Vale Frank Hall-Bentick. A champion for disability rights and advocacy in Australia and internationally.
We share in the sadness of Frank’s passing that our community is feeling this week. There is no doubt that Frank has left a legacy in the work he achieved for disability rights and advocacy, such as co-founding the Disability Resources Centre (DRC) and his work with the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO).
In a heart-warming tribute to Frank, the DRC touched on many of his achievements in a Facebook post last week. DRC writes, “Frank has been at the forefront of disability rights since 1981 when he co-founded DRC Advocacy. He ran the organisation for many years and continued to play an active role as a non-executive director to the very end”. The Facebook post also stated that he was a recipient of the Order of Australia and an Australian Centenary of Federation Award. “Frank was instrumental in some significant gains over the last 40 years. In 2006 he was party to the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD)”.
Back in 2019, Anja Homburg spoke to Frank about his life and work, in an article for the Disability Resources Centre. You can read the piece by downloading it as a PDF here.
