Ask a question
You can ask questions or search for stories, guides, or tools that help you.
An Easy Read version is not available for this page.
About Easy Read
Easier words with pictures to help explain some ideas.
What is Our Health Space?
Our Health Space is a website.
It is made by the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health.
It is a space to learn about health and connect with other people.
It is for:
- people with intellectual disability
- families and carers and supporters
- doctors and other health workers
- people in the community interested in health and disability
- researchers
What you can do
On Our Health Space, you can:
- talk about health
- share your ideas and stories
- find information you can trust
- learn from other people
- help make things better
- connect with people interested in the health of people with intellectual disability
Co-designing Our Health Space
Our Health Space has an Advisory Group.
The group includes:
- people with intellectual disability
- families and carers
- support workers
- health workers
- people from disability groups
The group stays involved as the website grows.
How we work together
- People with intellectual disability help shape the site.
- People share ideas and stories.
- People say what works well.
- People say what needs to change.
- We listen and make changes.
Our Health Space is a meeting place for people with intellectual disabilities, our families, carers, support people and health professionals.
We want to make health care better and fairer for people with intellectual disabilities. Here, we connect, learn from each other and find information we can trust.
On Our Health Space:
- we all have a say in conversations about health
- we can share, find, understand, check and use trusted health information
- health professionals can learn from people with intellectual disability
- change starts, to make things fairer for everyone.
Our Health Space is by and for people with intellectual disabilities
We want our community to have the skills, choices, tools, information, opportunities and support we need to live well and have good health.
Our Health Space:
- is and
If something is accessible, it means that everyone can use and understand something. For example:
- accessible buildings have ramps so that people with wheelchairs can come inside
- accessible health information uses easy words that most people understand
- accessible health services make changes so that people who feel worried about seeing the doctor feel calm and in control.
Accessibility makes things fair for people with a disability.
Inclusive means making sure everyone can take part and feel welcome. It is about including people with different:
- abilities, like whether they find it easy to remember things
- backgrounds, like where they come from or what language they speak
- needs, like if they need a wheelchair to move around.
- explains our rights
- has stories that matter to us
- shares good information
- gives support and practical advice
- shows what we know and can do
- helps different people communicate about health
- respects our cultures and communities
- tells health professionals what we need and want.
Co-design means working together with the people who will use services, information or resources to:
- know what is needed
- plan
- design
- improve things.
For example, people with intellectual disability and health professionals could co-design a health resource. They could share ideas, experiences and feedback to make sure the resource is:
- needed and wanted
- easy to understand and use.
of Our Health Space
Co-design means working together with the people who will use services, information or resources to:
- know what is needed
- plan
- design
- improve things.
For example, people with intellectual disability and health professionals could co-design a health resource. They could share ideas, experiences and feedback to make sure the resource is:
- needed and wanted
- easy to understand and use.
The National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health got funding from the Department of Health and Aged Care to make Our Health Space. We call the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability “the Centre”.
People with different skills and stories work together to build the project. An advisory group leads the co-design. The people in the group make decisions and have ideas.
The advisory group has
- People with intellectual disabilities
- People with complex disabilities or more than one disability
- Health professionals
- People who work for disability and community organisations
- People who work for self-advocacy groups
- People who work for other organisations that partner with the Centre
- People who support and care for people with intellectual disability
As the site grows, the advisory group is always involved.
How we do Co-design means working together with the people who will use services, information or resources to:
- know what is needed
- plan
- design
- improve things.
For example, people with intellectual disability and health professionals could co-design a health resource. They could share ideas, experiences and feedback to make sure the resource is:
- needed and wanted
- easy to understand and use.
Co-design means working together with the people who will use services, information or resources to:
- know what is needed
- plan
- design
- improve things.
For example, people with intellectual disability and health professionals could co-design a health resource. They could share ideas, experiences and feedback to make sure the resource is:
- needed and wanted
- easy to understand and use.
People with intellectual disabilities, families, carers and health professionals:
- had the idea
- are on the advisory group
- work on the project
- share stories and information on the website
- say what is good about the project and what needs to change
- help make changes.
Our Health Space will grow and change
Our Health Space will keep growing and changing. We will keep listening to what people in our community say about health and add new information, resources, stories and ideas.
Was this page helpful?
Your feedback will help us improve Our Health Space.