Inclusion is everybody’s business

Community Services Industry Alliance’s Inclusion Ready Summit is an exciting event to be held on Tuesday 18 June that will deliver the latest research, ideas and opportunities around social and economic inclusion of people with disability.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a game changer in Australia. The NDIS will provide a range of really important individual supports to people with disability. It will also provide opportunities for people with disability, families and carers to explore what it means for them to live an ordinary life. Now is the time for people with disability, their families and the wider community to come together to create opportunities for social and economic inclusion.  

The Inclusion Ready Summit provides a platform to elevate conversations, develop partnerships and share innovation as we build an inclusive future.

CSIA CEO Belinda Drew said the program will explore what inclusion means for people with disability by focusing on real examples from across our communities. It is really important that people with disability lead this conversation and so they are helping set the direction of the summit.

“The day begins with a keynote presentation from Professor Bruce Bonyhady, who was instrumental in the NDIS and chairman of the NDIA for three years,” Drew said.

“He is now leading the Melbourne Disability Institute and is an enterprise professor in disability economics, bringing his unique perspective, insights and understanding to the Summit.

“Anyone working across the community services industry and the wider community will want to hear Professor Bonyhady’s learnings, ideas and opportunities around the NDIS and inclusion.”

The Inclusion Ready Summit program will showcase an ILC grant program that leads to a traineeship for a person with disability. Together we will learn what worked, what didn’t and what you can learn from business and the community organisation about its partnership for inclusion.

The day features a presentation from Katie Barton-Harvey about the first Inclusive Commonwealth Games, leading into a panel discussion about leadership and inclusion.

The final panel comprises four leaders who are working with people with disability to make inclusion a part of everyday business practice. Hear about the challenges, triumphs, innovation and opportunities that inclusion has created in their work.

Research from the CSIA Becoming Inclusion Ready Report found that people with disability have, until recently, been left out of the diversity and inclusion policy discussion in Australia. This summit event is doing this differently.

“Our team of experienced facilitators and representatives are all people with disabilities who have been integral to the planning and structuring of the session. This includes eight people with a disability who will run the conversations, panel sessions and provide the reflections at the end of the event,” Drew said.

“Following this event they will work together to deliver a paper around inclusion to be used for pursuing deeper conversations and planning for the social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities.”

Together we can create new opportunities for inclusive economic growth with benefits for everyone in the community, as well as the person with disability, who may become a customer, client, employee, student, team member or holidaymaker at your organisation, sports club, business, shop, restaurant or rental property. 

Join CSIA and key speakers, thought leaders, experts, and hear the latest research, ideas and opportunities at a one-day event exploring how we can learn, create, lead and develop inclusion in our communities and organisations.

Find out more at www.csialtd.com.au/inclusionreadysummit.

About the Day Summit Series:

CSIA is delivering a series of themed day summit events offering participants access to thought leaders, experts, and the latest research, ideas and opportunities around workforce, inclusion and commissioning for outcomes. Themes and topics are based around the business of the business, to help you build a sustainable community services organisation to meet changes and challenges facing the community services industry.