Building the foundations of an inclusive Australia
The Achieve Foundation
Many people with disability say that the biggest barrier they face is not their disability. The biggest difficulty is how other people and society see them.
The Achieve Foundation wants to help build an Australia that welcomes all people. This is called being inclusive. An inclusive Australia helps everyone because all Australians feel welcomed, and can contribute.
The Achieve Foundation runs projects, and provides money to partners to run projects.
We want to work together so that we can:
Build a community of philanthropists and investors committed to funding projects that build disability inclusion.
Change attitudes towards people with disability.
Change the approach to housing for people with disability.
Now is the time for change
We understand diversity now better than ever before. People with disability continue to lead the way and society is becoming increasingly accessible for people with disability. But more needs to be done.
Now is the time to make real and lasting change. Change driven by people with disability to overcome the biggest barriers: systems and ways of thinking. Change so we can all fully participate and contribute.
Our aim is to engage the entire community in identifying and removing the barriers that people with disability face every day.
“If I lived in a society where being in a wheelchair was no more remarkable than wearing glasses, and if the community was completely accepting and accessible, my disability would be an inconvenience and not much more than that.”
Shut Out: The experiences of people with disability and their families in Australia.
Dismantling barriers to inclusion
The way society is designed creates exclusion, not people’s ‘impairments’. These barriers to inclusion are well known, but a coordinated action plan hasn’t been clear.
To make long-term change, communities, businesses, investors and philanthropists need to get behind all people with disability, not only specific types of disability, or those supported by the NDIS.
The Achieve Foundation is focusing on supporting and running projects that tackle barriers to inclusion in two key areas:
Housing – home is where our sense of self is formed
Mindsets – ways of thinking have a huge influence on inclusion
We are all needed
We all need to do our bit to build a truly inclusive Australia. Social exclusion and structural barriers are issues for the millions of Australians living with disability in Australia, not only for the approximately 400,000 people with NDIS support, services and equipment. This goal is bigger than the government.
The Achieve Foundation is working with people with disability to forge sustainable, long-term funding that will address structural barriers, including attitudes and ‘spaces’, to benefit all of the 4.3 million Australians living with disability.