Monash Health’s Centre for Developmental Disability Health (CDDH) has won the ‘Leadership in Co-design’ category at this year’s Victorian Disability Awards.
Recognised for their work with people with disability, CDDH created the My Lived iD website with 10 people with an intellectual disability and 4 carers. The multi-stage co-design process shaped the website’s design, look, name, feel, interactivity, user experience and content.
Kellie Hammerstein, Disability Initiative Lead, is excited by the recognition, and attributes the success to the many people involved.
‘Our heartfelt thanks goes to our co-designers – people with intellectual disabilities and their parents – for their passion and enthusiasm throughout the co-design process,’ she said.
‘Their commitment embodies the principle of “nothing about you without you”.’
Kellie also expressed gratitude to national disability organisations for their invaluable contributions to the project’s governance, and to web designers Blick Creative, for listening deeply and creating a website that truly reflects the voices of those it aims to help.
A special thanks also went to Reece Adams for his early contribution. Reece identified the need for a digital platform such as My Lived iD and was pivotal in the project’s early phase.
The My Lived iD website is a resource and information hub for people with intellectual disability, as well as for families, carers and healthcare professionals of people with intellectual disability.
The site features approachable, empowering images and videos, including instructional videos by people with intellectual disability, for optimum audience engagement.
An accessibility tool enables users to customise to suit their preferences, including adjusting text size and screen contrast, choosing a language, or using a screen reader.
Since its launch in July 2022, the My Lived iD website has provided over 3,500 people access to high-quality mental health and wellbeing resources, and links to accessible mental health services for people with intellectual disability.
Congratulations to the CDDH team on this well-deserved recognition. The team is comprised of Kellie Hammerstein, Disability Initiatives Lead; Dr Megan Stewart, Developmental Disability Medical Specialist; Michelle Templeton, Developmental Disability Clinical Nurse Consultant; and Matthew Yates, Head of the Centre for Developmental Disability Health.
Congratulations!
