A Charter for I-Day in the Australian Capital Territory
A shared commitment to community-controlled observance of the
United Nations International Day of People with Disability in the ACT
Why issue a charter?
The International Day of People with Disability (IDPWD, also known as I-Day) is a United Nation’s sanctioned day intended to promote community awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability, and support the dignity, rights and well-being of people with disability.
Celebrated on 3 December annually, the day is observed across the globe, receiving varying degrees of formal and informal support and recognition.
Consultation regarding the future of I-Day in the Australian Capital Territory was undertaken between April and July 2024 by Disabled Peoples Organisations, including Advocacy for Inclusion and Women with Disabilities ACT.
These consultations saw people with disabilities, organisations and others come together in a series of deliberative conversations to identify shared ideas and preferences which could inform the transition of the Day to community control. They came following a welcome commitment by the ACT Government in its ACT Disability Strategy to the transition of the day to the community. These consultations have led to a new approach to observing I-Day in the ACT.
This Charter has been developed to guide observance of I-Day and its control in the ACT by people with disability.
We do so because the celebrations of the day should deliver the core promise of the disability rights movement – Nothing About Us, Without Us.
We welcome the fact that the ACT, the national capital, is the first jurisdiction to make this move to community control and we are optimistic that we are not the last.
What ideas are behind the charter?
Our vision is that I-Day is strongly supported, anticipated and loved by people with disability throughout the Territory.
This means people with disability feel they own our day and are in real and practical control of the direction of the celebrations, campaigns and events.
Our ambitions are large, high quality and professional but achievable and backed by sustainable capacity and resources and the sound governance which inspires confidence.
Everyone feels involved and has confidence the Day is well run and:
- reflects the diversity and intersectionality of our community and is never patronising or ableist
- expresses the values and rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- has meaning and a sense of purpose
- has a collaborative approach
- moves the dial of change across the whole community for the whole year
- has impact that is measured through robust indicators
What are we doing to get there?
To achieve that this Charter we commit to observances that
- are planned, designed and delivered by people with disability and their organisations.
- are accessible and strive to provide accessible events and communications for people with all kinds of disability including intellectual and cognitive disability. Features will include an accessibility statement at the beginning of key public events.
- Create opportunities for people with disability to inform, lead and participate at all levels.
What is community control?
Community control means:
- these observances are supported and managed through an organisation where the majority of the board and staff have a disability with oversight of the day.
- shared support and guidance with oversight of messaging, operations and activities placed into the hands of a strong community controlled governing body (known as the Steering Committee) which includes a majority of people with disability with shared leadership to ensure intersectional and cross cutting representation.
With vision, purpose and collaboration we look forward to the day creating opportunities for people with disability to discover and claim identity, raise our voices, exercise power and gain freedom.
Drafted by the Interim Steering Committee including:
Louise Bannister, Community Member
Harry Bhangu, Rebus Theatre
Renée Heaton, Chair of the Disability Reference Group
Shannon Kolak, CEO ACT Down Syndrome and Intellectual Disability
Kat Reed, CEO Women with Disabilities ACT
Craig Wallace, Head of Policy Advocacy for Inclusion
Issued by AFI and WWDACT as co-chairs
Endorsement
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.
AFI
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.
Su Mon Kyaw-Myint
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.
Australian Multicultural Action Network Inc
This is a fantastic step in the ACT and also on a national scale. Returning the platform to us, the people with disability, goes beyond “nothing about us wihout us”. Disability-led initiatives that are supported by essential government and community allies, ensures that we continue to move towards sustainable and dynamic disability leadership and representation. I am pleased to endorse this charter and to me part of the ongoing changes that celebrate authentic voices.
Fi Peel
We endorse this Charter and commit to doing everything we can to support observances within a community controlled International Day of People with Disability in the ACT.
This is open to government as well as supportive leaders and community organisations who have been part of the Strategic Conversation consultations and collaborative process.