Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of people who have died.
The short version
- Australia's disability rights movement grew out of protests in the late 1970s. It became a national force in 1981, when disabled people used the UN's International Year of Disabled Persons to organise for themselves.
- Its biggest wins were the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Australia's ratification of the UN disability convention in 2008, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2013.
- There was no single moment like America's ADA. Large institutions closed state by state over five decades, with the last residents leaving some of them as late as 2018 and 2020.
- A royal commission heard from nearly 10,000 people and made 222 recommendations. The federal government accepted 13 of the 172 it was responsible for in full.
- In 2026 Parliament passed a law that changes who the NDIS is for, and disability organisations are warning that the supports meant to replace it may not be ready.
Jump to the timeline: 88 events from 1887 to 2026
On this page
A note on language: We use identity-first language ("disabled people") in our own writing. We respect and recognise the many people and organisations who use person-first language ("people with disability"), which is widely used in Australia, and we keep their wording when we name or quote them.
On 1 July 2013, the National Disability Insurance Scheme opened its first trial sites. Disabled people and their families had campaigned for it for years, and it launched with the support of every political party and every government in the country (NDIS Review).
On 19 August 2026, Parliament passed a law that will change who that scheme is for (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing). Children with mild to moderate autism or developmental delay are to be supported through Thriving Kids, a program outside the NDIS, and disability organisations have warned it may not be ready when those children need it (CYDA).
Neither date is where the story starts. By the late 1970s disabled Australians were blockading offices and disrupting official openings, and in 1981 they stopped waiting for other people to speak for them. Australia never had one big moment like America's ADA. Its rights arrived piece by piece, through a discrimination law, a UN treaty, an insurance scheme and a royal commission, and not one of them has stayed won without a fight.
What is the disability rights movement in Australia?
It's disabled people organising to be treated as citizens with rights, not as objects of charity, care or control. In practice that has meant taking on institutions that kept people for life and charities that spoke on their behalf. It has also meant closing the gaps in law that let schools, employers and train operators shut disabled people out.
A lot of it came down to who got to speak. At the 1980 Rehabilitation International conference in Winnipeg, disabled people could attend but weren't permitted to speak. They walked out and decided to build an international organisation of their own (PWDA).
Closer to home, Joan Hume, a founding member of People with Disability Australia, remembered when a beauty queen was chosen every year to represent people with cerebral palsy and raise money in their name (PWDA). Disabled women took that one on directly. In October 1981 members of the Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective disrupted the Spastic Society's Miss Australia Quest in Melbourne, and protests against the quests carried on through the 1980s (Commons Library). Margaret Cooper, later the first elected chair of Women With Disabilities Australia, counted that fight among the movement's early wins (Cooper, 1999).
When did the disability rights movement start in Australia?
Earlier than most accounts say. Disability organisations go back to the 1890s: Margaret Cooper's history lists the Australian Association of the Blind (1896), the Civilian Maimed and Limbless Associations in Western Australia and NSW (1949) and the Victorian Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Association (1962). Most were built around one disability, and in Cooper's account they campaigned on single issues and were led by experts (Cooper, 1999).
By the late 1970s disabled people were taking to the street themselves. In April 1978 ten members of the Disabled People's Action Forum blockaded a Medibank claims office in Melbourne for an hour. That September about 100 people protested outside Parliament House in Canberra against a plan to tax their allowances, and Treasurer John Howard dropped it. In June 1979 activists disrupted the opening of Sydney's inaccessible Eastern Suburbs Railway (Commons Library). Joan Hume and Genni Batterham were among them (Women and Leadership encyclopedia).
What 1981 changed was scale. The UN named it the International Year of Disabled Persons, with the slogan "Break Down the Barriers" (Women and Leadership encyclopedia). Many of its events were planned by non-disabled people, and disabled activists said so. They started organising separately. A history published by the Disability Royal Commission says advocates "became unified and organised" that year (Commons Library), and People with Disability Australia describes it as the year disabled people began to see themselves "more as a public issue rather than a private problem" (PWDA).
In NSW, activists from the Handicapped Persons' Union formed the state chapter of Disabled Peoples' International late in 1981. That group later became People with Disability Australia (PWDA). In Western Australia, nine people had set up DASH (Disabled Advocates and Self Help) earlier that year, and eight of them were disabled (People With Disabilities WA). Back home in Canberra, the Human Rights Commission Act created Australia's first national human rights commission.
