the organisation who promotes this important aspect of our work through activities such as staff training, policy revision, tool development.

Guiding principles

Mary MacKillop Today acts in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and upholds the principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ by ensuring people with disability participate actively in decisions that affect their lives. Mary MacKillop Today strives to work with people with disability to promote their human rights and empowerment. We work to promote disability in all of our aid and development activities and ensure that people with disability are part of decision making in all stages of the program cycle.

Programming

Mary MacKillop Today will promote disability inclusion in programming systems and approaches including in program planning, workforce planning for implementation of programs and in each stage of the project cycle.

Mary MacKillop Today adopts a twin-track approach to disability inclusion which includes supporting targeted programs for people with disability while ensuring disability inclusion is mainstreamed as a cross-cutting issue across all programs.

This aims to ensure that people with disability participate actively in decision making at each stage of the project cycle.

Mary MacKillop Today systematically analyses the potential barriers (physical, attitudinal, legal and communicative) to the participation of people with disability during assessments, including analysing barriers that may arise due to the cultural context, and uses this analysis to design and implement programs/projects that address these barriers, maximise positive impact people with disability and minimise potential negative consequences. Mary MacKillop Today acknowledges that there may be an interaction between gender and disability, and takes this into account in its programming.

Mary MacKillop Today monitors and evaluates all projects/programs in order to measure their relative impact on people with disability and uses lessons in ongoing design and management.

Mary MacKillop Today promotes disability inclusion through training and capacity building of employees, partners and other stakeholders. Furthermore, communications with external stakeholders promote disability inclusivity.

Procedure

Complaints

Any complaints related to harassment or discrimination on the basis of disability should follow the reporting procedure outlined in the Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Policy (1.1).