Artwork by Emily Crockford, Patterns of the Loveheart Mandala. Emily is an artist with Studio A.
Accessibility and inclusion are at the forefront of Medibank’s diversity and inclusion agenda.
With one in five Australians identifying as a person with disability, Medibank has been working hard to remove any barriers that may exist for people with disability and create an inclusive culture and environment that is accessible to everyone.
Today, Medibank shared an update on the progress made in the first year of its 2022-2024 Accessibility and Inclusion Plan (AIP).
Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2022 – 2024 – progress update
In May 2022, we launched our second Accessibility and Inclusion Plan (AIP) 2022 – 2024 outlining our new and ongoing commitments to support our people, customers and all Australians living with disability.
A key focus of this plan is to foster a disability confident culture and environment for our people and our customers. In the first year of the plan, we have:
Developed disability awareness education which forms part of our annual training requirements for all employees
Increased accessibility for our customers by introducing accessibility features to our membership cards designed to assist customers who identify as blind or low vision
Ensured that all new retail store fit outs now consider universal design principles and embedded accessibility into the design of our new corporate office in Melbourne
Refreshed our EMPOWER Network for people with disability and our Neurodiversity Network.
Additionally, we continue to prioritise the wellbeing of our employees with caring responsibility for elderly parents, or people with a disability or chronic condition. In 2022, we extended our carers support package to offer an additional 50 places for carers to access tailored, confidential guidance from our own health concierges. As part of the program, each person is supported with a one-on-one consultation with one of our CareComplete clinicians and recommendations for local services to assist with their individual needs.
The pilot received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the employees and clinicians involved and we are looking to scale the program across the business.
Former Medibank AIP Chair and Caregiver Support Program participant Kylie Williamson has been instrumental in leading the accessibility commitments at Medibank, including the expansion of our Caregiver Support Program.
“A real stand out for me has been the opportunity to champion Medibank’s accessibility agenda, including encouraging connection and sharing stories of people with similar lived experiences.
“I know through my own personal experience that navigating our health system and accessing support services can be really challenging. I’m really proud of the work that Medibank is doing to create an inclusive environment and support carers,” she said.
Medibank’s ongoing commitment to becoming more accessible and inclusive for employees and customers with disability has been recognised by the Australian Network on Disability (AND).
Earlier this month, Medibank ranked third nationally in the 2022-23 Access and Inclusion Index and achieved ‘best in class’ in the categories of Commitment, Products & Services and Partners and Suppliers.
In April 2023, Medibank’s David Fittler stepped into the role of AIP Chair, following Kylie’s appointment to the role of acting Group Executive Technology and Operations.
