About Us

All of the current staff and management committee members of the DRC are individuals with a disability.

The Staff

The staff members are Anthony Giles-Peters (lead advocate), Richard Berger and Katrina Newman.  They do the work of advocating on behalf of clients.  Katrina is disability advocate for the outer South-East region of Melbourne.  All of the staff members work part-time.  Office hours for the Northcote office are 11am-5pm Tue-Fri. (closed Monday). Office hours for the Dandenong office, where Katrina is based, are 9:30am - 4:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

The Management Committee

The Management Committee members are Frank Hall-Bentick (chairperson) (see Frank Hall-Bentick's Home Page), Martin Leckey, Graham Smith, Pat Meehan, Shaunagh Stevens, Bob Deayton, Michelle de Hommel, Martin Grillo, Geoff Smith and Neil Cameron.  There can be up to eleven on the Management Committee, so there are vacancies available, and any person with a disability is eligible to nominate for a position on the Committee.  Committee meetings are held once per month, usually on the last Tuesday of the month (Northcote even moths, Dandenong odd months), 11.30am-2.30pm, with lunch provided.  The DRC provides attendant care to assist during the meetings and, on request, reasonable costs of transport will be reimbursed.

Disability Action in the Southeast

Disability Action Southeast (DAS) is a group of people with disabilities from the outer Southeast who further the systemic work of the DRC in the that area by highlighting local issues which are important to people with disabilities in the region, and campaigning for change.  Disability Action Southeast now has its own DAS web page.

Membership of the DRC

Membership of the DRC is open to any individual or group. There in no membership fee. Persons with a disability over 18 years are eligible to be voting members, and there are associate membership categories for persons with a disability under 18 years, non-disabled persons, and groups. A membership form is available to be downloaded (Word document).

Constitution, and Policies & Procedures

DRC Pamphlet

History of the DRC

From 1981 until 1997, DRC was funded to provide information and advocacy services to Victorians with disabilities. Over this time, DRC was instrumental in leading many developments in the disability rights area. From 1997 to 2001, volunteers represented DRC in many areas of endeavor.

In 1997, DRC joined together with three other Victorian Disability Advocacy organisations, Action for Community Living (ACL), the Physical Disability Council of Victoria (PDCV) and the Regional Victorian Rural Disability Association (RVRDA) to form Disability Rights Victoria - physical and multiple (DRV). The DRV consortium was funded by Victorian Disability Services, to provide a statewide individual advocacy service for Victorians with physical and multiple disabilities.

In 2001, DRC was funded through DRV to provide 22 hours/week of individual advocacy for adults with physical and multiple disabilities in the metropolitan area. Recently, the target population for this advocacy was altered so as to include adults with all disabilities.

DRC has now received recurrent funding to establish a part time, innovative individual advocacy service (with limited systemic components) for adults with disabilities in the outer south eastern growth corridor of Melbourne.

Our aim

DRC Objectives

• To assist persons with disabilities to achieve both individually and collectively full access to their human rights which are referred to in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly on 13 December 2006, articles 1 to 30.
• To promote the rights of persons with disabilities, both individually and collectively.
• To uphold the principles of self help.
• To act as a model of consumer participation.
• To provide resources for, advise, participate in and assist self-help consumer organisations whose purpose include the advancement of persons with disabilities.
• To communicate and liaise with other organisations in Australia and overseas whose functions include the advancement of persons with disabilities.
• To educate and raise the consciousness of persons with disabilities of their rights as individuals in society and in particular to make them and the community aware of their oppression when classified as "disabled".
• To educate the community about the rights and needs of persons with disabilities.
• To develop a library and an information exchange centre in particular relating to persons with disabilities for use by all members of the community.
• To encourage the development of innovative projects related to persons with disabilities and develop and research policies affecting persons with disabilities.
• To examine, monitor and evaluate existing services and facilities of whatever nature for persons with disabilities.
• To foster the development of persons' with disabilities independence, integration and participation within the community, and in particular their participation in relation to information exchange, community education and advocacy.
• To foster the development of persons' with disabilities rights to develop to their full potential, free from all forms of discrimination and right to contribute to the community to the full extent of their capacity and satisfaction.
• To increase the awareness and understanding by Government of the economic, social and educational needs of persons with disabilities and for such purpose to prepare or join in submissions to governments or instrumentalities of governments.