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Report of First Meeting Held at University of Technology Sydney,
25th September, 2002

The first meeting of the Disability Education Association of NSW/ACT (DEAN Inc. Pending) was held at UTS last Wednesday, 24th September. The meeting was well attended, with about 30 Disability staff from universities and TAFEs present. Particular thanks goes to Marie Flood & staff from UTS who organised the venue and lunch, as well as the members of the DEAN Working Party, Anna Mungovan, Peter Cipollone, Felicity Fries, Julie Frail, Margaret Butler and Sondra Wibberley who all worked very hard for a couple of months to get DEAN to the point where it is now established and almost ready to incorporate. Membership is now open, and many people joined the new Association last week. membership is only $20 for 12 months, and if you would like details of membership, DEAN's progress and plans and a membership application form, please contact me at: Trevor.Allan@anu.edu.au and I can forward them to you.

Also, we would like to express out thanks to Peter Cipollone and Viona Woodruffe, who provided AUSLAN signing services during the meeting.

The meeting began with our Guest speakers, Graeme Innes (HREOC Disability Commissioner) and Mark Bagshaw (IBM Asia Pacific Marketing Manager) providing members with challenging, informative and encouraging ideas.

Graeme Innes spoke very entertainingly, but with a challenging message on "Lobbying for the cause from inside the tent: knowing the rules of Quidditch." including the 5 immutable rules (for this week, at least) to facilitate change. His focus was on establishing an organisation, and making it an effective vehicle for lobbying for improvement, based on his extensive and successful experience with many organisations, and as an agent of change with HREOC and the DDA.

His 5 Golden Rules were:

1: Behind every good policy there are good individual stories (reminding us that policy is about people first)

2: Money isn't everything (Just asking for more money is not enough - we need to think creatively to achieve our goals)

3: The perfect Draft Bill doesn't change the law - or Opposition members don't ride in Minsterial cars ( Sometimes we need to simply get the best we can, and make things happen. It is important to get results, instead of waiting around and trying to achieve perfection. He quoted various business partnerships between HREOC and businesses such as the Banks where the development of voluntary codes have improved accessibility of things like Automatic Teller Machines.)

4. Don't have fights you think you will lose (Find and acknowledge the positives in situations, rather than expending energy on futile pursuits. It is also important to give yourself space to develop and change your views.)

5: It's really important to find out which piece of coal makes the whistle blow (focussing on strategic thinking and those things which provide leverage for more sytematic change. In this rule Graeme quoted examples of cases before HREOC, such as Maguire vs SOCOG, Scott vs Telstra & Finney vs Hills Grammar School, which have had profound impact beyond the immediate case itself. They have established principles and precedents which have affected society more generally.)

Mark Bagshaw then spoke passionately about the history and current circumstances of the participation in education and empoyment for people with disabilities. He decried the lack of significant progress in this area over the last 20 years, and presented some options for alternatives to past strategies which have proven to be largely ineffective in providing genuine long term solutions. He argued that past approaches have been focussed on details and produced a "bits and pieces" approach, which has not really met the needs of people with disabilities. He argued for a more strategic approach to remove barriers to participation in a much more holistic way than in the past, to empower and encourage people with disabilities to participate in a process of lifelong learning.

Some of the more holistic strategies he suggested included:

1: Remove Infrastructure barriers in a more holistic way. This would require some smart thinking and money from government and business, but the potential benefits for society and individuals is huge.

2. Raise Community Awareness of the potential benefits of empowering people with disabilities, by addressing the often limiting and inappropriate attitudes and expectations of the potential of people with disabilities. This could be done through a National media and marketing campaign.

3. Facilitate lifelong learning - Education is essential tool to enhancing independence. Mark quoted the example of Bridging Pathways, which was presented as an investment of $980 million to produce a nett return to Australia of $2.8 billion. He stressed that we need to see benefits more holistically - it shouldn't just be the direct benefit to an institution, but to the country as whole.

After Graeme and Mark spoke the Working Party led an information and discussion session on the progress so far. Trevor Allan presented a summary of the developments including:

1. The rationale behind the choice of the name of the association
2. The Design and adoption of the DEAN logo,
3. The proposed structure of the Association (Association, Council, Executive)
4. Development of Key Focus Areas
5. The updating of the NSW Disability List Server
6. The process of incorporation including adraft constitution and name registration
7. Seed Funding of $500 provided by ANU
8. The rental of a PO Box
9. The draft design and development of a web page
10. Preparation of brochures, information sheets and memebrship and Council nomination forms
11. Organisation of the Inaugural meeting
12. Planning for elections of Council.

He then went through a list of possible activities for DEAN, including:

Professional Development
Practitioner Network
Liaison with other State, Territory and National Organisations
Operation of an Email List Server for Practitioners
Information gathering and dissemination
Lobbying of Government
Issues-based negotiation with Educational Authorities to facilitate access for people with disabilities
Cross-sectoral communication and co-operation.
Development of a Code of Ethics and a Code of Practice
Development of Professional Accreditation procedures

After lunch, Trish Mullins, from NTEU, went through the draft constitution, explaining the purpose and meaning of the various sections, and its significance in the process of incorporation.

The meeting then dicussed and voted on the proposed resolutions, which basically endorsed the actions of the Working Party, empowered them to proceed with the finalisation of the constitution and to proceed with Incorporation. The meeting endorsed the continuation of the Working Party as the de facto Council until Council elections could be held.

Importantly, the meeting also endorsed a Review process for the Constitution, where suggested changes are to be brought to the 2nd Annual General Meeting.

It was asked that anyone wanting to make suggested chages to the constitution email specific changes to Anna Mungovan (a.mungovan@uws.edu.au) before Friday, 4th October.

The Working Party then proceeded to discuss in more detail some of the aspects. Peter Cipollone led the discussion on the Key Focus Areas, Anna Mungovan explained what has been done to update the NSW Disability List Server and plans for its future operation and Felicity Fries & Margaret Butler led a very fruitful and enthusiastic discussion on possible future Professional Development activities. We very quickly ended up with an extensive list of possible activities, which could occupy DEAN for a few years. It was very apparent that many people have a strong demand for Professional Development, and have thought deeply about desirable activities.

While this was proceeding, Dani Fried from the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children provided a real-life demonstration of C-Print transcription technology, which was quite impressive. Dani asked that anyone interested in undergoing training in the technology, to contact her

The meeting closed not long after the planned finishing time of 2.30 pm, and quite a few people took the opportunity for discussion and networking, as well as signing up for membership of DEAN.

The Working Party will now proceed with the final stages of refining the constiution and the incorporation process, and put in train the process of calling for nominations to the Council of Management once these processes have been completed.

In all, it was a very successful first meeting of DEAN, and we are looking forward to more in the future. The Working Party encourages everyone to become involved by joining up, by nominating for Council, and by coming along to the various activities and events which will be organised by DEAN in the future. The Association will only be as successful as its membership and the commitment everyone has for ensuring that DEAN meets the needs of its members. So, get a membership form, sign up and get involved.

Trevor Allan (Chair of DEAN Working Party)

DEAN First Meeting Report