Mountains and Pot Holds of NDIS

   As of Monday the Introduction of Disability Care Australia, previously know as the NDIS.  However Disability Care promises to be more than a funding reform and change in the person holding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

    The legislation behind its introduction seeks to address so key human rights for people living with disability, their families and carers.  The first thing to our heads around this new piece of legislation is it brings all Australians into line with the Unite Nations conventions for people living with disability.  The drive towards the implementation of the structure the will become Disability Care Australia is to ensure all Australia's have equality.

     Thus far I do not think we have had an enough discussion and debate on what this equality looks like in an Australian context.  Recently at a National Conference - some said, Disability Care Australia, what is that? He highlighted on a conceptually level, we all have some based understanding that this will be the new system of supporting people with disability, their families and carers in Australia, but few of us understands  how it will work structurally.

    The first potential pot hole I can see between us and the mountain peak of the full implementation of Disability Care Australia is understanding the difference between conceptual level and the practicalities of how things will run on a day to day bases.  Living in Queensland, where the current funding per head per populations for Queenslanders with disabilities is the lowest and perhaps unfairest state when it comes to access funding,

    I fully appreciate the frustration of Queensland being one of the last states who will both introduce and then fully implement this new system.  I also understands peoples desperation to grasp what this new system will look like for them and their families, especially for older Queenslanders experiencing disabilities, in which there is a sense or too little, to late.

     Negotiating the gap between where are personally on July 1, 2013 and where we will be (which for many is still pretty much undefined) when the NDIS is fully up and and running.  Seems to add additional pain for Australians who have been pinning the hopes on its introduction of years.  

    For Queenslanders this frustration is enfolded by confusion which is been added to by some changes being made by the Department of Communities ~ Disability Services in Queensland at the very same time the introduction of Disability Care Australia is occurring in other parts of Australia. 

     In 2012 some Queenslanders living with disability are been given the opportunity to change to self-directed funding under current state government.  While this funding will be managed in a similar manner to funding provided under Disability Care Australia. there will be fundamental differences in eligibility and what  is being funded. Essentially both systems have been designed to give clients and families greater say in how they are supported. 

                Self-Directed Funding (2012 Queensland only)

                Known as My Life My Choices was offered too families receiving family funding packages and

                some individuals receiving post school packages. If you receive other types of funding packages

                through the Queensland Department of Disability Services you are not eligibility to self directed

                funding.  Unlike the self directed funds funding to be rolled out under Disability Care Australia, 

                the provision of mobility and communication aides is not included.

              

                Disability Care Australia (From July 1 2013 in the five launch sites)

               Will ensure care, support and equipment provision for all Australians with disability under the age

               of 65.  Where a person has reached the age of 65 when Disability Care Australia is launch in 

            their community, their care will be provided by the federal government through the aged care system. 

               To be eligible for Disability Care Australia you must have a significant permanent disability that

                impacts your ability to undertake daily tasks without assistance or supervision. 

          

               For Queenslanders this means once the system is fully operational more Queenslanders and

               there families will be eligible for support.  We will see and end to 'packaging'.  Everyone will 

               receive assistance in the same way according to the goals the come to agreement with their 

               local office office of Disability Care Australia and all Australians with a disability will finally
               have the same access to medical, mobility and communications devices, seeing an end to
               means testing.  . 

                

               This means an end to funding being assigned on the biases of diagnoses.  Not all Australians

               living with disability have an official diagnoses. So now these people too care receive support.  

               Appropriate support will be given to allow people living with disabilities to achieve their 

               goals and lifestyles choices.          

        

     If you currently live in Queensland and have any questions or concerns around the type of funding you receive you can either talk to your support service provider or community link officer if you have one. During the gap period for Queenslanders, we will continue to see changes to the way our state funding is managed it is important for us to recongise what are the changes happening for me 'today', while engaging in discussion for a future under Disability Care Australia,

         o  Disability Care Australia what is it? One of the major dips in the road is people are having trouble grasping is what this system of support will look like once it enters our homes, our schools, our communities and workplaces. Those who current receive support want to know what are the changes? Will I lose any support? The good news is the federal government has promised no Australian with a disability will be worst off in terms of hours of direct support and the provision of essential equipment under Disability Care. In Queensland something like additional 50, 000 Queenslanders will begin to receive support with this like personal care, feeding, meal prep, assistance with  house work and transport, respite care for families and oler carers, more people will be able to move into supported accommodation, motor viecheal and home modifications will be paid for and people will be able to access early intervention.