A national body followed. Disabled Peoples' International (Australia) was set up in 1983 with federal government funding, to be run by people with a range of disabilities from across the country. It collapsed in 1995 (Cooper, 1999).
Why did it start?
For most of the twentieth century, Australia's answer to disability was a building. Kew Cottages in Melbourne opened in 1887. Children with intellectual disability were sent to Claremont Mental Hospital in Western Australia, often for the rest of their lives (Find & Connect). The people living in those places had almost no say in how they lived, and that's what the activists of 1981 set out to change.
Out of the institutions
In 1983 a NSW inquiry chaired by David Richmond recommended closing the state's large institutions and building community care in their place (Find & Connect). Two years later the federal Handicapped Programs Review heard from more than 3,000 people, and for the first time its recommendations included disabled people's own views. The Disability Services Act 1986 followed, shifting federal money away from charitable, segregated services and towards community-based ones. After years of lobbying, it also funded advocacy, including self-advocacy. In 1991 the first Commonwealth State Disability Agreement handed a large part of federal responsibility for disability services to the states, and Cooper found disabled people's own organisations were barely consulted (Cooper, 1999).
The closures took far longer than the reports. Reviews in the early 1990s found that governments closed beds but didn't spend the savings on community services. Brian Burdekin's 1993 national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness made the same finding (Inner Sydney Voice).
Western Australia split Claremont Mental Hospital in two in 1972, moving people with intellectual disability into a separate Swanbourne Hospital (Find & Connect). In NSW, Peat Island on the Hawkesbury River housed people with intellectual disability from 1911 until 2010 (State Library of NSW). Queensland's Challinor Centre went in 1998, and Tasmania's Royal Derwent Hospital, known as Willow Court, in 2000. Kew Cottages lasted until 2008, twelve years after nine residents died in a fire there. In South Australia, the last resident left the Strathmont Centre in 2018 and Highgate Park in 2020.
When Willow Court closed, many residents who'd lived there since childhood were sent back to wherever they'd come from, sometimes to families who didn't know they existed. They've never received an apology (Find & Connect).
Shutting the buildings didn't end the exclusion. In 2009 the Shut Out report, drawn from national consultations, found that disabled people who'd once been shut away were now shut out of buildings, schools, jobs and community groups (Department of Social Services).
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992
Disability organisations spent the 1980s asking for national legal protection, and some states moved first. Victoria's Equal Opportunity (Discrimination against Disabled Persons) Act 1982 came into force in 1983 and covered intellectual as well as physical disability (DARU; PROV).
The Disability Discrimination Bill went into federal Parliament on 26 May 1992, and Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe called it "a landmark in achieving human rights for all Australians" (Australian Human Rights Commission). It passed in mid-October with support from both sides, even though the Opposition criticised its scope and cost (People with Disabilities WA), and received Royal Assent on 5 November 1992 (Federal Register of Legislation). The Commission's own publications give both 15 and 18 October as the day it passed.
Elizabeth Hastings became the first Disability Discrimination Commissioner in December 1992, and the Act's main provisions took effect on 1 March 1993 (AHRC). From that day, disability discrimination in work, education, public buildings, and goods and services was against federal law.
How the DDA works
The DDA runs on complaints. Someone who's been discriminated against can complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission, which tries to settle it through conciliation. If that fails, they can go to court. Disability Standards spell out what compliance means for public transport (2002), education (2005) and buildings (in force from 2011).
That puts a lot of weight on individuals. Graeme Innes spent almost two years pushing RailCorp to make audible "next stop" announcements on Sydney trains, then sued it in his own name while he was Disability Discrimination Commissioner. In February 2013 the court found that the missing announcements on 36 of his journeys breached the DDA and the transport standards (PIAC). Shut Out had already named the problem: discrimination law in Australia relies heavily on the people it's meant to protect to enforce it.
Who led Australia's disability rights movement?
Leaders of Australia's disability rights movement
A movement like this has more leaders than any list can hold. These are a few whose work is well documented.
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Joan Hume OAM1947 to 2017
Was teaching English and history in Sydney when a car accident in 1971 left her quadriplegic. Helped found both People with Disability Australia and Women With Disabilities Australia, and kept writing and agitating for the rest of her life.
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Lesley HallActivist from 1981
Protested against the Miss Australia and Miss Victoria quests, helped set up the Disability Resource Centre in Brunswick in 1981, and was later chief executive of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations.
