Support for consumer transactions

Working with consumers and industry to develop practices and processes to improve access for consumers with disabilities.

People with cognitive disabilities who may experience decision-making impairment have a right to be recognised as legal actors and, where necessary, supported to contract for goods and services. An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Melbourne Social Equity Institute Foundation Director Professor Bernadette McSherry undertook a program of research to build expertise and tools for supporting people with intellectual or mental impairments* to engage as economic actors on an equal basis with others.

* The research team acknowledges that language in this field is important and contested. When referring to impairment and disability, the authors use the meaning established in Art 1 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (see n 3). It states that “[p]ersons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.