My name is Jane Rosengrave I am very happy to be a Yorta Yorta woman from the Shepparton area.
I am a member of Reinforce which is a self-advocacy organisation run by and for people with an intellectual disability and has been doing Self Advocacy since the 1980’s.
I have been part of the self-advocacy movement since 2005.
I am a First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) Board member and I provide advice and consult on the issues affecting people from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background with a cognitive disability.
Previously I have been a consultant for the Yarning Project with the Victorian Aboriginal Disability Network and FPDN.
I have been a spokesperson and advocate to get other peers to speak up about abuse and neglect in institutions or group Homes in the Royal Commission during 2016.
I won the Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Award at the Australian Human Rights Award Ceremony in 2016, for advocating for the rights of people with a disability in the community.
As an Aboriginal woman paintings are also really important to me. Painting relaxes me and as I am painting I am telling a story from my culture. Sometimes it is easier to put my message into a picture. My painting is a part of who I am and part of my spirit which is connected to the land and my aboriginal culture.
Self-Advocacy matters to me because as Aboriginal people we need to be treated exactly the same as everyone else and have the same human rights.
Talking to my peers in a self-advocacy group helps me feel like I am being listened to and we can support and learn from each other and our experiences.
In this part of the website we would like to share with you our resources and information , we have great videos of people talking about their life, personal stories about self-advocacy, mobcasts which are kind of like radio and there are lots of pictures and paintings too.
Please have a listen to our voice and learn about our Aboriginal culture, stories, art and views.
