AED Legal Centre (formerly the Legal Services department of the Disability Employment Action Centre) was first established in 1984 as an Advocacy Program sponsored by the Disability Resource Centre. The organisation became a fully incorporated not-for-profit association in 1987, at a time when few services were tackling issues of discrimination in employment, education and training against people with a disability.
Since its inception, the mission of the Advocacy Program has been to advance and protect the rights of people with a disability in the areas of employment, education and training through the provision of both individual and systemic advocacy.
In 2008, the Association of Employees with a Disability (AED) was established, and the AED Legal Centre commenced operations under its current name.
AED’s greatest achievement to date was challenging employers choosing to calculate the wages of people with disability using the Business Services Wage Assessment Tool (BSWAT) which resulted in a very poor return on work, despite people with disability contributing significantly to meeting Australia’s packaging, manufacturing and cleaning needs. It was a landmark case that had wide-ranging ramifications for 20,000 employees with disabilities working in Australian Disability Enterprises. It was a complex and long process over five years, and the Federal and High Court’s final decision was, for AED, the culmination of 10 years of dedicated legal advocacy.
Awards
Kairsty Wilson, our CEO and Principal Legal Practitioner, has won numerous awards including the 2011 LIV Community Lawyer of the Year Award, the 2013 Tim McCoy Award, the 2014 HESTA Social Impact Award, and the Enablement Award as The Most Outstanding Disability Employment Advocate in Australia in 2025.