Bridging the Gap: The Need for a Specialist Legal Service for People with Disabilities in South Australia

By Georgia Deane, UniSA Vacation Scholarship Recipient and neurodivergent queer woman studying social work with a strong interest in disability rights and research.

Georgia Deane

In South Australia, there is a significant gap in the provision of specialist, free legal services for individuals with lived experience of disability. Conducted as part of a UniSA Vacation Scholarship, this research project aims to provide an exploration and evidence base for stakeholders to seek recognition and resourcing of the need for a specialised service. 

Why are specialist legal services needed?

There is a powerful argument that specialist legal services provide unique and tailored legal assistance to particular cohorts. The existence of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) and the Women’s Legal Service South Australia (WLSSA) are examples of this. In South Australia, there is no specialist free legal service that supports people with lived experience of disability.  This project set out to provide evidence-based support for such a service.

Across Australia, legal aid and basic legal services are available to low-income individuals who cannot afford a lawyer. However, the definition of "low income" varies between jurisdictions, leaving a significant portion of the population—often referred to as the "missing middle"—without access to adequate legal support. This group is frequently forced to represent themselves, which can be financially and emotionally draining, often leading to disadvantageous outcomes.

The Law Council of Australia’s position paper on addressing the legal needs of the missing middle defines this group as, a 'group of individuals who do not meet eligibility criteria for public funded legal services yet lack the resources to afford a private lawyer's assistance' (2021, p.3). The paper states the cases where the ‘missing middle’ had the highest unmet needs included civil cases, family law, litigation, wills, estates, probate and elder abuse, and emergency responses.

For people with disabilities in the ‘missing middle’, the situation is even more challenging. As the Law Council of Australia said in 2024

“People with disability face a wide range of systemic and structural barriers to accessing justice. Such barriers include inaccessible legal information, inflexible court procedures, negative attitudes and stigma towards people with disability and an under-resourced legal assistance sector. These barriers are the manifestation of the physical, cultural and social environment failing to accommodate the needs of people with disability so as to enable them to participate in the justice system on an equal basis with others.”

At the State level in South Australia, despite the existence of the Disability Information and Legal Assistance Unit within the Legal Services Commission SA, there remains acute and unmet legal need among South Australians with disability and their families and carers.

What does this gap mean for protecting and promoting the human rights of persons with disabilities?

The international human rights framework, including conventions like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), underscores the importance of protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities. These frameworks advocate for equal access to justice, non-discrimination, and the right to live independently and be included in the community.

The CRPD emphasises that persons with disabilities should have access to justice on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations. It also highlights the need for training for those working in the field of administration of justice, including police and prison staff, to ensure that persons with disabilities are treated fairly and without discrimination.

By aligning local initiatives with these international standards, South Australia can work towards a more inclusive legal system that upholds the rights and dignity of all individuals, particularly those with disabilities.

What steps could we take to make a positive difference?

A specialist, free legal service that supports people with lived experience of disability is needed in South Australia in order to address critical gaps in existing systems and barriers to access to justice, and to ensure the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in our community.  The Disability Discrimination Legal Service Inc (Victoria) provides a possible model to consider.

Having specialist lawyers servicing this vulnerable section of our community would begin to make long-lasting change to the way in which people with disability can access and use the legal assistance sector. It would also align with the South Australian Legal Assistance Action and Strategy Plan 2022-2025 which is designed to address the inequality of access to justice for all South Australians.

However, such a service by itself will not be capable of addressing the access to justice barries experienced by people with disabilities unless it is accompanied by:

• increased funding for disability advocacy service in South Australia, noting that advocates who have lived experience of disability are particularly vital, as they offer a deeper understanding and personal insight into the challenges faced by those with disabilities;

• disability-specific legal aid funding to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access the resources they need when fighting for their rights;

• the introduction of specialist human rights legislation in South Australia, in the form of a Charter of Human Rights or Human Rights Act, that provides specific protection for the rights of persons with disabilities, and access to legal remedies for breach.

  
  

What difference could this make on the ground for people in South Australia?

As an individual with lived experience of disability, I recognise that my current position is a result of the advocacy efforts made by those who came before me. Although we have made considerable progress, there is still much work to be done to ensure that disability rights are fully upheld. People with disabilities need to be empowered to advocate for their rights and to have access to justice. As this quote within the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, states:

“A rights-based approach to disability is not driven by compassion, but by dignity and freedom. It seeks ways to respect, support and celebrate human diversity by creating the conditions that allow meaningful participation by a wide range of persons, including persons with disabilities. Instead of focusing on persons with disabilities as passive objects of charitable acts, it seeks to assist people to help themselves so that they can participate in society, in education, at the workplace, in political and cultural life, and defend their rights through accessing justice” .

You can access a copy of Georgia's report here