Central Coast Council has adopted its second Disability Action Plan 2021-25, building on the achievements of its first Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2017-2021.
The plan outlines actions that Council will put in place over the next four years to make the region more accessible, inclusive and livable for community members and visitors.
Council Administrator, Rik Hart, said like everyone else, people with disability want to live a meaningful life and the plan was designed to help people living with disability participate in all aspects of community life.
“Thank you to everyone who helped develop this plan, especially those people living with disability, their family members and carers, people working in the disability sector and members of Council’s Access and Inclusion Reference Group, who shared their lived experience.
“The Central Coast Disability Inclusion Action Plan will help develop positive community behaviours towards people with a disability, create a more accessible, inclusive region for people living with disability, including more opportunities to find meaningful employment and improve access to services,” Hart said.
Disability Advocate, Gary Blaschke said he thinks Central Coast Council do not understand the concept of inclusivity.
“I’ve always been critical of their Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
“I was one of the original committee members for the first plan and I left after six months as I couldn’t see anything going forward.
“I encourage Council to reach out to different disability services to see what they recommend and take their advice on board.
“They need to look at the bigger picture and not just accessibility in parks and open spaces, but in our building developments.
“I don’t think Council understands what accessibility is, and they don’t have that firsthand experience of working with people with disabilities,” Blaschke said.
The Central Coast Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2021-25 will be available on centralcoast.nsw.gov.au shortly with further promotion and launch to coincide with International Day of People with Disability on
December 3.
Harry Mulholland