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Margaret CooperFirst chair, WWDA
The first elected chair of Women With Disabilities Australia, and author of one of the first histories of the Australian movement, published in 1999.
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Elizabeth Hastings1949 to 1998
Had polio as a baby and trained as a psychologist. As the first Disability Discrimination Commissioner, she shaped how the DDA was used in its first five years.
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Graeme Innes AMBorn 1955
Born blind. As a newly qualified lawyer he failed 30 job interviews in a year, mostly because employers couldn't picture a blind lawyer. Chaired the Disability Advisory Council of Australia and was Disability Discrimination Commissioner from 2005 to 2014.
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Rhonda Galbally ACBorn 1948
Chaired the council behind Shut Out and helped lead the campaign for the NDIS. Sat on the NDIA's first board and was one of the original Disability Royal Commissioners.
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Dr Alastair McEwin AMCommissioner 2016 to 2019
Former chief executive of People with Disability Australia. The first Deaf person to serve as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, he left the role in 2019 to become a Disability Royal Commissioner.
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Jan DaisleyDied 2017
A founding member of People with Disability Australia and its president from 2010 to 2012, while the NDIS was being argued into existence.
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Faye DruettDied 2016
Another People with Disability Australia founder, who believed disability organisations should be run by disabled people.
The list is short on purpose and it has gaps. If someone belongs on it and isn't there, tell us.
First Peoples with disability
In 1999 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability met in Alice Springs for their first national gathering. In 2000 Uncle Lester Bostock and Damian Griffis began setting up the Aboriginal Disability Network NSW, which was incorporated in 2002. In 2007 it received a $60,000 grant to help build a national body, and that work grew into the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN). FPDN describes itself as the only organisation in the world constituted and governed by Indigenous people with disability. Its own records give its formal start as 2010 in one place and 2014 in another.
Aunty Gayle Rankine, a Ngarrindjeri woman born at Raukkan in South Australia, was FPDN's first chair and spoke for it at the United Nations (FPDN). She described having a disability as an Aboriginal woman as "a double whammy" (Australian Museum). Griffis has pointed out that traditional languages don't have a comparable word for disability.
Disability rights are human rights
Australia signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 30 March 2007, the day it opened for signature. It ratified the Convention on 17 July 2008, ahead of most Western countries (Parliament of Australia). In 2009 it accepted the Optional Protocol, which lets individuals take complaints directly to the UN committee that monitors the Convention.
The Convention treats disability as a question of rights rather than welfare, and Australian policy now cites it regularly. Australia's Disability Strategy 2021–2031, launched on 3 December 2021, is framed as part of Australia's commitments under it.
But a treaty isn't a statute. The Convention hasn't been fully written into Australian law, which is why the Disability Royal Commission recommended a Disability Rights Act. The government has accepted in principle its recommendations to amend the Disability Discrimination Act. Until something passes, a right Australia has promised at the UN isn't one a disabled person can enforce in an Australian court.
Disabled women and girls: the fight over sterilisation
Women With Disabilities Australia started in the mid-1980s as a network of women inside Disabled Peoples' International (Australia), who wanted to bring a feminist view to their male colleagues and to the women's movement (Cooper, 1999; Women and Leadership encyclopedia). It was incorporated on 3 March 1995, run by disabled women for disabled women (WWDA). One of its longest campaigns has been against the forced and coerced sterilisation of disabled women and girls.
In 1997 a report commissioned by the Disability Discrimination Commissioner found that more girls and young women with disability were being sterilised than courts or tribunals had authorised. The federal government tabled its own report on the issue in the Senate in December 2000. WWDA has campaigned on it since around 2000. In 2012 the Senate sent it to an inquiry, which reported on 17 July 2013 (Parliament of Australia).
Fighting for fair pay: Nojin and supported employment
In Australian Disability Enterprises, the wages of many workers with intellectual disability were set by a federal tool called the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool, or BSWAT. Michael Nojin and Gordon Prior took the Commonwealth to court over it. On 21 December 2012 the Full Federal Court found the tool discriminated against them, and in May 2013 the High Court refused the Commonwealth leave to appeal (Federal Court of Australia).
Winning in court didn't change pay packets straight away. Workers kept being paid under BSWAT after the ruling, and it took a class action, settled with the Federal Court's approval in December 2016, to resolve claims for a wider group (Maurice Blackburn).
