Mastodawn

Original toot date: 28 March, 2023

1/8
#TopicTuesday Long Read: Disability Inclusion within Brimbank.
My first question raided at this months council meeting was as follows:
“Brimbank's 2022-2026 Disability Action Plan was released around 4 months ago, yet there is no reference to Neurodivergent people (other than reference to a symbol identifier), let alone any planning to ensure their inclusion in our community. Neurodivergent people should not need to wait until 2026 before their barriers to inclusion in Brimbank events will be considered, so what action is Brimbank City Council taking, to ensure their inclusion is possible at council run events?”

(continued in replies.)

#WeAreBrimbank #Brimbank #disability #disabled #neurodiversity #neurodiverse #neurodivergent #autism #autismawareness #autisminclusion #sensory #sensoryoverload #disabilityinclusion #neurodiversityacceptance #disabilityawareness #invisibledisability #invisibledisabilityawareness #immunecompromised #atrisk #isolation #community #CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsntOver #covidisstillhere #COVIDisAirborne

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

2/8
Council's response to this question was:
“The Mayor advised the recent establishment of the Disability Advisory Committee, who are also members of the community with lived experience of disability (including neuro-diverse disability), carers and support services will continue to provide voices to Council. They will oversee the monitoring and implementation of the actions, work to address any
gaps and create new actions where necessary, all aimed to demonstrate Council’s commitment to people with disability, their families and carers. Council is also working on a range of initiatives to ensure our events improve access to
public spaces and facilitate inclusion in all Council and community events, programs and activities. This work forms part of an implementation plan that sits alongside the DAP to
guide the work of Council and will be reported on annually.”

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

3/8
HOWEVER - The Disability Advisory Committee (which I fully support by the way), consists of 3 councillor, 3 council officers, 2 agency reps, 1 carer and just 6 people with lived experience of disability. Just 6 people with lived experience represent all people living with disabilities in Brimbank. The bigger concern here is not how many people with lived experience are in the committee, but how does the disabled community voice their needs and concerns to the committee. According to Council’s own response, they are relying on advise from the committee to advise them of what the disabled community wants or needs, yet did not advise how the disabled community can get in touch with the committee to provide such information.
Council also advised in their answer, that they are working to facilitate inclusion in all community events, programs and activities, yet they have chosen to not implement one of the easiest modes of inclusion - that is, to offer events online via live-stream and interactive online activities. Furthermore, council failed to acknowledge that there is no current plan in their DAP to create better inclusion outcomes for the neurodivergent community, nor mention any strategies, such as safe spaces or sensory rooms, in their response.

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

4/8
My second question was:
“As the pandemic continues, the immune-compromised, at risk or vulnerable and COVID cautious community, have no choice but to continue to stay at home in isolation, to ensure their safety and the safety of those in their care. This community is now more isolated than ever, particularly with online services and events progressively being discontinued; including by Brimbank City Council. Each time the issue has been raised with council departments and leaders, their continued response is that it is too difficult, too expensive and that there is not enough interest to run online events. These excuses would be considered unconscionable if we were talking about wheel chair access, so why has Brimbank City Council decided that this community is not worth the funding or effort to ensure their inclusion, considering online events could also work to remove a barrier to access for neurodivergent people?”

Council's response was:
“The Mayor advised as Covid restrictions eased, many community members of all abilities have been eagerly returning to the routine of attending regular in person programming.
The need to socialise and reconnect in person with other community members has been strong with many people reporting that they felt isolated during Covid. Nevertheless,
Council continues to offer some online programs and events and many online services, recognising that not everyone can or wants to attend programs or access services in person.”

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

5/8
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS RESPONSE?
Council advised that since the easing of COVID restrictions, the community had overwhelmingly advised they wanted to attend in-person events, alluding that the community were no longer interested in having access to events online. I would like to know HOW they ascertained that information, given that they are using this as the basis for their decision to run frequent online events. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no online survey and no YourSay submission opportunity provided to the community. If the information was obtained purely from those attending in-person events, then their data is skewed and does not represent the entire community; just those who want and are attending in-person events.
I have however asked those who are neurodiverse, those who are immune-compromised and those who are otherwise at risk of COVID, if they would like to have online events available to them or just in-person events. At the time of writing this post, the response has been overwhelmingly in support of having online events available to them. The poll has been published to multiple community groups and across various social media platforms and will run for a total of 7 days. I do not have an active vote in the poll. I can provide the data once completed and compiled to anyone who wishes to see it.

