About the project
The Disability Action Plan 2025-2029 (DAP) outlines Council's commitment to creating a more inclusive, accessible and equitable community for people living with disability, placing lived experience at the centre of planning and action.
Building on the achievements of the Access and Inclusion Plan 2021-2025, this Plan sets a clear direction for the next 4 years by placing lived experience at the centre of planning and action.
The Plan is closely aligned with the Council Plan 2025-2029 and the Healthy, Safe and Resilient Bass Coast Plan 2025-2029. Together these documents form an integrated approach that ensures inclusion is embedded across Council's services, programs and infrastructure.
The DAP recognises the importance of working in partnership with community and sector leaders and takes a whole-of-Council approach to strengthening access, participation and wellbeing.
Developing the draft
The Plan was shaped through meaningful engagement with more than 400 community members, including people with disability, carers, families, young people and service providers, to determine the key themes. The ideas and experiences shared by the communities have played a key role in shaping this Plan.
We would like to thank the Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee, local service providers and the wider community for their feedback and input into the development of this plan.
We look forward to continuing to work together to make Bass Coast accessible and inclusive for everyone in our community.
- Getting around our community can be challenging with a disability (e.g. paths, roads access to the beach and infrequent public transport)
- People want fair access to services that support a healthy and active life. Intersectionality influences how easy it is to access services.
- People in our community want to co-design spaces and places (e.g. parkland design).
- A gender and diversity lens should be applied to achieve meaningful consultation.
- People in our community want better resources and services to improve mental health.
- People in our community want preventative actions to reduce violence. People living with disability have a higher risk of experiencing violence. Violence can include intimate partner violence and emotional and economic abuse. (The 2021-2022 Person safety Survey, ABS).
- People recognised that gender impact needs to be considered in how people access the community.
- People want greater community connection.
- People in our community want increased opportunities to be active.
- Stronger alignment with the Council Plan 2025-2029 ensuring that disability inclusion is embedded across all areas of Council planning and service delivery.
- Integrates with the Healthy, Safe and Resilient Bass Coast Plan 2025-2029 with shared key themes.
- A deeper focus on intersectionality, recognising that factors such housing, safety, environment, social inclusion, and economic security are interconnected, and that these all shape the experiences of people living with disability.
- Increased accountability, with clear roles, timelines, and systems for monitoring and reporting progress.
- Greater consideration of lived experience, ensuring that people living with disability are included through accessible, and respectful engagement that informs our themes and the way we deliver on them.
Have a read of the Draft Disability Action Plan and see if it resonates with you. Note: this version has an updated cover.
You can also see what the Plan looks like in action in the First Year Actions.
