Disability Segregated Employment as Modern Slavery

Led by A/Prof Linda Steele

The research

The research, funded by a research grant from Anti-Slavery Australia, argues for a transition away from Australian Disability Enterprises (formerly known as disability sheltered workshops) which overwhelmingly impact those with intellectual and cognitive disabilities. In ADEs, people with disability are in segregated workplaces and can be paid as little as 12.5% the national minimum wage. Currently, ADEs are legal, and the segregation, discrimination, exploitation, and violence against ADE employees are enabled and justified by a variety of authority including disability services law, industrial relations law, the Fair Work Commission, and the Federal Court.

The research explores the utility of Australian modern slavery law in facilitating the official recognition and redress of these issues of unjust treatment.

The research achieves this aim through analysis of ADEs by reference to doctrinal legal analysis, international human rights norms, perspectives of Disabled People’s Organisations and other disability advocacy and human rights organisations, and insights from critical disability scholarship. The project engages with these key groups via an open access journal article, engaging with media, sharing research with NGOs and UN officials from the Asia-Pacific region, and submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

How the research supports positive change 

The project will impact law and policy on disability employment, challenge prevailing discourses on the benevolence of ADEs, and contribute to understanding of modern slavery law as it can apply to people with disability. 

Ultimately, the research has provided a basis for the need for law reform to transition away from ADEs in a broader context of enhancing dignity, equality, and self-determination of people with disability.

Access the article here: Law and Disability 'Supported' Employment in Australia: The Case for Ending Segregation, Discrimination, Exploitation and Violence Against People with Disability at Work (forthcoming, 2023)

To find out more 

Read Linda Steele's presentation at the Expert Group Meeting for Promoting Inclusive Employment for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (2021)

See this ABC Radio interview with Linda Steele: Push for an End to Australian Disability Enterprises

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.