Disability Law Network launches at Melbourne Law School

Several of Australia’s most prominent advocates for disability inclusivity will add their voices to Australia’s newest network of disability-law researchers.

The Disability Law Network (DLN) at Melbourne Law School, launched last week, is the newest research hub affiliated to the ever-growing social and disability reform centre, Melbourne Disability Institute.

The new network gathers scholars across several law-research specialisations to share ideas, collaborate in research opportunities, and promote disability research and teaching at Melbourne Law School and beyond.

Leading architect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Melbourne Disability Institute Director Professor Bruce Bonyhady said the Disability Law Network was an exciting establishment within the disability-law landscape.

“Every aspect of the law touches people with disability including everything from human rights to consumer law. The Disability Law Network will provide an opportunity to bring legal scholars together from the Melbourne Law School to apply a disability lens to new laws and policies,” said Professor Bonyhady.

Led by Melbourne Law School’s Dr Kay Wilson, Judy Bourke and Dr Piers Gooding, the Disability Law Network also welcomed to its ranks prominent barrister Professor Ian Freckleton KC AO and reformist voices including Micheline Lee, author of the latest Quarterly Essay Lifeboat: Disability, Humanity and the NDIS.

Ms Lee said: “Disability law has a big part to play in addressing the disadvantage disabled people experience. Yet it is sometimes seen as too theoretical. Our job will be to show how disability law touches every aspect of life and can change Australia to be more inclusive.”

Network co-convenor Dr Kay Wilson said: “The Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS demonstrated that disability-law reform involved complex issues of national importance and billions of dollars.”

“There is growing realisation of a necessary paradigm shift in recognizing the human rights of persons with disabilities. This demands revolutionary cultural change and the building of safe and inclusive societies for persons with disabilities,” said Dr Wilson.

“The Disability Law Network aims to lift the profile of disability issues by bringing scholars together, including those with lived experience of disabilities, to advance disability research.”

For further information and upcoming Network projects, visit the Disability Law Network website.