Regulating vulnerability: policy approaches for preventing violence and abuse of people with disability in Australian service provision settings

Abstract

This article analyses policy frameworks designed to protect people with disability from harm in service provision settings and respond to their experiences of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation, with a focus on the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The creation of a new disability services market has facilitated greater choice and empowerment for NDIS participants, but has also exposed them to new risks and vulnerabilities. Drawing on feminist vulnerability theory, a policy audit, and qualitative research with seventeen key stakeholders, the article reflects on the need to incorporate more nuanced understandings of vulnerability in safeguarding policy and respond to the situational and pathogenic vulnerability created by the way systems and structures operate. It identifies opportunities to enhance the personal autonomy of people with disability through accessible pathways for complaints and justice, and greater focus on natural and mainstream safeguarding systems in complementing disability-specific systems.