Disability Equity and Rights: Challenges, opportunities, and ways forward for inclusive development

Just over 15 years ago, governments and development stakeholders committed to leave no one behind and to end poverty in all its forms. The 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals brought global development objectives in line with commitments made almost 10 years earlier in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

As we passed the midpoint of the Sustainable Development Goals, we asked expert friends and colleagues to reflect on what they see as challenges and opportunities for realising equity and rights for people with disabilities by 2030. This selection of essays covers a range of topics and thematic areas from early childhood development to the role of organisations of people with disabilities. The essays are not intended to be exhaustive: they are intended to generate reflection and discussion.

Some of the essays call for scaling up and accelerating progress that has been made. Others call for a rethink and recalibration. The essays include a range of views and opinions and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Nossal Institute. With the clock ticking towards 2030, we hope you find something in these essays to motivate and guide.

This ‘Disability Equity and Rights: Challenges, opportunities, and ways forward for inclusive development’ publication was prepared under the DFAT – CBM Inclusion Advisory Group Disability Inclusion Technical Partnership, an Australian aid initiative implemented by CBM Inclusion Advisory Group and the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

This publication has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed in this publication are the author's alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government

Download the Essays

We are pleased to offer a summary booklet of these essays.

Disability Equity and Rights: Challenges, opportunities, and ways forward for inclusive development - [Word]  8 MB

Disability Equity and Rights: Challenges, opportunities, and ways forward for inclusive development - [PDF]  1.2 MB

Contributors to the Essays

Sally Baker, University of Melbourne

Sally is a disability inclusion specialist focusing on the design, implementation, and evaluation of locally-led disability inclusion policies, strategies, and programs across the education, skills development (TVET), disaster risk reduction, health, WASH and infrastructure sectors.

Nicole Bishop, Nossal Institute

Nicole is a research fellow and public health practitioner. Nicole’s research is in disability, community health, and mental health in India with a focus on virtual healthcare, volunteerism, and economic analysis.

Aleisha Carroll, Inclusion Advisory Group, CBM Australia

Aleisha is a technical advisor and research lead with training in occupational therapy and public health. Her work centres on disability equity and rights focusing on marginalised disabilities, health systems, and the intersection of gender, age, and disability.

Lucy Daniel, Inclusion Advisory Group, CBM Australia

Lucy is a senior technical advisor with a background in law and community development. Her work focuses on policy development and rights-based engagement with people with disabilities and their representative organisations including the most marginalised groups.

Bhargavi Davar, Transforming lives: Deinstitutionalisation

Bhargavi was a noted mental health advocate and human rights activist in India and across Asia. She was Executive Director of TCI-Global) and Founder of the Bapu Trust for Research on Mind and Discourse. Bhargavi passed away in 2024.

Nathan Grills, Nossal Institute and Melbourne Disability Institute

Nathan is a professor and public health physician working on disability training and inclusion with a focus on India. His research focuses on father caregivers, inclusive virtual healthcare, volunteerism in disability supports, and economic disability analysis.

Jen Hargrave, Disabilities Victoria/University of Melbourne

Jen Hargrave is an Honorary Fellow with the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. As a disabled woman, Jen is pleased to be a Community Researcher in teams investigating the rights of women with disabilities. Previously Jen led policy at a Disabled Persons Organisation, Women with Disabilities Victoria. Jen sits on the Victorian Disability Advisory Council, and she provides presentations on social equity.

Felix Kiefel-Johnson, Nossal Institute

Felix is a technical advisor with training in social work and social anthropology. His applied research centres on understanding and promoting inclusion and equity for people with disabilities across Asia and the Pacific, including with a focus on access to and use of digital technologies and media.

Teresa Lawler, Inclusion Advisory Group, CBM Australia

Teresa is a senior advisor trained in law, gender, and applied anthropology. As a white, Australian-born settler, she is committed to learning from diverse lived experiences and perspectives. Her research and advisory work centres on intersectionality and transformative approaches to disability equity and rights.

Abner Manlapaz, Life Haven Center for Independent Living

Abner is a senior associate of the Center for Inclusive Policy. He works with OPDs, NGOs, government and UN agencies to advance disability inclusive programs and policies focusing on disability data, social protection, community support services, and accessibility.

Daniel Mont, Center for Inclusive Policy

Daniel is the CEO and co-founder of the Centre. Daniel works with international agencies on improving data for inclusive development with a focus on social protection, education, and employment policies. Previously a senior economist with the World Bank, he holds a PhD in economics.

Wes Pryor, Nossal Institute

Wes is a principal advisor focusing on rehabilitation, assistive technologies, disability-inclusion and their intersection with development, health systems, and health equity.

Ida Putri, Institute Inclusive Indonesia (I3) and CBM Global ACE Fellow

Ida is an inclusion advisor with training in global politics and experience working with OPDs in Indonesia. Her research and advocacy focus on inclusion and disability rights in relation to disaster risk reduction, employment, health, and the intersection of gender, disability and culture.

Alex Robinson, Nossal Institute

Alex is head of the Institute’s Disability, Inclusion and Rehabilitation team. His work on disability, development and disaster risk focuses on the delivery of actionable and equitable policy and programming solutions.

Gayatri Sekar, International Disability Alliance

Gayatri is a senior officer at IDA. Coming from India with lived experience of psychosocial disability, Gayatri applies a decolonial approach to inclusive research and learning, the production and dissemination of knowledge, and community engagement in the Global South.

Fleur Smith, Nossal Institute

Fleur is an occupational therapist and a senior technical advisor in disability inclusion and rehabilitation. She has particular expertise in developmental disability and early childhood intervention, and works to change systems to enable equity for children with disabilities and their families.

Kirsty Teague, Nossal Institute

Kirsty is a technical advisor focusing on health system strengthening in the Asia-Pacific area. She has a paediatric occupational therapy background specialising in child development, early intervention, and disability.

Cathy Vaughan, Nossal Institute

Cathy is the Institute director and a public health researcher with expertise in gender, violence prevention and response, sexual and reproductive health, and health systems. She has over 25 years’ experience working in Asia, the Pacific, and Australia. Her research focuses on the impact of intersecting health inequalities on gender-based violence and the effectiveness of violence prevention and response initiatives.

Laisa Vereti, Pacific Disability Forum (PDF)

Laisa has extensive experience promoting the rights of people with disabilities and disability inclusion in mainstream development programmes and policy in the Pacific. At PDF, Laisa oversees programming areas of emergency response, gender, youth, OPD and inclusive development, policy, research, and finance and corporate services

Genevieve Walker, Nossal Institute

Genevieve has background in gender equality and family violence policy reform in the Victorian Government, Genevieve is committed to building the evidence base to drive policy and practice change to eliminate all forms of violence against women. She is interested in the impact of gender inequality and intersecting socio-cultural factors on health outcomes.