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

6/8
One woman told me “I wish the world realised that the pandemic actually made some of us feel MORE included when we could participate in online events. Returning to normal means returning to feeling left out.”
I have frequently read similar sentiments from these disconnected groups over the past 6 months, with many people saying they are now depressed and feel like they no longer matter. This is absolutely heartbreaking, especially when the solution is so simple and something council are already able to facilitate, and had done for more than 2 years.
But online events also serve our wider community, with a single mum telling me “online events are great not just for those avoiding Covid exposure, but also for those who, for whatever reason, can’t leave the house when an event is on.”
Council also mentioned in their response that they continue to offer some online events. I have been monitoring online events offered through council over the past 6 months. From the beginning of October 2022 to the end of March 2023, Brimbank council offered a total of 1 online event. Just 1 event in 6 months! Even the recent People of Brimbank Podcast launch, promoting an online asset, was not live-streamed (though the podcast team did try and advocate for it). Is this what Brimbank providing some online events looks like?

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

7/8
Below is a list of the major events and festivals that were both offered by and highly publicised by Brimbank Council over the past 6 months. Take a look and tell me if you think this is good enough to be considered fair access to events for our neurodivergent, immune-compromised and at-risk communities, many of whom pay council rates & fees or make other financial contributions to our community.

- Carers Week
No no online events
- Seniors Festival
No online events
- Brimbank’s Be Bold Festival
No online events
- Creative Brimbank’s Resonate Live Music Series
No online events
- International Day of People with Disability
No online events
(this one is a kick in the guts)
- Midsummer
No online events offered by Brimbank
- Cultural Diversity Week
No online events
- International Women’s Day
No online events
- Brimbank Writers & Readers Festival
1 online event
- Brimbank Neighbourhood House/Community Centre Consultation
(“How can we support the health and wellbeing of our local community in a meaningful way?”)
No online community consultation available.
Next consultation is in April; again, no online option available

Upcoming events for Brimbank:
- Neighbourhood Houses/Community Centres
No online events
- Brimbank Youth Services
No online events
- Creative Brimbank
No online events
- Brimbank Libraries
1 event for adults
2 online story time sessions for children
Periodic ‘Practice Your English’ sessions

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

8/8
Brimbank likes to promote itself as providing equitable opportunities to everyone, regardless of personal limitations and working towards greater inclusion of diverse groups. It also touts itself as being an advocate for mental health and community well-being. Council acknowledges that isolation is a cause of mental health decline, yet it refuses to service a community that is currently more isolated than it has ever been, despite the issue of isolation being raised on multiple occasions, including in the question submitted and as evidenced in sentiments above.

I realise this is an incredibly long and detailed post for Mastodon - it also took me a long time to compile, but I believe this to be an incredibly important issue in our community and one that deserves the attention and consideration it is not currently getting. This is not just about me; I still have contacts I can utilise to get further information and advocate for better disability inclusion and access for those who are immune-compromised. This is about ALL people living with disability or immune-deficiencies in our community.
If you would like to help me campaign for better inclusion for everyone in our community, please get in touch. Thank you.

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Shannon Meilak - Advocate Jul 7, 2023

Original toot date: 29 March, 2023

FOLLOW UP:
I was advised yesterday that I was selected to participate in Moonee Valley's Community Carbon Emissions Reduction Taskforce. Sadly, participation is required to be in-person and as such I needed to decline the invitation. However, I reached out to the organiser and explained that this is a barrier to community participation for those at risk of COVID, and some neurodivergent communities. The response I received from a senior co-ordinator was not only timely (about 30 minutes), but I was also thanked for my feedback and advised that they would ensure that online opportunities would be added to this series of Neighbourhood Engagement Activities. That is the sort of response we should expect from a council who truly wants diverse participation in our community.
It is also worth noting that MVCC does currently offer some online programming - it is not what I would consider to be a full program, but it is most certainly much more than what is currently being offered by BCC.
I have also had single mums approach me, saying they too find in-person events a barrier to participation and that during lockdowns, when everything was online, they were able to participate for the first time in community events and consultations. Due to their work commitments and responsibilities as a mother, they have not been able to participate since online options were no longer included. This is yet another group being impacted by Council's decision to cease online programming.