Our Guiding Document

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of the places that make up what is now called Queensland. We pay respect to all Elders past and present and all First Nations people. We recognise their continued connection to the lands and waters, and their ongoing holding of memories, traditions, culture and community aspirations that span more than 65,000 years. We recognise sovereignty has never been ceded and express our sorrow for the personal, spiritual and cultural costs of colonisation and its lasting impacts. It always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

We are deeply committed to First Nations people’s self-determination and recognise that by working alongside First Nations disability advocacy organisations and advocates, the disability advocacy sector will continue to create respectful and collaborative partnerships. We learn from the many ways First Nations people shape, challenge, adapt and develop disability advocacy practices. May we walk forward together in harmony and the spirit of healing.

We acknowledge that people’s identities and lives are not segmented, that we have many parts of ourselves. Every day we advocate for people with disabilities who are also First Nations people, or identify as culturally and linguistically diverse, or LGBTIQA+, or living in regional and rural communities.

QIDAN acknowledges the intersectional lived and living experiences of people with disability and their family members, carers and supporters. We respect and honour their resilience and strength in challenging generations of discrimination, coercion and neglect. We recognise the huge contribution people with lived experience make to our work and disability advocacy.

Language

QIDAN believes that language is a powerful tool for building inclusion. We use person-first language by using the term ‘people with disability’ but recognise that many people with disability prefer identity first language (i.e. a disabled person).

Our Purpose

The Queensland Independent Disability Advocacy Network (QIDAN) is a network of independent disability advocacy organisations in Queensland. QIDAN protects and promotes independent advocacy to uphold the rights, interests, and wellbeing of people with disability, ensuring socially just, accessible, and inclusive communities.

Our Aims

Systemic advocacy to take coordinated action to address systemic issues experienced by people with disability,

Member support to provide a collaborative space for the exchange of issues, solutions, information and resources affecting disability advocacy organisations, and

Sector advocacy to promote the importance and value of independent disability advocacy on a local, state and national basis.

Our Principles

QIDAN’s principles are underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). QIDAN’s work will support the progressive implementation of the UNCRPD and recognise the importance of involving people with disability in all aspects of decision making and governance. QIDAN recognises that despite instruments such as the UNCRPD, people with disability continue to face additional and complex barriers in equal participation as members of society and will continue to advocate for meaningful and equitable inclusion.

QIDAN principles, include being:

Guided by people with disability and human rights principles
Independent from service provision and Government
Committed to First Nation’s people’s self-determination and sovereignty, by creating respectful and collaborative partnerships across the disability advocacy sector with First Nation’s Elders, organisations, programs and community members
Creating opportunities for people with disability to have agency in decision making
Acting with integrity and accountability
Committed to developing our capacity to lead and strengthen the disability advocacy sector through collaboration and collective action and quality data
Committed to intersectionality in our individual and system advocacy
Committed to responding to and addressing the additional barriers that are experienced by First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ people living with disability, people living in rural and remote locations and people in closed environments. This includes ensuring our practice is culturally safer and responsive to individual needs.