Disability

Your rights

Contact Print
The rights of people with a disability are protected by law.

The law protects the rights of people with disability.

People with disability have the same rights as other people in their community. 

They have the right to:

  • freedom, respect, equality and dignity
  • fulfil their potential
  • exercise control over their own lives
  • live free from abuse or neglect.

There are specific laws in place that protect the rights of people with disability.

These include the:

Getting support

Information and support for concerns with disability services, disability workers or social services.

Safeguards exist in Victoria to protect the rights of people with disability. Safeguards are actions and measures designed to prevent and respond to risk. They protect people from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

Victoria has several safeguarding agencies, complaint handling bodies and advice services. 

Look at the organisations below to find one that may help you.

The Orange Door

The Orange Door supports individuals and families with parenting support and family violence concerns. They welcome people of any community, age, gender, sexuality, culture, and ability with no referral required. 

The Orange Door can:

  • help you make a safety plan to keep you and your children safe
  • connect you to a wide variety of services
  • work with you to help you change if you are using abusive or controlling behaviour at home or in a relationship
  • provide support in relation to child wellbeing and development.

You can visit any of The Orange Door locations across Victoria for help.

You can also phone or email The Orange Door. Find contact details for The Orange Door near you.

Victorian Disability Worker Commission

The Victorian Disability Worker Commission receives and investigates complaints about disability workers. For more information, visit the Victorian Disability Worker Commissioner website.

Contact the Victorian Disability Worker Commission:

Disability Services Commissioner

The Disability Services Commissioner (DSC) is an independent body that resolves complaints about disability service providers.

The DSC receives complaints about: 

  • disability services funded in Victoria by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) or WorkSafe
  • disability advocacy services funded in Victoria by DFFH.

If you are not sure whether the DSC can assist you with your complaint, you can still contact the DSC. If the DSC can’t handle your complaint, they will help you find the most appropriate place to go. For more information, visit the Office of the Disability Services Commissioner website.

Contact the Disability Services Commissioner:

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) registers and regulates NDIS providers.

The NDIS Commission receives and responds to concerns, complaints  about NDIS provider. This includes the abuse and neglect of NDIS participants. For more information, visit the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission website.

Contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission:

Social Services Regulator

The Social Services Regulator (SSR) is an independent body that regulates social services in Victoria, including disability services. It does this by regulating the Social Services Standards and the Victorian Child Safe Standards.

To raise concerns about a social services provider you can contact the Social Services Regulator via email or by phone. For more information, visit the Social Services Regulator website.

Contact the Social Services Regulator:

Office of the Public Advocate

The Public Advocate is an independent statutory officer. The Public Advocate has legal powers to promote and safeguard the rights and interests of people with disability.

The Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) runs an advice service which provides information and help to:

  • people with disability, their family, carers and friends
  • professionals from the health, human services, legal, community services and government sectors.

For more information, visit the Office of the Public Advocate website.

Contact the Office of the Public Advocate:

Safeguarding mechanisms

Community visitors

Community visitors are independent volunteers managed by the Office of the Public Advocate. They play a key role in safeguarding the rights and wellbeing of people with disability in Victoria.

They visit places providing accommodation to people with disability or mental illness. After each visit, they report on the quality and standard of care provided to residents.

For more information, visit the Community Visitors Program page on the Office of the Public Advocate's website.

Victorian Senior Practitioner

The Victorian Senior Practitioner protects the rights of persons who are subject to restrictive practices. They do this by ensuring that standards are complied with. 

For more information, visit the Victorian Senior Practitioner section on the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing website.

Resources

These resources are to help safeguard people with disability. They aim to build the capacity of individuals, families, and carers to identify and report abuse in disability services. They are also designed to support disability advocacy.

Women with Disabilities Victoria: Our Right to Safety and Respect Resource 

The Our Right to Safety and Respect Resource is guidelines and a video guide for women with disabilities to:

  • help them identify violence and abuse
  • get help
  • feel safe.

To access and download the information, visit Our Right to Safety and Respect Resource (Safeguards Project) on the Women with Disabilities Victoria website.

VALID: Staying Safe

This is a video series and a workshop for people with disability on how to stay safe. The Staying Safe videos help to identify and give solutions to five common types of abuse:

•    neglect
•    financial
•    emotional
•    physical
•    sexual.

Visit and watch the Stay Safe videos on VALID's website.

Find out more about the Staying Safe workshop on VALID's website.

Scope: Speak up and be safe

This website has a communication toolkit and resources for people with communication difficulties. This is to help people with communication difficulties to identify and report abuse. Scope produced the Speak up and be safe resources.

Visit the Speak up and be safe website.