The NDIS: won together
In 2011 the Productivity Commission described Australia's disability support system as "underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient" (AIHW). The government released the report on 10 August 2011, and it recommended a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Disabled people and their families were already campaigning. Every Australian Counts launched on Australia Day 2011. On 30 April 2012, "Make It Real" rallies were held around the country, and at the Sydney rally Julia Gillard announced the scheme would start in July 2013 (Pro Bono Australia). Reports at the time put the crowds at more than 10,000; Every Australian Counts later said more than 20,000. The NDIS Act passed with bipartisan support, and the scheme opened on 1 July 2013, backed by every party and every government. It covered the whole country by 1 July 2020.
The Royal Commission and what governments did with it
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability was set up on 4 April 2019, more than three years after a Senate committee investigating violence, abuse and neglect in institutional and residential settings called for one (Parliament of Australia). Rhonda Galbally and Alastair McEwin were among its commissioners, and McEwin stood down as Disability Discrimination Commissioner to take the role. Over four and a half years it heard from nearly 10,000 people. Its final report, tabled on 29 September 2023, ran to 12 volumes and 222 recommendations (Royal Commissions).
The federal government answered on 31 July 2024. Of the 172 recommendations it was responsible for, it accepted 13 in full and 117 in principle. It kept 36 under consideration and noted six (Department of Social Services). Calls from some commissioners to phase out segregated schools and group homes weren't among the things it committed to. "In principle" is a long way from a commitment with money and a date attached.
The disability rights movement today
Some of the defending has been over jobs most people never think about. In 1997 the Victorian government cut $651,000 from regional disability advocacy services, and they closed. It only moved to set up a statewide advocacy service after disabled people and their organisations pushed back (Cooper, 1999). In 2014, after the Abbott government cut the Australian Human Rights Commission's budget, Graeme Innes wasn't replaced as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, and his work was folded into another commissioner's. The standalone role came back on 29 July 2016, when Dr Alastair McEwin AM took it up (AHRC).
Most of the fighting now is over the NDIS, and not all of it has been lost. After a campaign against plans to make participants undergo compulsory independent assessments, federal, state and territory disability ministers dropped them on 9 July 2021 (Every Australian Counts). An independent review reported in December 2023, and Parliament amended the NDIS Act in 2024. In August 2025 the government announced Thriving Kids, a program outside the scheme for children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism. On 19 August 2026 Parliament passed the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent the next day.
The government says access rules won't change before 1 January 2028. Disability organisations are worried that children will be moved off the NDIS before the supports meant to replace it exist. As of early 2026, Queensland hadn't signed an agreement to deliver those supports (Grattan Institute).
Has the movement ended?
No. The organisations founded in the 1980s and 1990s are still working, and the arguments over segregated settings and supported-employment pay haven't gone away.
Was the disability rights movement in Australia successful?
In plenty of ways, yes. The big institutions have closed. Disability discrimination has been unlawful since 1993, and the NDIS exists because disabled people and their families campaigned until governments on both sides backed it.
The record also shows how much depends on staying organised. The DDA still relies on individuals to bring complaints, and the UN convention can't be enforced in an Australian court. The next test is practical. When Thriving Kids starts supporting children who once would have joined the NDIS, will the help be there on the day they need it, and who'll be checking?
Australian disability rights timeline
The timeline runs from the opening of Kew Cottages in 1887 to the NDIS changes of 2026: 88 events, each with its source. Where reliable sources disagree about a date, a number or who did what, the entry says so instead of picking a side quietly.
1887 to 1979Institutions and first protests
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Kew Cottages opens in Melbourne
Institutions · Victoria
The "Idiot Ward" of Kew Asylum opens. It grows into Australia's largest and oldest purpose-built institution for people with intellectual disability.
Source: Victorian Government; ABC Hindsight
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Claremont Hospital for the Insane opens
Institutions · Western Australia
Western Australia opens Claremont. Children with intellectual and other disabilities are sent there, often for life.
Source: Find & Connect
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Invalid pension introduced
Funding · Federal
The Commonwealth introduces the invalid pension, giving some disabled people an income of their own.
Source: University of Wollongong
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Peat Island takes its first residents
Institutions · NSW
An institution opens on Peat Island in the Hawkesbury River. It becomes a long-stay home for people with intellectual disability for the next 99 years.
