Disability Inclusion Action Plan

• DIAP Report and Detailed Action Plan
• DIAP Easy Read Accessible
• DIAP Easy Read Text-Only (Word 3MB)
• Engagement Outcomes Report

Council’s role in access and inclusion extends to being a:

• Planner - understanding community needs and expectations now and into the future and planning to harness growth and investment to deliver positive community outcomes for all
• Provider - of inclusive programs, services, facilities and events
• Partner - harnessing the collective resources of many to meet the challenges of the City
• Advocate - promoting the needs of people living with disability to other agencies and authorities
• Capacity builder – developing relationships, sharing learnings and building skills with the local community sector, local employers and major industries
• Regulator - monitoring compliance with conditions set out in our Development Control Plan and other legislation.

• Review Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2017-2021 implementation outcomes
• Desktop research to identify current best practice approaches to improving access and inclusion outcomes, including within a local government context
• Demographic research to identify the profile of people living with disability in Penrith City, including the preparation of a Penrith Disability Snapshot 2021 report
• Community and stakeholder engagement to capture feedback from residents, community services sector, and the Access Committee and listen to what is working well and what Council could improve upon
• Staff engagement to hear from teams across all Council departments about what is working well, the opportunities to improve access and inclusion in their work, and ideas about what Council’s priorities should be for the next four years
• Data analysis to review and consolidate feedback and identify key issues, needs, gaps, aspirations and priorities
• Drafting the DIAP 2022-2026 to prepare draft documents and review with Council’s Access Committee
• Public Exhibition of the draft DIAP 2022-2026, present the draft to the community, asking the community ‘did we get it right?’
• Review and analyse community feedback and amend DIAP 2022-2026
• Final DIAP 2022-2026. Council endorsement and submission to the Department of Communities and Justice by 30 June 2022.

For more information about what we heard from the community, download the  Engagement Outcomes Report .

There are more than 200,000 people living in Penrith City. In 2018, 13% of the Penrith City population — that’s around 25,800 people — were identified as living with some form of disability. To put this in perspective, this is similar to the whole population of places such as Glenmore Park (24,627 in 2020) and the suburb of Parramatta (31,112 in 2020).

Imagine if Penrith City was a village of 100 people; 13 people would be living with some type of disability, and of those 5 would live with a profound or severe disability and 7 would live with a mild or moderate disability. Chances are you know, live or work with a person whose life is touched by disability.

For more detailed information, see the Penrith Disability Snapshot 2021 or pages 9 and 10 of the DIAP Report.

The Penrith DIAP has 15 strategies under four focus areas:

Attitudes and behaviours - Improving how others treat people with disability.

• Strategy 1: Increase awareness and knowledge of access and mechanisms for inclusion for Penrith City Council staff
• Strategy 2: Raise awareness and promote the benefits of inclusion to the community
• Strategy 3: Raise awareness and promote the benefits of inclusive customer practices with local busines

Liveable communities - Improving access to everything Penrith has to offer.

• Strategy 4: Deliver accessible and inclusive community events, programs and services
• Strategy 5: Increase access and participation in recreational and sporting opportunities
• Strategy 6: Support participation in the creative arts for producers, makers and audiences with disability
• Strategy 7: Improve accessibility within Penrith City’s town centres
• Strategy 8: Provide accessible Council buildings and facilities
• Strategy 9: Improve accessible transport and pedestrian movement in and around Penrith
• Strategy 10: Support people with disability to be prepared, respond, and recover from emergencies, shocks and stresses

Meaningful Employment - Identifying jobs that match skills and interests of people with disability and supporting employers to be more inclusive.

• Strategy 11: Increase employment of people living with disability within Penrith City Council
• Strategy 12: Support employment of people with disability within local businesses

Systems and processes - Improving how Council plans, communicates and involves people with disability in decision making.

• Strategy 13: Increase engagement and participation of people living with disability in Council’s decision making
• Strategy 14: Embed inclusion focused outcomes in Council’s planning processes and program and service design
• Strategy 15: Increase access to information

We will keep listening to the community

Meaningful change cannot be achieved without the perspectives of people with disability, their families and carers. People with lived experience of disability will be involved on a project level to provide specific advice throughout the implementation of the DIAP.

We will monitor emerging needs in an annual “pulse check” to ensure we are responsive to changing needs in the community. Where resourcing is identified, we will add commitments to the DIAP.

With the Access Committee’s guidance, we will implement the DIAP over the next four years. We will document our progress annually and share this information with the Access Committee, the community via our website and the NSW Disability Council.

An impact and evaluation framework will be developed as an action within the DIAP. It is intended to provide a baseline for tracking change and progress over time.