     The major shift in the par-dime to understand is not how people will be supported by why people with be supported. Australians with disability and their families are more likely to experience social isolation, unemployment or underemployment, provity and difficulties accessing things like training, education and health care. By removing the barriers created by disability where possible (we need to acknowledge it will not be possible for those who are profoundly impaired, but the government still is responsible to improve the benchmark significantly) people, their families and caregivers can enter into the fullness of life in the community of their choices.

     This shift is to empower every Australian to have direction and lifestyle choices for their lives, or their family members life, so where ever possible these Australians can experience full inclusion and economic equality.

       To achieve this Disability Care will look at an individual or the individual family unit seeking support. Not at a bunch medical and OT report.  It will ask what the clients hopes and dreams for their future are.  Rather than make funding available on the based of out dated formulas. Funding will now be tied to goals and enabling the person or family to achieve their goals.  For each client that will now look very different according to the pathways the choose. This is the thing that excites me most about NDIS.  The empowerment of individuals to make choices just like any other Australian.

     The pot holes in the road are building an Australian society that will allow the full engagement of people with disabilities. This means building communities that are accessible to all Australians. Until recently access has been seen as an issue for Australians who have a mobility impairment. However as I begin the access debate this is far from the access issues present in my mine.  As we modernised Australia we can address physical barriers and improve much communication access through technology. What is hard to change is the major shift in community attitudes needed for full social inclusion and economic equality.
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   Traditionally people living with disability have been supported in segregated areas of our communities, such as special schools, residential communities, respite centers, group homes, sheltered or supported employment or specialized activities for people with disability. Although increasingly seen in the community engaging in activities, the sense of segregation or 'differences' remains marked.

   People experiencing disability as part of their lives tell us this is not how they define social inclusion. Social inclusion implies that someone is accepted in the community and view as any other member of the community.  Where parts of our community are in accessible for one reason or another; (this could be physical access, lack of appropriate communication, technology, noise or lighting issues, lack of appropriate supports or general inappropriate attitudes) the are great roads to be built up the mountain before the ideologies and goals under the Disability Care Australia can fully be achieve.

    Only a few have fully comprehended how the NDIS relates as a humane rights issue for those Australians with Disability. Queenslanders are fortunate to have the luxuary of time to debate, learn, listen anf create an inclusive community before Disability Care Australia opens it doors in our state.  Self-directed funding begins to allow some families the experiences of chosing how they want to be supported to achieve their goals.  As these people learn and grow to be empowered to made their own choices, as a community we have a responsibility to make our communities accessible for all Australian regardless of the type of impairment.  Our stairs must make way for ramps,  our signs must learn to talk, our officers must be accommodating, our telecommunications systems must be fully accessible, our streets and transport system able to be accessible, our public servants and retailers ready to converse with those who are challenged by a full range of communication difficulties and we all need to be ready to embrace those different to ourselves.  

     These are the challenges that we face as Disability Care Australia is rolled out in full.  If you want to know more about Disability Care Australia, eligibility, what assistance will be available I  suggest you visit the website and use the online access tool or talk too your existing provider.  If you want to know more about building an accessible community and how technology can play a role you can email me or contact your local council about access issues.

     If you want to assist in creating a inclusive society start engaging with people living with disability and enjoy what they have to offer.

If you like to know more about my artwork watch my video

Access for All Australians

Last week I attended Arts Access Australia’s “Arts and Disability Meeting Place” in Hobart, where I heard the term, “Access for all Australians” used for the first time.  But what does the term mean? 

