IDRS provides a range of resources and publications to help people with an intellectual disability and those who care for or work with them.
- Guardianship and administration laws across Australia
- Violence and Victims
- Criminal Justice
- Factsheets
- Publications
Guardianship and administration laws across Australia by Ben Fogarty
The purpose of this publication is to provide legal practitioners, people
with decision-making disability, their family, friends and support network,
with a basic understanding of what guardianship and financial management
(also known as administration) is, the alternatives to formal orders and
what laws in States and Territories govern these areas.
For more information see >>
Guardianship
and administration laws across Australia
Violence and Victims
People with an intellectual disability are vulnerable to violent crime.
The most frequent crimes against them are physical and sexual assault,
and they are significantly more likely to be a victim of these crimes
than the rest of the population.
For more information see >>
Violence and Victims
Criminal Justice
People with intellectual disabilities do not get the services that they
need to help them keep out of trouble with the law. The lack of services
in the community contributes to the over-representation of people with
an intellectual disability in prison. The Intellectual Disability Rights
Service and the NSW Council for Intellectual Disability commissioned
a report setting out a framework for the provision of services to meet
the needs of offenders with an intellectual disability.
For more information see >>
Framework
Report (plain language version)
>> 
Framework
Plain Language (pdf version)
>>
Framework
Intro (pdf version)
>>
Framework
Main Report (pdf version)
Factsheets 
Human Rights Consultation - Fact Sheet (easy read)
Discrimination
Maximising
a person's ability to make their own decisions
Producing
Information for people with an Intellectual Disability
Rights under wills and trusts
Wills for parents of a person with an intellectual disability
Wills
for people with an intellectual disability
Working
with a client with an intellectual disability - Factsheet for Lawyers
CJSN
Support Workers at Court - Factsheet for lawyers
Publications
View
PDF order form.
To order complete form and send with cheque or mail order to IDRS.
Legal Rights Teaching Kit: Tools and strategies to teach people with an intellectual disability about their rights and how to assert them (2nd edition) (1995).
Opening the Doors: Supporting women with an intellectual disability - a resource kit for domestic violence workers (1999).
Questions of Rights: A guide to the law and rights of people with an intellectual disability (2nd edition) (1998).
Making
A Statement: An Exploratory Study of Barriers Facing Women
with Intellectual Disabilities when Making a Statement about Sexual Assault
to the Police (2000).
Rights for All Video - based on stories in the Rights for All magazines. The video is structured as a TV current affairs program, aimed at people with an intellectual disability. It has four segments: rights at home, at work, with the police and your right to be the boss of your body (1997).
Rights in Residence: A guide to the law and rights of people with an intellectual disability in supported accommodation (2nd edition) (1996).
Stand Up and Speak! Sit Up and Listen!: People with an intellectual disability participating in the management of advocacy services (1997).
When I'm Gone: An introduction to wills
and estate planning for parents of people with an intellectual disability
(1999).
Note: This book has now been superseded by FACSIA's (The Department of
Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) publication: Planning
for the Future:people with disabilities. [PDF Format 266KB]
A sample Will setting up a trust is available by clicking here [MS Word Format 39KB]
In September 2006, Special Disability Trusts were introduced as a means test concession to assist families to make private financial arrangements for people with severe disabilities. The Department has also published a guide on these special disability trusts which you can download by clicking here. [PDF Format 336KB]