Sources differ. The State Library of NSW says the island housed people with intellectual disability from 1911. Achieve Australia says it opened as an asylum for inebriates.
Source: State Library of NSW; Achieve Australia
-
Claremont Mental Hospital split up
Institutions · Western Australia
The state's main mental health institution since 1903 is divided into Graylands, for psychiatric patients, and Swanbourne Hospital, for people with intellectual disability. Some children had already been moved to Pyrton, a government home that opened in Eden Hill in 1966.
Source: Find & Connect; Find & Connect; Find & Connect: Pyrton
-
Medibank office blockaded
Protest · Victoria
Ten members of the Disabled People's Action Forum blockade the entrance to a Medibank claims office in Melbourne for an hour.
Source: Commons Library; PROV
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Protest stops a tax on disability allowances
Protest · Federal
About 100 disabled people protest outside Parliament House in Canberra against plans to tax their allowances. Treasurer John Howard drops the plan.
Source: Commons Library
-
Eastern Suburbs Railway opening disrupted
Protest · NSW
Activists, Joan Hume and Genni Batterham among them, disrupt the opening of Sydney's inaccessible Eastern Suburbs Railway.
1980 to 1991Organising for ourselves
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Walkout in Winnipeg
Protest · International
At the Rehabilitation International conference, disabled people may attend but not speak. They walk out and resolve to found an international organisation of their own.
Source: PWDA
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NSW chapter of Disabled Peoples' International formed
Organisation · NSW
Activists from the Handicapped Persons' Union form the NSW chapter late in 1981. It later becomes People with Disability Australia.
Sources differ. PWDA dates its founding to 1981 but traces its roots to the union's formation in 1980.
Source: PWDA
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International Year of Disabled Persons
Organisation · International
Disabled activists criticise many of the year's events for letting non-disabled people set the priorities, and start organising separately.
Source: PWDA
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Human Rights Commission Act
Law · Federal
Australia's first national human rights commission is created.
Source: AHRC
-
DASH formed in Western Australia
Organisation · Western Australia
Nine people, eight of them disabled, form Disabled Advocates and Self Help. It later becomes People With Disabilities (WA), constituted on 25 June 1986.
Source: People With Disabilities WA
-
Miss Australia Quest disrupted
Protest · Victoria
Members of the Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective disrupt the Spastic Society's Miss Australia Quest in Melbourne. Protests against the quests continue through the 1980s.
Source: Commons Library
-
Disabled Peoples' International meets in Singapore
Organisation · International
The new international organisation of disabled people holds its first World Congress.
Sources differ. Joan Hume dates the first World Congress to December 1981. Another PWDA history page describes a World Congress in Singapore in 1984.
Source: PWDA: Joan Hume; PWDA: DPI
-
Reinforce occupies a house in Carlton
Protest · Victoria
Reinforce, a self-advocacy group of people with intellectual disability, occupies an empty health department property in Drummond Street, Carlton. After five days the state government hands it over.
Source: Commons Library
-
The Richmond Report
Inquiry · NSW
A NSW inquiry chaired by David Richmond recommends closing large institutions and moving people into community-based care. Its effects on residents and families are still contested.
Source: Find & Connect; NSW Parliament
-
Disabled Peoples' International (Australia) set up
Organisation · National
A national organisation run by people with a range of disabilities is set up with federal government funding.
Source: Cooper, 1999
-
Disabled Peoples International (NSW Branch)
Organisation · NSW
The Handicapped Persons Alliance and the NSW chapter of DPI merge.
Sources differ. One PWDA history page names the Handicapped Persons Alliance. Another says it was the NSW Handicapped Persons' Union.
Source: PWDA: Our history; PWDA
-
Handicapped Programs Review
Inquiry · Federal
More than 3,000 people take part, and for the first time the recommendations include disabled people's own views. The Home and Community Care Act 1985 follows.
Source: Social Policy and Society
-
Rally saves attendant care funding
Protest · Federal
About 60 people rally outside Parliament House in Canberra against cuts to personal care attendant funding. The government extends the scheme for at least six months.
Source: Commons Library
-
Disability Services Act
Law · Federal
Federal funding shifts away from charitable, segregated services and towards community-based ones.
Source: Federal Register of Legislation
-
First Commonwealth State Disability Agreement
Policy · National
Health and welfare ministers agree in principle to a deal that hands a large part of the Commonwealth's responsibility for disability services to the states.
