‘Welcome To Our Inclusive Community’ is a video produced by Victoria’s Latrobe City Council and local residents to raise awareness of the contribution people with a disability are making to their local community. Rural Access Project Officer, Bill Lawler, said the video promotes the valued role people with disabilities play in society, rather than emphasising the disability people have.
“The focus is on how the participation of people with a disability benefits the community and their workplace,” he said. “The process behind the production of the video was just as important in the community as the actual product itself, because the ideas and involvement all came from local people.”
In April last year, Latrobe City Council ran a forum called ‘We’re not going to ask what the issues are, we want you to be part of the solution’. It brought together members of the community to design projects that could help meet the needs of people with disabilities who lived in Latrobe City.
From this forum there was a suggestion about producing a series of advertisements and a video which focused on making Latrobe City a more inclusive community.
“People who attended the forum and other members of the community then got involved in creating the advertisements and video,” Bill Lawler said.
‘Welcome to our Inclusive Community’ was released in December 2003. Already there has been interest from a number of Councils wanting to promote inclusiveness in their communities. The video can also be used for training purposes by local organisations.
The ‘Welcome To Our Inclusive Community’ video can be ordered by contacting the Project Officer Rural Access at Latrobe City’s Council, on 1300 367 700. The cost of the video is $33 for funded organisations and $22 for non-funded organisations (including GST and postage).
