Building a more inclusive Bayside

Council is proud to celebrate International Day of People with Disability.

The day (3 December) aims to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities and is an opportunity to help make positive changes in the lives of Australians with disabilities.

Over 14,000 people living in Bayside have a disability and over 4,000 people need assistance in their day-to-day lives.

Council’s recently adopted Disability Action Plan sets out a whole of Council approach for the next four years to improve disability access and inclusion in Bayside.

We want to improve the physical environment to make it easier for people living with a disability to get around Bayside and we also want to help make our community more inclusive.

Bayside’s Disability Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee – made up of 10 community members with lived experience of disability - have played a key role in guiding the development of the Disability Action Plan.

Committee member and wheelchair user Emily Costello said she appreciated that the Disability Action Plan is working with businesses to ensure they are more accessible.

“It’s about what we can we all do together to make sure businesses are welcoming and accessible for everyone with a disability,” Emily said.

We are working to improve access to beaches in Bayside for people of all abilities and have already supplied beach matting and floating wheelchairs to the lifesaving clubs at Half Moon Bay and Hampton Beach.

We are proud of our all-abilities playground at Thomas Street Reserve in Hampton which is truly a place where children of all abilities can play together.

We also have two 'Changing Places' facilities in Bayside and plans for more. Changing Places include an adult sized changing table, larger than standard accessible toilet cubicles, extra features and more space to meet the needs of people with complex disabilities.

The theme for International Day of People with Disability 2021 is ‘leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world’.

More on our Disability Action Plan