Source: Cooper, 1999
1992 to 2006The DDA years
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Disability Discrimination Bill introduced
Law · Federal
Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe calls it a landmark in achieving human rights for all Australians.
Source: AHRC
-
The DDA passes Parliament
Law · Federal
The Disability Discrimination Act passes both houses with bipartisan support.
Sources differ. Australian Human Rights Commission publications give both 15 and 18 October 1992. People with Disabilities WA says November 1992, the month it received Royal Assent.
Source: AHRC; AHRC: FounDDAtions; People with Disabilities WA; Federal Register of Legislation
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First Disability Discrimination Commissioner
Policy · Federal
Elizabeth Hastings is appointed and takes up the role on 8 February 1993.
Source: AHRC
-
The DDA takes effect
Law · Federal
Disability discrimination becomes unlawful under federal law.
Source: AHRC
-
3,000 rally against service cuts
Protest · NSW
About 3,000 people rally in Sydney against cuts to disability services, with more rallies in Wollongong, Armidale, Port Macquarie and Lismore.
Source: Commons Library
-
The Burdekin inquiry reports
Inquiry · Federal
A national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness finds the savings from deinstitutionalisation haven't gone to community services.
Source: Inner Sydney Voice
-
Women With Disabilities Australia incorporated
Organisation · National
An independent organisation run by disabled women, for disabled women.
Sources differ. WWDA grew out of a women's network inside Disabled Peoples' International (Australia). Margaret Cooper dates its start to 1984; the Women and Leadership encyclopedia says 1985.
Source: WWDA; Cooper, 1999; Women and Leadership encyclopedia
-
Disabled Peoples' International (Australia) collapses
Organisation · National
The national organisation set up in 1983 collapses. The company is deregistered in 1997.
Source: Cooper, 1999
-
Fire at Kew Cottages
Institutions · Victoria
Nine residents die in a fire at the institution.
Source: Find & Connect
-
Report on the sterilisation of girls and young women
Inquiry · Federal
A report commissioned by the Disability Discrimination Commissioner finds that more girls and young women with disability are being sterilised than courts or tribunals have authorised.
Source: Parliament of Australia
-
Victoria cuts regional advocacy funding
Funding · Victoria
The state government cuts $651,000 from regional disability advocacy services, and they close. After disabled people and their organisations push back, it moves to set up a statewide advocacy service.
Source: Cooper, 1999
-
Challinor Centre closes
Institutions · Queensland
The Ipswich institution, which dated from 1878, closes, and the University of Queensland buys the site.
Source: Find & Connect; University of Queensland
-
First national gathering in Alice Springs
Organisation · National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability meet, laying the foundations of the First Peoples Disability Network.
Source: FPDN
-
Willow Court closes
Institutions · Tasmania
The Royal Derwent Hospital at New Norfolk closes. Residents who'd been there since childhood are sent back to their places of origin, sometimes to families who didn't know they existed. They've never received an apology.
Sources differ. Tasmanian Archives gives 30 November 2000. A Tasmanian parliamentary motion says October 2000.
Source: Tasmanian Archives; Find & Connect
-
Sterilisation report tabled in the Senate
Inquiry · Federal
The federal government tables Sterilisation of Women and Young Girls with an Intellectual Disability.
Source: AHRC
-
Kew closure announced
Policy · Victoria
Premier Steve Bracks announces plans to move Kew residents into community housing and redevelop the site.
Source: Public Record Office Victoria
-
Aboriginal Disability Network NSW incorporated
Organisation · NSW
Uncle Lester Bostock and Damian Griffis began the work in 2000. Bostock is president and Griffis executive officer.
Source: FPDN
-
Transport Standards take effect
Law · Federal
The Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport set minimum access requirements for operators.
Source: AHRC submission via APF
-
WWDA submission on sterilisation of minors
Organisation · National
WWDA puts the experiences of sterilised women and girls alongside the legal evidence in a submission to all Australian governments.
Source: WWDA
-
Disability Standards for Education
Law · Federal
Standards under the DDA set out what schools and education providers must do.
Source: AHRC
2007 to 2013Treaty, Shut Out and the NDIS
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Australia signs the UN disability convention
Law · International
Australia signs on the day the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opens for signature.
Source: Parliament of Australia
-
Australia ratifies the convention
Law · International
Australia is among the first Western countries to ratify. The Convention takes effect for Australia on 16 August 2008.
