2025 I-Day Declaration

I’m grateful for the opportunity to sign up to this commitment and join so many other passionate individuals and organisations in working together for a better and kinder community.

On behalf of ACTCOSS, I’m proud to sign onto the I-DAY Declaration.
As a community, we are at our best when we choose kindness, respect and inclusion.
ACTCOSS commits to challenging harmful and ableist speech wherever it appears.
Thank you to AFI, Women With Disabilities ACT, the I-DAY steering committee and the many determined advocates who have led this important call to action.

Very excited to be part of claiming back I-Day for our community. I support the charter and look forward to working with our community partners to build the celebration of disability pride into Canberra’s mainstream celebrations throughout the year…not just one day per year.

We all have to commit to work together to dismantle the barriers that prevent disabled people from living full and complete lives. This is a step in the right direction!

YES I affirm my commitment to the I-Day Declaration. Words shape our world. Ableist language perpetuates discrimination and reinforces systemic barriers that exclude people with disability from full participation in society. By proactively identifying, challenging, and dismantling such speech in daily interactions, online spaces, and institutional policies, we collectively foster a culture of respect, equity, and genuine inclusion. Committing to this year-long conscious practice is essential to moving beyond awareness to tangible change.

It is a social responsibility to take care of each coz who will?
Young and elderly, disability or not,
WE ARE ALL ONE!

Let’s show future generations what unity amidst humans mean!

The first community led I-Day was brilliant. Thank you to all the organisations and volunteers involved in making it happen. I endorse this statement of values and commit to taking action in anyway I am able to create an inclusive, accessible, barrier free Canberra and I urge all Canberrans to sign up to this and share your committment.

Volitio proudly signs onto the 2025 I-Day Declaration — “Halting Hate, Finding Kindness – ways toward a welcoming community.” We are committed to advancing disability inclusion by championing dignity, respect, access and equity every day. As an NDIS provider and community partner, we pledge to actively challenge discrimination and harmful narratives, create inclusive technologies and services, and work collaboratively with people with disability to ensure their voices lead our actions. We believe that inclusion is a shared journey — one that strengthens our communities and unlocks opportunity for all.

I endorse the Declaration.

Kindness. Accountability. Dignity.

And action.

The Halting Hate, Finding Kindness Charter is a timely, principled and much-needed declaration that reflects both the spirit and responsibility of a progressive and inclusive Canberra.

From my perspective as AMAN President and an I-Day AFI Steering Committee member, the strength of this Charter lies in its grounding in lived dialogue rather than abstract ideals. Emerging from a genuinely multi-stream I-Day process, it captures a shared civic commitment to kindness, respect, truth, access, diversity, equity and inclusion—not as aspirational language, but as values that must actively guide behaviour, policy and community response over the coming year.

Importantly, the Charter does not shy away from naming harm. Its clear stance against ableist and harmful speech, and its call for collective responsibility to challenge such behaviour wherever and whenever it occurs, is critical. For people with disability—particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds—silence in the face of harm is itself exclusionary. This declaration rightly reframes inclusion as an ongoing, everyday practice rather than a once-a-year observance.

The Charter also succeeds in positioning I-Day not as an endpoint, but as a marker along a 365-day journey toward I-Day 2026. This continuity matters. It reinforces accountability, encourages sustained action, and invites individuals, organisations and institutions to translate values into practice across systems, services and community spaces.

AMAN strongly supports the intent and direction of this Charter. We see it as a practical moral compass for our city—one that aligns with broader efforts to build trauma-informed, culturally safe and disability-inclusive communities. We encourage Canberrans to engage with it not merely by signing on, but by living its commitments through their words, decisions and actions.

In that sense, Halting Hate, Finding Kindness is not just a declaration. It is a collective call to leadership.

ADACAS shares the commitment to this Charter, to disability led initiatives and leadership. ADACAS is a Disability Representative Organisation that provided individual advocacy for more than 1100 people with disability last year, we remain committed to the acts of Solidarity and to uphold the commitment to Build Social Licence and Safety outlined in the Charter. Our goal every day is to ensure the human rights and dignity of people with disability is upheld.