People with Disability Australia Ltd is a national Australian disability rights and advocacy organisation founded in 1980 and based in Redfern, New South Wales. The current president of PWDA is Dr. David Abello. PWDA is a Disabled Persons Organisation, with an elected board of people with disability, and a national membership of people with disability. PWDA is one of the funded national disability representative organisations for people with disability in Australia.
History and mission
PWDA was founded in the year 1980 leading up to the International Year of Disabled Persons to provide people with disabilities a voice of their own. In 2002, PWDA's membership approved a repositioning of PWDA as a national disability rights and advocacy organisation. The organisation's name was changed from "People with Disability New South Wales" to "People with Disability Australia" to reflect this new positioning on 21 July 2003. The principal reasons for the change were to position PWDA to undertake work on national policy issues. Between 2003-2006 PWDA played a valuable role in the development of the United NationsConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, organising national consultations and consultations with members, making submissions, hosting seminars, and supporting delegates to attend sessions of the UN Ad Hoc Committee. Through this work PWDA gained Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. From 2009 onwards, PWDA continues to play an ongoing role in monitoring the implementation of the CRPD in Australia, and is part of the NGO CRPD Shadow Report Project Group. Along with the organisation's national work, PWDA has undertaken international development work in the Pacific since 2004. This non-profit, non governmentalpeak organisation has been described as "the only national, cross-disability organisation representing the interests of people with all kinds of disability". Craig Wallace, a former president of PWDA, was commended in Parliament on the occasion of his resignation in June 2016. Jenny Macklin MP credited Wallace for the organisation's contribution to the development of a National Disability Insurance Scheme and for elevating "PWDA to the status of a leading disability advocacy body".
Activities
PWDA provides the following services:
Rights-related information, advice and referral services for people with disability and their associates
Short-term individual and group advocacy assistance to people with disability and their associates
Advocacy for reform around systemic issues that adversely affect people with disability and their associates
Representation of the sector of interest constituted by people with disability and their associates to government, industry and the non-government sector
Coordination of the sector of interest constituted by people with disability and their associates
Disability rights-related research and development around issues of concern to people with disability and their associates
Disability rights-related training and education for people with disability and their associates, service providers, government and the public. This work is supported in part by grants of financial assistance from both the State and Commonwealth Governments.