Source: Parliament of Australia
-
Kew Cottages closes
Institutions · Victoria
The last residents move into community housing after 121 years.
Sources differ. The ABC reported the closure in early 2008. Other sources give July 2008.
Source: Victorian Government; ABC Hindsight
-
Shut Out report launched
Inquiry · Federal
National consultations for a National Disability Strategy find disabled people once shut in are now shut out.
Source: Department of Social Services
-
Optional Protocol accepted
Law · International
Individuals can now complain directly to the UN committee that monitors the Convention.
Source: Castan Centre
-
National Disability and Carer Alliance forms
Organisation · National
The alliance will run the Every Australian Counts campaign.
Source: Every Australian Counts
-
Children and Young People with Disability Australia incorporated
Organisation · National
A national organisation for disabled children and young people aged 0 to 25.
Sources differ. CYDA's 2019 annual report gives November 2009. CYDA marked 2025 as its 15th birthday, which points to 2010.
Source: CYDA
-
Kelly Vincent elected
Policy · South Australia
Kelly Vincent becomes the first person with disability elected to South Australia's parliament, and the youngest woman elected to any Australian parliament.
-
Peat Island Centre closes
Institutions · NSW
The last residents leave after 99 years and move to new homes on the Central Coast.
Source: State Library of NSW
-
Every Australian Counts launches
Organisation · National
The grassroots campaign for a national disability insurance scheme begins on Australia Day.
Source: Every Australian Counts
-
National Disability Strategy endorsed
Policy · National
All governments sign the National Disability Strategy 2010–2020.
Source: NSW Government
-
Premises Standards apply
Law · Federal
New public buildings, and existing ones undergoing major renovation, must meet access standards.
Source: AHRC submission via APF
-
Productivity Commission recommends the NDIS
Inquiry · Federal
The government releases the Disability Care and Support report, delivered on 31 July.
Source: Productivity Commission
-
Tasmania's Disability Services Act
Law · Tasmania
Passed after a parliamentary motion linked it to making sure institutional care like Willow Court can't happen again.
Source: Find & Connect
-
Make It Real rallies
Protest · National
Rallies for the NDIS are held across the country. In Sydney, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces the scheme will start in July 2013.
Sources differ. A 2012 report counted more than 10,000 people in six capitals. Every Australian Counts later put it at more than 20,000.
-
Senate inquiry into sterilisation
Inquiry · Federal
The Senate refers involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disability to its Community Affairs Committee.
Source: APO
-
NDIS Bill introduced
Law · Federal
Prime Minister Julia Gillard speaks for the bill in the House of Representatives.
Source: National Museum of Australia
-
Nojin v Commonwealth
Court · Federal
The Full Federal Court finds that the BSWAT wage tool discriminated against workers with intellectual disability.
Source: AHRC
-
Innes v RailCorp
Court · Federal law, NSW
The court finds RailCorp's failure to make audible announcements on 36 of Graeme Innes's train journeys breached the DDA and the Transport Standards.
Source: PIAC
-
NDIS Act passes
Law · Federal
The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act passes with bipartisan support.
Sources differ. Parliamentary sources say March 2013. The National Museum says May 2013.
-
High Court refuses appeal in Nojin
Court · Federal
The Commonwealth is refused special leave to appeal. Workers keep being paid under BSWAT.
Source: Pro Bono Australia
-
The NDIS launches
Funding · Federal
The scheme opens at its first trial sites, backed by every party and every government.
Source: Parliamentary Education Office
-
Senate sterilisation report tabled
Inquiry · Federal
The committee reports on involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disability.
Source: Parliament of Australia
2014 to 2023Defending and reviewing
-
No full-time Disability Discrimination Commissioner
Policy · Federal
After budget cuts to the Human Rights Commission, Graeme Innes isn't replaced and the Age Discrimination Commissioner takes on the role.
Source: AHRC; New Matilda
-
First Peoples Disability Network constituted
Organisation · National
Aunty Gayle Rankine becomes FPDN's first chair. FPDN describes itself as the only organisation in the world constituted and governed by Indigenous people with disability.
Sources differ. FPDN's board page gives 2014. Its 2021 annual report says FPDN was formed in 2010.
Source: FPDN
-
Senate committee calls for a royal commission
Inquiry · Federal
A Senate inquiry into violence, abuse and neglect of people with disability in institutional and residential settings recommends a royal commission.
