What we do easy read


Easy read logo

Who are we?

Anti-Discrimination New South Wales (ADNSW) is a government body.

We help stop discrimination in NSW.

A group of people standing behind a woman in a wheelchair

Discrimination is when you treat someone badly because of something about them they can’t change.

We have services that:

A man and a woman shacking hands
  • are free
  • We help stop discrimination in NSW.
A woman in a wheelchair next to a woman sitting on a chair.

We answer questions about discrimination.

woman working on a clipboard

We fix problems people have with discrimination

group of people sitting down and having a discussion

We talk to the community about discrimination.

woman looking at a clipboard next to am image of paper saying law on top of state outline withy NSW in it.

We deal with the laws in NSW aboutdiscrimination.

Who might experience discrimination?

People might experience discrimination becauseof their:

A disabled guy sitting in a wheelchair
  • disability
A multi ethnic group of people posing together
  • race
  • age
A woman pointing to different symbols representing genders
  • gender identity
A male and female talking and displaying rainbow flags
  • sexuality.

Your gender identity is not about your bodybeing male or female.

It is about who you feel you are as a person.

A group of people wearing different coloured jumpers standing together

Your gender identity can be:

  • male
  • female
  • a combination of these
  • none of these.
A man haggling a woman while looking at a screen together

Your sexuality is who you:

  • love
  • are attracted to.

People might experience discrimination if they:

A married cupule next to an image of a bride and groom with a tick
  • are married
A unmarried cupule next to an image of a bride and groom with a x next to it
  • aren’t married
A pregnant woman holding her belly

People might experience discrimination if they are pregnant.

A person feeding food to a dsibled perosn

People might experience discrimination if theyare someone’s carer.

Where is discrimination against the law?

A piece of paper with the word law on it next to a x

Discrimination is against the law in a workplace.

A workplace is any place you might work, such as:

  • an office
  • a customer service centre.

Discrimination is against the law in places you go to learn like:

Kids in school unfirm standing in a classroom
  • school
People sitting together and collaborating at a desk
  • University
A doctor examining a patient

Discrimination is against the law in places yougo to for day-to-day services.

This can be a:

  • bank
  • shop
  • doctor.
A male point one hand at himself and one hand up in the air in a room.

Discrimination is against the law when you rent a home to live in.

Discrimination is against the law in clubs that:

A person having a beer at a bar
  • sell alcohol
A room full of gambling machines
  • have gambling machines.
A piece of paper with the word law on it next to a x

iscrimination against a carer is only againstthe law in their workplace.

Other problems we deal with

A woman conforming a crying woman in a wheelchair

We sometimes help people with other problems.

We talk more about these problems on the following pages.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassmentis when someone:

  • makes you do sexual things you don’twant to do
A guy looking at a woman in a creepy way and the woman is upset about it.
  • does something sexual to you that youdon’t want them to do
  • asks you to do something sexual thatyou don’t want to do
A piece of paper with the word law on it next to a x

Discrimination is against the law in a workplace.

  • says sexual things to you when youdon’t want to hear them.

Some people who have experienced sexual harassment might feel

A man looking upset
  • upset
A woman covering he face with her hands
  • embarrassed
A child looking scared
  • scared.
A piece of paper with the word law on it next to a x

Sexual harassment is against the law.

Vilification

Vilificationis when someone shows hatred towards certain people in a public area.

They can show this hatred by:

A male yelling at another male who is covering his ears
  • yelling or shouting mean things
  • putting up mean notices or signs
A person getting point at by a bunch of people
  • making fun of someone.

Vilification is a serious type of discrimination.

Vilification laws protect people:

people of different races standing together
  • of different races
A group of people wearing different coloured jumpers standing together
  • who are gay or lesbian
  • who are transgender
  • who have:
    • HIV
    • AIDS.

If you are transgender, your gender identity is different now to what you were given when you were born.

HIV is a virus that attacks cells in your body that keep it healthy.

  • AIDS is an illness you get when your body has been badly damaged by HIV.
A male with a though image of police
  • If you experience vilification that might cause violence, then you should talk to the police.

Victimisation

A woman pointing at another woman

Victimisation is when you’re treated unfairly because you:

  • made a complaint about your experience of discrimination
  • of different races
A piece of paper with the word law on it next to a x

Victimisation is against the law.

If you experience discrimination

There are things you can do if you experience:

A group of people standing behind a woman in a wheelchair
  • discrimination
  • sexual harassment
  • vilification
A woman pointing at another woman
  • victimisation.

If you have experienced any of these issues, you can contact us by:

Image of a phone
  • phone –(02) 9268 5544 or 1800 670 812

You can contact us if you’re not sure if whathas happened to you is against the law.

You can contact us if you want more information about the laws for discrimination.

Complaints

You can make a complaint if you’ve experienced:

  • discrimination
  • sexual harassment
  • vilification
  • victimisation.

When you make a complaint, you tell someone that something:

  • has gone wrong
  • isn’t working well.

You can make a complaint about:

  • a person
Image of a phone
  • an organisation.

You can make a complaint by:

woman writing on a clipboard
  • writing to us
Complaint form
A man with a thought bubble with Chinese characters
  • You can write your complaint in any language.
@ symbol
  • You can complete our online form to lodge your complaint.
A male and a female working together

If you need support to make a complaint, you can contact us.

What happens when you make a complaint?

a man in a office talking on the phone and writing in paper.

When you make a complaint, we will contact you.

We might:

Image of a phone
  • call you
@ symbol
  • email you
  • write you a letter.
Calendar with the words tow weeks on it

We will contact you within 2 weeks from when you made a complaint

Two women looking at each other with an information symbol above them
  • We might ask you for more information.
Two woman and a man having a conversation together

We will explain how we will handle the complaint.

We will also contact the:

  • organisation you made a complaint about

  • person you made a complaint about.
Copy of a complaint paper
  • send a copy of your complaint to them
  • explain parts of the law to them.

We will ask the person or organisation you madea complaint about to answer your complaint.

We might have a meeting with:

A woman sitting down shacking hands with a woman in a wheelchair
  • You 
A group of people working together
  • the person or organisation you made a complaint about

We don’t take sides in the meeting.

  • If we can’t solve the problem, you might take your complaint to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
3 people sitting next to each other

NCAT is like a court.They can make a decision about your complaint.

NCAT will:

  • decide what is fair
  • follow the law.

Other support

If you need an interpreter to use our services:

  • call 131 450
Image of a phone
  • ask the interpreter to call Anti-Discrimination NSW on (02) 9628 5544
People with thought bubbles in different languages

An interpreter is someone who:

  • speaks your language
  • helps you understand what someone is saying.
Telephone keypad with the word hello on it

If you are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can call the National RelayService.

133 677

Image of a phone

If you need legal help, you can call Law Access.

1300 888 529

Man talking on his mobile phone

If you need to connect with disability services, you can call Disability Gateway.

1800 643 787

Images used in this Easy Read document are subject to copyright and must not be reused without explicit approval. For more information, please visit www.dcj.nsw.gov.au/copyright-and-disclaimer.

Last updated: