1. Better data for good decision-making

People told us the community needs data that:

A person pointing at themselves. There are three icons around them, a health icon, a conversation icon, and a disability support icon.

  • is about all the important areas of a person’s life

A data icon and a safety icon.

  • people know they can trust.

An icon of a person making a decision between A, B and C.

They shared that a lot of people make decisions with data they have now.

This includes decisions about services and supports.

A data icon with an important symbol.

Data is important.

An icon of a person making a decision between A, B and C, with a thumbs up icon above.

We need good data to make sure people make good decisions.

A person with their finger on their chin. Above is a data icon with an arrow pointing at a blank space in the icon.

But people shared that there are some gaps in data about people with disability.

Organisations don’t always collect:

Two information icons, but one of them has a cross on it.

  • the same information

A person recording someone else talking. The person speaking has an importance icon above them. The person recording has an information symbol above them, but it has a cross on it.

  • enough information about important parts of a person’s life.

A group of people looking over a document with an importance icon above.

People hoped that the NDDA could help fix this problem.

A speech bubble with a disability icon in it. There is a change symbol around the disability icon.

The NDDA could change the way people talk about disability.

A person with a clipboard standing next to a data icon and a change symbol.

And it could change the way people collect data about people with different experiences.

This includes:

A group of people from different cultural backgrounds.

  • culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) people

Two people pointing at themselves with their hand raised. There are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags above them.

  • First Nations peoples.

CaLD people:

A map of the world.

  • come from different countries and backgrounds

Icons of people speaking languages other than English.

  • speak languages other than English.

A group of people working on a document together with a lapotp open in front of them.

People told us that good data is guided by people who understand the data.

These are people who have experiences with what the data is about.

Finding and using the data

A group of people with their hands upraised. There is a computer above them with data on it, and a data icon.

People told us the community must be able to find and use the data so they can:

An photo of a person making a decision between A, B, C and D. The person is giving a thumbs up.

  • have more choice and control

A person has their hand on someone else's shoulder.

  • speak up for what people with disability need.

A data icon with an arrow pointing to data on a computer.

They told us data should be online.

A person smiling, using a laptop.

And the online data should:

  • be easy for everyone to find and use
  • share information in different ways.

A computer with the NDDA website on it has an arrow pointing to a person with their hand on someone else's shoulder and a megaphone above them.

People said advocacy groups could use the NDDA to support their work.

Two policy documents labelled 1 and 2 above a government building. There is an arrow pointing to the policy document labelled 1.

They also said the government can use the data to make decisions about policies.

A policy document icon has an arrow pointing to an icon of a plan.

A policy is a plan for how we should do things.

A person with their finger on their chin. There is an icon of a lightbulb and a services icon.

Some people said providers could use the data to come up with new ways to support people with disability.

For example, new ideas and services.

A person with their hand on someone's shoulder and the other hand saying stop. Above is a safety icon next to data on a computer.

But people also told us it’s very important to protect people with disability and the data about them.

Two people working something out on a board.

They want people with disability to be part of deciding who can use the NDDA.

What data should the NDDA collect?

Three people pointing at themselves, with data on a computer above them.

People told us that the data should focus on all types of experiences that people with disability have.

This can include:

A person working at a cafe.

  • their strengths

People working on a farm together.

  • how they take part in the community

A support person is helping someone iron clothing.

  • what services they can get.

A disability icon with an arrow pointing up. There is an arrow connecting it to a Census document, with question marks on the document.

For example, people shared that the Australian Government didn’t have enough questions about disability in the Census.

So they didn’t collect enough of the right information in the Census.

The Census is a big survey that collects information about everyone across Australia.