Source: Parliament of Australia
-
NDIS national rollout begins
Funding · Federal
The scheme moves beyond its trial sites. Full national rollout is complete on 1 July 2020.
Source: Parliamentary Library
-
Standalone Disability Discrimination Commissioner restored
Policy · Federal
Alastair McEwin, former chief executive of People with Disability Australia, takes up the role. He is the first Deaf person to hold it.
Source: AHRC
-
BSWAT class action settled
Court · Federal
The Federal Court approves the settlement for a wider group of workers paid under the wage tool.
Source: Maurice Blackburn
-
Last resident leaves the Strathmont Centre
Institutions · South Australia
The Oakden institution opened in 1971 for 544 "trainees" with intellectual disability. Closure had been planned for the end of 2014.
Source: State Records of South Australia
-
Disability Royal Commission established
Inquiry · Federal
Alastair McEwin stands down as Disability Discrimination Commissioner to become one of its commissioners, alongside chair Ronald Sackville, Rhonda Galbally and others.
Source: Australian Government Directory; AHRC
-
Highgate Park empties
Institutions · South Australia
The last resident moves out of the former Julia Farr Services. The site sells in 2023 for $42 million, with the money going into a trust for South Australians with disability.
Source: SA Department of Human Services
-
Independent assessments dropped
Policy · National
After a campaign by disabled people and their families, federal, state and territory disability ministers drop plans for compulsory independent assessments in the NDIS.
Source: Every Australian Counts; Commons Library
-
Australia's Disability Strategy 2021–2031
Policy · National
The new national framework launches on International Day of People with Disability.
Source: Disability Gateway
-
Independent NDIS Review announced
Inquiry · Federal
The government announces a review of the scheme's design, operation and sustainability.
Source: Department of Social Services
-
Royal Commission final report
Inquiry · Federal
Handed to the Governor-General on 28 September and tabled on 29 September: 12 volumes, 222 recommendations. An updated version is published on 2 November 2023.
Source: Royal Commissions; DRC
-
NDIS Review final report
Inquiry · Federal
Working together to deliver the NDIS makes 26 recommendations and 139 supporting actions.
Source: Department of Social Services
2024 to 2026Redesigning the NDIS
-
Government responds to the Royal Commission
Policy · Federal
Of 172 recommendations in its remit, it accepts 13 in full and 117 in principle, keeps 36 under consideration and notes six.
Source: Department of Social Services
-
Getting the NDIS Back on Track Act commences
Law · Federal
The first major amendments to the NDIS Act following the review take effect.
Source: National Museum of Australia
-
Thriving Kids announced
Policy · Federal
NDIS Minister Mark Butler announces a program outside the scheme for children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism.
Source: AAP
-
National Cabinet agrees reform package
Policy · National
Disability and health reforms are to be phased in from 2026 to 2028.
Source: PWDA
-
Foundational supports agreements signed
Policy · National
Seven jurisdictions sign bilateral agreements. Queensland doesn't.
Source: Grattan Institute
-
Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act
Law · Federal
Parliament passes the Act on 19 August and it receives Royal Assent on 20 August. Its first measures start on 27 August, and it includes the access changes needed for Thriving Kids.
-
Thriving Kids rolls out
Policy · Federal
The government says NDIS access rules won't change before 1 January 2028.
Sources differ. Reports give the program's start as mid-2026 or October 2026.
Source: abilityNEWS; CSMC
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Related on URevolution
- The disability rights movement won the law. Now it has to defend it. The US story, with a 111-event timeline.
Further reading
- People With Disability Australian Protest Timeline, Commons Social Change Library.
- The History of Campaigns in Australia by People With Disability, Commons Social Change Library.
- The Australian Disability Rights Movement Lives, Margaret Cooper, Disability & Society, 1999.
- Two histories from the Disability Royal Commission: Disability in Australia: Shadows, struggles and successes and Agents of our own Destiny.
- The Campaign for Disability Rights, Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.
Seen a mistake?
Published histories of this movement disagree with each other on dates and numbers more often than you'd expect. This one will have errors too. If a date is off, a name is missing or a source says something different, please tell us using our corrections form, or write to corrections@urevolution.com. Corrections will be checked, made and noted on this page with the date.
AI disclosure: AI helped research this article, structure the timeline database and format the page so it's easier to read and use.
