PROJECT SUMMARY

Building Disability Messaging Capacity, a partnership between Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) and Australian Progress, is an urgent and groundbreaking research project to shift public narratives by testing and developing messages that build widespread support for transformative disability policy change.

We know that mainstream ways of thinking often label people with disability as ‘less’ and ‘not capable of making their own decisions’. Barriers put in place by governments (inaccessible public transport and infrastructure, as well as limits to supports available at home, school and in the workplace), alongside harmful community attitudes have a major impact on the wellbeing and day to day lives of disabled people – they are exclusionary and often result in
disabled people being denied autonomy to make decisions about their own lives.

Off the back of the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS Review, the disability advocacy community identified a number of upcoming moments to proactively influence political decision making, building the foundations needed to win transformative disability policy changes in the years ahead. The most immediate of these is the 2024 federal budget this May, with an opportunity to reframe conversations about funding of the NDIS and disability supports in a way that centres the strengths of the disability community, demonstrates practical concepts of self determination, creates shared values, and a vision for the future where people with disability live fulfilling and independent lives.

State and federal elections in the coming 12 months offer a political opportunity to firmly place disability front and centre on election policy agendas, building the public momentum and political will necessary to build a nation that includes and values people with disabilities and respects human rights for all.

The project is based on a proven theory of change that has shifted national narratives and public support on issues from First Nations justice to refugee rights. It responds to both the identified capacity building needs of disability advocates, and external factors like public sentiment and the opportunities to influence political change in the coming 12 months.

Our theory of change says: If we test and share messages proven to build widespread support for disability self determination, and equip disability advocates with persuasive messaging and advocacy skills, we can strengthen narrative power and shift mainstream discourse about people with disability, compelling decision makers to create better policies for disabled people.

Throughout this project we will analyse existing advocate and opposition narratives for strengths and weaknesses, and equip advocates with best practice theory and frameworks for persuasive messaging. We will deliver nationwide qualitative and quantitative research and testing to find messages proven to win persuadable support, and undertake a nationwide rollout to share messages far and wide with disability advocates, strengthening the communications capacity of both advocates and allies.

Alongside the message research, rollout and strategic communications capacity building, we’ll build critical advocacy and leadership skills of changemakers with disability, equipping them with tools and strategies to level up approaches to campaign strategy development, decision maker engagement, and media engagement. Simultaneously, we’ll build cross-sector peer relationships to enable collaborative campaigns at the intersection of issues.

See the proposal below for a full breakdown of the three phases of the project’s delivery.