Mission

Access partners with people with disabilities to achieve goals in areas that are important to us all - education, employment, social connectedness, health and fitness, hobbies and passions. We do this by recognising that mainstream approaches are often not ideally suited to differing abilities and try to find more creative, supportive and personalised solutions to encourage greater success. We also recognise that often barriers faced by people with disabilities have little to do with their actual ability and more to do with societal misconceptions. Access works towards 'demystifying disability,' fostering belonging and helping our community appreciate the value of diversity.

What We Do

Access was established in 1987 by a group of parents of children with disabilities who felt that their voices (and that of their children) were not being heard. What originally started as an advocacy group transitioned into service provision as parents felt that the needs of their child were not being met, particularly in the Jewish community and especially in the 'post-school' stage of their children's lives. Thus, Access today focuses on meeting the challenges faced by adults with disabilities as they move on from the more prescriptive and supportive framework provided by the education system.

Access' programming is focused on building the capacity of each individual we work with to achieve their post-school goals. We work specifically in the area of training to build skill and confidence and have three main areas of learning - Access Hospitality, Access Life Learning and Access Health and Leisure. We primarily provide group-based programs and initiatives as we recognise the benefits of this mode of learning and we pride ourselves on our ability to be flexible, personalised and adaptive within a group context. This has allowed Access to build a strong brand as a person-centred, results-focused and community-proud organisation, offering services which are unique within the Jewish community.

To learn more, go to:

www.accessinc.org.au

www.facebook.com/AccessIncVic

www.instagram.com/access_inc/

www.linkedin.com/company/access-inc