It quiet simply means creating a society that all Australians can enjoy at every stage of life. For too long in this country we have scene “access issues” as a issue for those experiencing a physical disability.

During the day we also discussed ‘language’, the use of language when referring to someone with an impairment or mental illness can also have a disabling effect as I discovered recently. So when we begin to talk about ‘Access for all Australians’, we can achieve both objectives.  In terms of addressing access issues un general if we determine to create a society which all of us can access at anytime, we remove the need to use language that needs to label others are different to the norm.

In a truly inclusive society everyone has equal access to buildings, employment, education, sporting opportunities, leisure, the arts, community venues, newspapers, the internet, housing, transport, health care and the list goes on.  In such a society there would be need to find terms to label and identify those who may be different to ourselves.

Since we are yet to achieve a society that is even remotely inclusive for all Australians for the purpose of this discussion please excuse me if I use terminology that you personal find isolating,  correct and inclusive language is a whole another debate and I find people who have a permeate impairment that affects their ability to function in some capacity, like to identify themselves in a number of different was and many choose not to identify as having an impairment for fear of being judged, mistreat or isolated for this reason.

Recently this has been particularly true in the Arts in Australian at present with the release of the Cultural framework policies.  But this is not a language debate but a debate on giving all 

Australians true access to all aspects of our cultural community.  The reality is each of us at some point in our life face an access barrier to something.  Not to experiences some type of barrier at some point would be highly unlikely.

Sadly when we being to dialogue about access we all think of the obvious, the stairs, ramps, footpaths, buildings, transport and toilets, but access is deny in so many other ways.  Language is a larger barrier for many Australians and rarely discussed.

Language whether it is written, read or spoken is difficult for millions of Australians. Reading or accessing technology dependent on a persons ability to read if a barrier for a cross section of Australians.  We often underestimate how much we read.  So much of our lives are direct by signs and instructions.  The inability to read either caused by English being a second language, learning difficulties, lack of education opportunities, undiagnosed learning impairments, lack of access to eye care, visual impairments and often laziness to read instructions and signs can all prove barriers to many in our community, unless all these barriers are address we do not live in a society that gives equal access to all Australians.

This access to written information or visual stimulation may be permanent or temporal as in the case of someone learning English.  In our society most signs are written in English, to have signs written in every language would be a logistical nightmare. There are those for other reasons who can not read and will never be able to read.  The challenge then is how do we make information accessible to them. 

Even those who can access written language may still experience language barriers due to an inability to write, speak, hear or a combination of these impairments. Even I with a mild speech impairment and dyslexia with my university education still experience some level of barriers in terms of language and communication, especially when it involves a telephone and an impatience person on the other end of a telephone.

Even within what we like to label mainstream society, we have subcultures with their own ‘lingo’ I’ll leave you to Google that one just to prove my point of the many different language barriers that prevent all Australians from having equal access to all areas of life.

Hopefully I am starting to defuse the myths that access is an issue of primarily concern of those living with some level of temporary or permeate impairment. You may of noticed I been referring to temporary impairments, unlike other issues or needs of those living with permeate disabilities access or lack of access with create barriers for each of us. 

Written and spoken language is a great example as we look across a persons lifespan as we experience different levels of access to language at different ages for many reasons.  A child must learn to talk and read & write before the can fully communicate in an adult world. At the opposite end of the spectrum as we age people experience a range of impairments from hearing and sight loss; to loss of memory, mobility and daily functions.

Either end of the age spectrum isolation barriers due to access is an issue. It may not be one of communication, mobility or intellectual ability, it could be one of social acceptance.  Social acceptance may be a matter of your simply trying to access inappropriate social settings such as a teenager trying to enter a night club underage, or some at ninety may not be so welcomed; and a five year old doesn’t belong at a bowling green.  Social acceptance isn’t solely determined by tolerance of those around us.

Indigenous cultures and tribes are govern by their social structure is a prefect example of who social exception is not always the result of discrimination. I think if people in our society could be more grown-up and honest in the way we discuss issues social isolation and access for all of us as Australians, great grounds towards social inclusion could be made.  Especially if we owner our fears and prejudgouses. We are all human and to deny their reality in my book delays the need for intelligent discussion towards understand and social inclusion.

