The Fifth Estate: Disability in Australia

‘I have never accepted the concept of “lifters” and “leaners”’, Graeme Innes has said. ‘We all move from one role to the other dozens of times a day.’

Innes made this remark during a blistering National Press Club speech in 2014, as the outgoing federal disability discrimination commissioner. The notion of ‘lifters’ and ‘leaners’ entered the Australian political lexicon via former Treasurer Joe Hockey, but it’s an old concept, and one that Innes has fought against for much of his life.

Born blind, Innes was determined from an early age to pursue a fulfilling and demanding career. His new book, Finding a Way, describes his early life as well as the highs and lows of that career – as a lawyer, mediator, company director and commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, working on issues relating to race, disability and same-sex discrimination.

In conversation with Sally Warhaft, Innes reflects on his personal and professional achievements and discusses the state of disability policy in Australia today. What’s the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme? And is our society getting better at understanding the potential, as well as the needs, of people with disabilities?

Note: this video includes Auslan interpreters.