The Project

Creating Access is a joint project between People with Disability Australia (PWDA), the peak body for people with disability, and Youth Action, the peak body for young people and youth services in NSW.

For over a year our aim was to build the capacity of the youth sector in NSW to be responsive, inclusive and accessible to young people with disability.

We created a toolkit for both young people and youth services. The kit contains resources for young people with disability to learn more about self-advocacy, alongside material for youth services to review and increase the accessibility of their service.

We also developed a storytelling project to highlight youth advocates working in the space and give service providers and young people an opportunity to talk about accessibility and the barriers to it.

Download free accessibility resources here:

General Recommendations Template (PDF)
General Recommendations Template (Word Document)
Accessibility Action Plan Template (PDF)

Download a preview of the Access Review Template here:

Access Review Template – Preview

Why did we do it?

Youth services are vital to support and develop young people to reach their full potential, including young people with disability. They work to connect them with their communities, coordinate age-appropriate activities and provide tailored supports relevant to their life stage.

All young people in NSW need access to youth services, but there hasn’t been much information and support about how to make sure that young people with disability have equal access.

The Creating Access project aims to increase the accessibility of youth services, and provide relevant resources to support both young people with disability, youth workers and organisations.

The project and toolkit was produced as a product of the innovative Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) project funded through the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

Disability Awareness Training

As part of the Creating Access project, the participating youth services received a disability awareness training package delivered to their staff. This is a fee for service training facilitated by PWDA. This training explores the social model of disability, rights based practice, myths and stereotypes surrounding disability, as well as an overview on respectful language and communication. This training is designed to promote best practice across the sector and  is beneficial for all staff across the organisation.

Contact PWDA on (02) 9370 3100 for more information about the Access Review Template or the Disability Awareness training package. All Youth Action members will receive a 10% discount on all Creating Access paid resources and training.

Watch the Creating Access videos:

Young people talk about accessibility

Youth Advocate Claire Bertholli

Youth Services Talk Accessibility

Youth Advocate Kyle Sculley

Self Advocacy Resources for Young People

As part of the Creating Access project, we have created accessible self-advocacy factsheets to support young people with disability to feel confident speaking up about issues that are impacting them directly, or when advocating on a larger scale to help create positive changes in society.

Our aim is to provide accessible information to young people about your rights, things you may choose to speak up about, the skills you may need, what to do if you’re not seeing change and where you can go for support.

These factsheets are:

• What is Advocacy
• Speaking up for yourself
• Speaking up for social change

Download these free Self Advocacy factsheets here:

What is Advocacy – Original (PDF)    What is Advocacy – Original (Word Document)

What is Advocacy – Easy Read (PDF)   What is Advocacy – Easy Read (Word Document)

Speaking up for yourself – Original (PDF)   Speaking up for yourself – Original (Word Document)

Speaking up for yourself – Easy Read (PDF)    Speaking up for yourself – Easy Read (Word Document)

Speaking up for social change – Original (PDF)    Speaking up for social change – Original (Word Document)

Speaking up for social change – Easy Read (PDF)   Speaking up for social change – Easy Read (Word Document)