Capacity Australia is a not-for-profit charity that promotes autonomy of decision-making. We believe that while autonomy of decision-making is paramount, it is equally important to ensure that where a person lacks capacity to make their own decisions, the necessary safeguards are in place to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation.
We are a group of dedicated experts from the medical, legal, ageing and disability fields with experience in capacity, guardianship, disability, mental health and old age psychiatry. While Capacity Australia is based in Sydney NSW, we extend our knowledge, training and assistance to all States and Territories and internationally.
Capacity Australia is the trading name for ACCEPD (Australian Centre for Capacity and Ethics and the prevention of exploitation of People with Disabilities), a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.
Our Vision
Capacity Australia envisages an inclusive global community that supports all persons to participate in decision making to the greatest extent possible, including persons with disabilities that affect their decision-making capacity. Such a community respects the rights and dignity of all persons, and provides necessary safeguards against abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Our Mission (What we do)
Capacity Australia’s mission is to increase awareness and understanding of decision-making in disability, and to help facilitate the full participation by persons with disabilities in all aspects of life, in line with the objects of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. To this end, Capacity Australia:
- assists persons with disabilities, carers, health professionals, providers of legal and financial services and others to have a greater understanding of the legal and practical requirements for decision-making in disability, and to provide training in assessing decision making capacity in different types of cognitive impairment,
- promotes awareness about planning ahead so that individuals can make advance directives about care and choose who will make decisions for them if it becomes necessary in the future, and
- contributes to education and research into supporting the capacity of all persons to fully engage personal decision-making to the greatest extent possible.
Capacity Australia also supports initiatives to protect the safety and wellbeing of persons with decision-making disabilities and to prevent their abuse and exploitation
Our Values
Autonomy, Choice, Respect, Dignity of risk, Support, Freedom from exploitation, Authenticity.
Our stakeholders
Capacity Australia has a wide variety of stakeholders who are affected by decision-making capacity issues, including:
- hospitals, medical practitioners, specialists and other healthcare professionals
- the legal profession
- financial institutions, financial counsellors and advisers
- disability, mental health and aged care organisations and service providers
- the community and
- people with a decision-making disability, their family, carers and advocates
Capacity Australia’s International Projects
Through your support and contributions, Capacity Australia are able to provide services and support to many overseas Professionals in their projects and furthering their education. Previous support includes;
- Mentored and provided grants-in-aid promoting the study of capacity and abuse prevention in Asia and developing/political strife countries
- Sponsorship of Professor Noi Wongpakaran to attend the AGAC Conference in Australia to enhance her education and knowledge in supporting older people in Thailand
- Support and collaboration with Mangal Kardile on the award winning UMACE tool aimed at furthering research on elder abuse in India and an education grant to attend an International conference
- Financial assistance to Ukraine Forensic Pyschiatist Dr Orest Suvalo towards attending a conference on helping older vulnerable people
- Conference funding for Nigerian doctor working in psychiatry, HIV and the ageing space
- Supported by the SPHERE UNSW Visiting Sponsorship program, Dr Liz Sampson, Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, London (UK) was bought out to Australia to present at the Annual Conference “Death on the Beach”, enhancing our understanding of death and dying
- Support to Hong Kong Dr Elsi Hui towards her visit to Australia and presentation on her work on death and dying
- Hosted and provided consultation to a number of overseas visiting scholars including Jan Killeen from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship in 2016 (Report) and Jillian Craigie, King’s College, London (2017)