A future where people with disability, inclusive of all identities, experience social and sexual safety everywhere and always.

Mel, Cate, Sheridan and Sue are SO excited to be in the beautiful city of Adelaide for the 3rd Leading Through Inclusion conference by the South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability!!! We are in for 2 days of interesting talks, learning, and sharing. Team members Sue and Sheridan will be on stage with the SACID team, presenting on our co-designed resources at 2pm Adelaide time. We will also be at our Safer Me Safer You stall throughout the two days. We hope to see you there! And for the those of us unable to make it, we'll be keeping you updated over the next two days. Image description: Tile 1- a photo of Mel, Sheridan, Sue and Cate all together at our SMSY stall. There is a squiggly border around the picture. At the bottom it has the sacid logo and says Leading through inclusion conference 2025.

Are you a young person with disability aged between 18-25? If so, Get the Go Ahead has a fantastic opportunity for you! The Get the Go Ahead project is running a series of focus groups with Disabled young people to better understand how youth organisations and support services can be accessible and welcoming for Disabled young people. ✨They invite you to come to a 2-hour focus group - either online or in person ✨The focus groups will be facilitated by two Disabled facilitators ✨You'll be asked questions about accessibility, what makes an event or organisation welcoming for you, and what you want people who work with Disabled young people to understand. ✨You will be paid $150 ✨It is open to Disabled young people aged 18-25 All focus groups cover the same topics, so you only need to go to the one that suits you best. -21 May, 6pm-8pm at St Kilda Library, 150 Carlisle Street, St Kilda -22 May, 2pm-4pm, online via Zoom (live captions) -22 May, 6pm-8pm, online via Zoom (live captions) -27 May, 6pm-8pm at Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong -28 May, 6pm-8pm, online via Zoom (Auslan workshop) -3 June, 6pm-8pm, online via Discord (text-based workshop) -4 June, 5:30pm-7:30pm at The Dome, 51 Little Malop St, Geelong Get the Go-Ahead is a project led by Women’s Health East in partnership in partnership with Youth Disability Advocacy Service. Get the Go-Ahead is funded by the Victorian Government. You can find out more about them at https://gtga.org.au/ For more info and register: https://events.humanitix.com/asking-disabled-young-people-what-matters-to-you-paid-consultation Image description: Tile 1 - a blue square with a pink envelope on it. Inside the envelope is a piece of paper that says "Are you a young person with disability? Get the Go Ahead invites you to a PAID 2 hour meeting to share your thoughts." At the top of the square it says "Consultation opportunity."

Today is the National Domestic Violence Remembrance Day. It is part of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month of May. The Royal Commission statistics showed us that people with disability are 2.2 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence, than those without disability. They are 2.4 times more at risk for being stalked. With 64% of people with disabilities reporting to have experienced or currently experience physical violence, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, emotional abuse and/or stalking. These statistics are shocking. We need to do more to protect the safety of the disability community. One small step you can take to help change these statistics is to advocate for better safety practices in disability services. How can you do that? You can help promote the National Guidelines to organisations - which outlines the 6 key areas the disability community told us were essential to their social and sexual safety. You can also share the easy read version of these areas in the I START Tool easy read book or poster. These documents can be found on our website: https://safermesaferyou.org.au/projects/guidelines Everyone deserves safety. It is a human right. Today we honour those whose rights were taken from them, and commit to making change. Statistics taken from https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/news-and-media/media-releases/people-disability-face-much-greater-risk-violence-people-without-disability #Violence #DomesticViolence #Disability #GreaterRisk #humanrightsday Image description: Tile 1- a blue background with coloured blobs in the Safer Me Safer You brand colours. In the middle in bold writing it says "National Domestic Violence Remembrance Day". There is an image of 2 candles underneath. Other text on the image says "Today we remember those we have lost. Everyone deserves safety."

Tomorrow is the big day! We are so very excited that our third big online meeting is so close. Join us from 10am - 4.30pm as we listen to a range of extraordinary presenters who discuss this year's theme - the sexual rights of people with disability. Access accommodations include AUSLAN interpreters, live captioning, and access to a counsellor. Whether you're a person with a disability, a worker in the sector, or someone simply passionate about human rights we would love to have you join us! Link for registration is in our bio. Image description: Tile 1- A blue tile with SMSY coloured blobs. It says Tomorrow. The sexual rights of people with disability - online big meeting. On the big blob at the bottom is a laptop with an online meeting on screen. There is a speech bubble saying "see you soon!"

Part of the work we do here at Safer Me Safer You (SMSY) is to make resources - and we have been blessed to work with the fabulous Melinda Brown and Aerina Yun from the South Australian Council for Intellectual Disability (SACID)! Over the past 12 months, the SACID and SMSY have collaborated to develop Easy Read guides, posters and videos for adults with intellectual disability to learn about various topics around Online Safety. These topics include: -What is an online friend? -Red and green flags of online friends -How to keep your online space safe Melinda is a passionate self-advocate from Adelaide. She likes to speak up for the rights of people with disability and does so through the many groups she is involved in. Melinda is employed at SACID as an Inclusion Advisor and is a Member of the Participant Reference Group for the NDIS. Melinda is also a Peer Mentor for Our Voice SA where she runs peer groups. Her goal is to break down barriers in communication for people with intellectual disability so they can get information in a way that they need and that is accessible. Aerina works at SACID as a Project Officer on the Inclusion Services team. She has extensive experience in co-design and creating accessible resources such as videos and Easy Read. She has previously worked on SACID’s workshop’s team, co-designing and delivering capacity building workshops for people with intellectual disability and families across South Australia. In addition, she has led the Cyber Wise project, co-designing an accessible online training module about online safety for people with intellectual disability. She has completed a Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of South Australia. #Disability #Speaker #SexualRights #Safety #OnlineSafety #Resources Image description in alt text

Join Jenny Watts Sampson at our Big Meeting as she explores empowerment for women and girls with disability through storytelling in her talk "I am capable." She says, "it can sometimes feel that our lives and choices are beIng determined by others, particularly our personal relationships. Let's explore together a scenario that shares the experience of Alex and discover what empowerment is and how healthy relationships maintain our safety, choice and control." Jenny is an accomplished professional in the disability and violence space. We are thrilled to have her join us as a Project Advisory Group member and speaker at this year's Big Meeting. You can register for the Big Meeting at the link in our bio or on our website. #Disability #Speaker #SexualRights #Safety #CaseStudy Image Description: Tile 1- A dark purple and dark blue square. A photo of Jenny is in the middle. She has bob length curly blonde hair and a big smile. She looks lovely. The words on the image read "I am capable - empowerment through storytelling. Jenny Watts Sampson. Meet the speakers! Join us Tuesday 6th May - Registration link in bio."