Project status: In progress

Have YourSay

The draft ACT Disability Health Strategy was open for six weeks consultation from 14 June to 25 July 2023. We encouraged people to provide feedback through an online form or provide a submission.

This consultation has now closed.

The draft ACT Disability Health Strategy is still available to read below. A listening report will be published in the near future.


About the draft strategy

The ACT Disability Health Strategy seeks to enable better health outcomes for people with disability.

In 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, approximately 80,000 people in the ACT reported as living with disability. This represents 19.4% of Canberra’s population, which is slightly higher than the national average of 17.4%.

In its 2019 report called Imagining Better, the ACT Council of Social Service found that people with disability in the ACT self-reported poor health outcomes as a result of:

  • economic disadvantage
  • poor attitudes within clinical settings
  • access barriers
  • poor communication, and
  • service gaps.

In 2020, the ACT Government committed to develop and implement an ACT Disability Health Strategy to help address some of these issues, and to improve health outcomes for people with disability.

The development of the ACT Disability Health Strategy has been guided by the ACT Disability Health Strategy Steering Committee. The Steering Committee includes people with disability, carers of people with disability, service providers, advocacy groups, and ACT Government representatives.

The development of the ACT Disability Health Strategy is supported by a significant evidence base, including feedback from the Health and Wellbeing consultations undertaken by Community Services Directorate for the ACT Disability Strategy, along with national and local legislation, policy, and research. From this, the Steering Committee has identified and developed the Strategy’s goals, principles, and focus areas. There is also more information available about the development of the Strategy and related projects available.

Your feedback will be used to make sure that the ACT Disability Health Strategy meets the needs of the ACT community, people with disability, their families, carers and advocates.