Victorian Government website (Victoria - the Place to Be)

About us

Welcome to the Disability Online Internet site. This page gives you an overview of the site.

Information on this page:

Overview of Disability Online

Disability Online was established in June 2002 by the Victorian (Australia) Government's Department of Human Services, Disability Services Division. The site aims to begin to implement the Victorian Governments e-government vision.

The aim of this site is to provide people with a disability, their families and carers with access to online disability related information across governments and the non-government sector, which is:

  • Quality assured
  • Reliable
  • Up-to-date
  • Locally relevant.

Information on Disability Online is constantly expanded and regularly reviewed.

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What Information do we provide

The main categories of information on the site are:

  • Services & support - here you will find a growing database of local community supports, services and health practitioners. You can search for the service you need, and send in a suggestion for a service to be added. This database is shared with the Department of Human Services' Better Health Channel.
  • Disability topics - here you will find articles on a whole range of disability related topics. These articles are shared with the Department of Human Services' Better Health Channel.
  • Health topics - here you will find articles on a whole range of health related topics. These articles are shared with the Department of Human Services’ Better Health Channel.
  • Events calendar - this is a list of disability and health related events and activities. This calendar is shared with the Department of Human Services’ Better Health Channel.
  • Latest news - This service is brought to you by Disability Online in association with Infoxchange Australia. Health News items are provided by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
  • Useful links - here you will find a wide range of links to useful web sites for people with a disability, their families and carers.

How Useful Links are included

Disability Online maintains our list of useful links in order to:
  • Facilitate accessibility (physical and information access) to generic services for people with a disability.
  • Provide information about specialist disability support, services or organisations.
We ensure that the following processes occur prior to any site being listed:
  • Representative community service organisations/bodies provide site links.
  • Where no representative body is available, sites are considered for appropriateness by a respected, representative organisation in the field.
  • Disability Online deems the site suitable and relevant.

Suggesting New Links or Deleting Dead Links

Requests to alter our links should be made from the Disability Online 'Contact Us' page using the following process:
  1. From the Contact Us page, mark your request as a 'Suggested Site Improvement' using the 'Comments type' radio buttons.
  2. Clearly mark that you wish the link either added or removed in the 'Comments' text field and be sure to include the address (URL) of the link itself.
  3. If you are suggesting for a link to be added to our list, please submit a brief suggested description of the site’s content. We will need to verify the authenticity of your request, so please include contact information that will allow us to do so.
  4. Send us your suggestion by clicking the 'Submit' button.

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How articles are developed

The articles on Disability Online are produced by the Better Health Channel, and are displayed on both the Disability Online and Better Health Channel web sites. The articles are developed in consultation with a range of content partners. The content partner's logo appears at the end of each article, and this logo links to their website. The content partners are reputable organisations with specialised knowledge in the particular topic area. All articles proceed through a rigorous approval process, which includes the content partner, staff from the Department of Human Services and a final overview of all articles by Victoria's former Chief Health Officer, Dr Graham Rouch. All articles are reviewed annually, some more frequently.

How Disability articles are categorised

Under the About disability section of this site you can find articles on a whole range of disability related issues and topics. Articles are listed under these subjects groups:

How Health articles are categorised

In Health information you can find articles on a whole range of health related issues. Articles are listed under these subjects groups:

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Accessibility Tips for using your Web Browser

The Accessibility Tips page offers some hints on how to use your browser with the keyboard instead of a mouse. It also provides advice on display options such as adjusting style sheets and the font, size and colour of the text and background to suit your individual preferences.

Use of Portable Document Format (PDF)

Some disability and health topics provide the function of printing a fact sheet in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). Where PDF files are provided they represent identical content to the HTML text, and are solely provided in order to print more neatly as a fact sheet. All of these PDF files are smaller than 150KB. If you are unable to access PDF files you can still print these topics from your Browser.

Installing Acrobat Reader

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view any PDF documents on this site. You can visit the Link opens new window Adobe internet site to download the software. Follow the icon links and instructions at this site on how to download and install the Acrobat software to your system.

System Requirements

This site has been optimised for display at a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels. All the mainstream browsers as well as Opera, Lynx and I.B.M. Homepage Reader can access this site.

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