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Our Health Still Counts
Fix healthcare for people with intellectual disability
Update May 2025 – Our Health Still Counts! Now and into the future
Read this update in Easy Read.
The CID Advocacy Team congratulates the Albanese Labor Government on its victory in the federal election on May 3. The end of the election means the end of the Our Health Still Counts campaign at CID. We look forward to continuing to work with Labor in the next term of government to ensure that people with intellectual disability receive fair and equal access to healthcare.
The campaign raised the voices of people with intellectual disability and their supporters, highlighting the inequities they face in our health system. Although there were no new commitments made, we are encouraged by Labor’s focus on equitable access to health for all, which has now been strongly endorsed by the Australian electorate.
CID will continue its advocacy on Federal health issues through our work with the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health. CID warmly thanks every single person who has shared their story with us in this campaign.
Read more information on the Our Health Still Counts campaign (PDF).
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Why it matters
People with intellectual disability are still dying decades earlier than other people.
People with intellectual disability are still much more likely to be hospitalised for preventable causes.
Doctors are still not getting the essential training to treat people with intellectual disability.
We know how to solve these problems … So why are they still happening?
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Background
In 2023, the Disability Royal Commission reported on the ongoing systemic neglect facing people with intellectual disability in the healthcare system.
Luckily, we have solutions. The Federal Government has already funded the development of the National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability (‘the Roadmap’), released in 2021.
The Roadmap sets out key steps needed to fix healthcare for people with intellectual disability including things like longer GP consultations and better training for healthcare professionals.
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The problem
Not nearly enough of the key steps have been taken, and people with intellectual disability are still dying due to inadequate healthcare.
The Roadmap identified 72 short-term ‘actions’ to complete within 3 years. But so far, only 9 of them have been completed.
Health care professionals don’t understand how to include and support people with intellectual disabilities in their own healthcare.
Intellectual disability is not a medical condition.
We know how to fix healthcare for people with intellectual disability.
We urgently need to implement these solutions.
Lives depend on it.
What we’re asking the next Federal Government to do
- Implement the Roadmap: A renewed, timely commitment to full and effective implementation of the National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability.
- Training for doctors: Commit to action that will ensure health professionals and students get the training they need to provide quality health care to people with intellectual disability.
- Incentivise GP care: Help doctors to spend more time with people with intellectual disability.
A full list of the commitments we seek is here.
See how the parties responded here.
Read the Statement of Concern from Disability Royal Commission witnesses.
Scroll down to add your voice to our campaign.
ABC News: Health outcomes for people with intellectual disability remain ‘comparable to third world countries’ (video version available here)
Campaign resources
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About our campaign
This is a joint campaign of
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Our campaign is supported by
Add your voice to the campaign
Together, we can get the Federal Government to take real action for intellectual disability health.
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