The Aboriginal Disability Network brings together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability to:

• tell our stories
• give each other support
• create a voice for change
• speak for ourselves.

In early 2002 People with Disability Australia (PWD) was asked by a group of Aboriginal people with disability to facilitate a state conference that brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with disability from around NSW.

The conference was held in November 2002 at Gibba Gunyah Stone Quarry Lodge, Picton (south of Sydney, NSW). Over 100 Aboriginal people with disability attended the conference. A key outcome of the conference was the formal establishment of the Aboriginal Disability Network NSW (ADN). Participants at the conference endorsed PWD to continue to auspice the development of the network.

In order to achieve this, PWD in collaboration with the ADN management committee, sought financial support from government, non-government and private sector bodies.

In 2003 PWD was successful in receiving a small grant from the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation for the ADN. PWD was also successful in late 2003 in receiving financial support from the Westpac Foundation to enable the maintenance and development of the network. The activities relating to this funding commenced on 1 January 2004 and concluded on 31 December 2004.

Source: Aboriginal Disability Network NSW: About the Network