Labor’s Ali France has toppled Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in his seat of Dickson. It was the former journalist and para-athlete’s third time running in the seat.<\/p>\n
‘Underestimated and pitied’<\/p>\n
There are 5.5 million Australians living with disability. That’s 20 per cent of the population.<\/p>\n
For many of them, life can be challenging, not because of their disability but because of the world simply not being built for them.<\/p>\n
Transport<\/a> and housing<\/a> are often not accessible and people with disability continue to experience discrimination in every aspect of their lives including employment, health<\/a> and education.<\/p>\n It’s hard to understand what that’s like unless you’ve experienced it yourself.<\/p>\n Ali France says she was “underestimated” and “pitied” when she returned to work with a disability. (ABC NEWS: Mary Lloyd)<\/p>\n But anyone can be impacted by disability at any point \u2014 something Ms France knows, having lost her leg in a car accident 14 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before that, Ms France said she was “completely na\u00efve” to the issues people with disability face every day.<\/p>\n Even with a decades-long career in journalism and public relations under her belt, returning to her job after having a leg amputated was a struggle.<\/p>\n “I [was] underestimated, pitied \u2026 it was really difficult,” she said.<\/p>\n Taking up canoeing as a para-athlete helped restore her confidence.<\/p>\n “[I needed to] demonstrate that I was still capable,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n she said.Disability community excited<\/p>\n When Ms France starts in Canberra, she’ll be part of a small cohort of federal parliamentarians who live with disability.<\/p>\n The Greens’ Jordon Steele-John, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, entered the Senate in 2017.<\/p>\n There might’ve been others, but few with a visible presence. It’s important we respect everyone’s choice to disclose or not.<\/p>\n But it’s that visibility advocate Elly Desmarchelier \u2014 who doorknocked for Ms France during her election campaign \u2014 said would prove powerful.<\/p>\n “It’s about being seen,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n she said.<\/p>\n “It’s in little girls being able to look up at the TV and see a disabled woman in parliament and it being a totally normal thing.”<\/p>\n The visibility of Ali France’s disability will be a powerful thing to see in parliament, disability advocates say. (ABC NEWS: Mary Lloyd)<\/p>\n Ms France is almost certainly also the first member of a federal government to be a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant.<\/p>\n Nic Avery, from NDIS advocacy organisation Every Australian Counts, said having Ms France sharing her unique perspective at such a high level would be invaluable.<\/p>\n “We need to have the voices of people with disability in our parliament where decisions are made about us,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n she said.<\/p>\n “Lived experience is the difference between hearing that something is difficult and having experienced those barriers yourself.”<\/p>\n There’s a lot for the new Albanese government to do for Australians with disability.<\/p>\n Among them are restoring trust in, and the sustainability of, the NDIS, as well as negotiating with the states and territories on the rollout of the much-anticipated foundational supports<\/a> for those outside the scheme.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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