To own my own humanity and failings in this debate is an illustration of how our language regardless of the topic of conversation can be inclusive rather than exclude key players in the debate.  

So your probable wondering how all this affects the arts.  Well to remain inclusive ‘the arts’ is essentially about creative communication that requires the use of one or more our five senses.  When one of these sense is impaired the person ability to access artworks and performances as its produces intended.

Most notably in terms arts this impairs those with sensory impairments most significantly and to increase Australian ability to access the areas across the board we need to look to technology to bridge the caps.  In terms of the performing arts we are looking at making captioning available in chimera and theaters. As well as audio descriptions of performances and visual for those with impaired visions.

While physical access continues to be a barrier for some Australians as new venues are designed due to government legislation demands all new buildings meet accessibility standards.  What better time to ensure these venues continue to be accessible for all Australians in the future to ensure all building have the capacity to include all Australians in the ability to enjoy the arts in the format in which  it is produce.

The O

Access 4 All

at MONA in Hobart, Tasmania Australia

Interesting when I visited Mona Art Gallery and Museum later in the week the use a electronic advice called the‘O’ which allows patrons to access two or more media for information able the artwork and give personal reviews. This technology gives all Australians better access to the visual arts not just those affected by impairments.

Access should not be about enabling a few Australians to attend art festivals and chimera but all of us accessing every aspect the arts has to offer us as individuals.  By increasing the capacity to reach a greater audience we to will invite a greater diversity of artists to participate in all art forms and their production.

The arts industry has an incredible opportunity to lead the way in making society accessible for all Australians and advocate for social inclusion. It is such be to great of gift for us not to take up the challenge.  In the digital age the access issues look very differently to the previously generations.

I hope that helps you my readers understand what I mean by access for all Australians. As we have an incredible bright future ahead of us.           

From I can't to I can

Autism - how my unstoppable mother proved the experts wrong : Chris Varney at TEDxMelbourne May 2013 - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Take a look at ArtISabiliy

ArtISability - Professional Development Program 

For Visual Artist Living With Disability

4th to 6th October 2013

Eligibility

Must be over 18

Have a disability that requires support

registered with a support agency in Ipswich, 

Access Arts Queensland or on the Disabilities

Service Queensland eligibility register. 

Be an emerging artist that can demonstrate

knowledge and/or skills in visual  

Desire to connect to the Ipswich Arts Community.

Email ArtISability 

for an Information and Application kit.

Debbie Chilton

Project Officer  

The Employment Section

Or is it seek.com now.  Take you tick of any online employment recruiting website and see if any job advertisement reads like this:

WANTED - Product design manager, an innovative creative person want to head put a new product design range. We're looking for a person with excellent team leadership and communication skills to learn of team of designers. We are an equal opportunity employer will to accommodate any person with a disability who can demonstrate they have the skills to lead our team.  We are also happy to offer flexible work hours. 

My hunch is not only will we never see such a job advertisement few companies are currently will to make the physical adjustment to their work place (such as accessible toilets) or equipment modifications let alone be flexible with work hours to work around the team managers health needs. And yet the introduction of Disability Care Australian, has put Australian employers on noticed. Not only is it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of disability, but employers are being ask to modify and arrange their businesses to accommodation the employment of people with disabilities, but allowance for the support needs to be met in the work places.

It is the one piece in the NDIS puzzle I can quite click into place.  As a person who experiences uncontrollable seizures that are triggered directly by stress I know I am unemployable in a traditional 9 to 5 role.  I am most suitable to roles that allow me to work flexible hours from home. 

"Despite what you read about 'bludgers on the DSP' (disability support pension) regularly in the Daily Telegraph we don't want to live on the DSP. We want to work, earn a wage and pay taxes."Australian Network on Disaility

A sentiment, I heard echoed around the discussion table at near ever conservation about the introduction of the NDIS or Disability Care Australia. Yet wanting to work, even having the ability to work, has never correlated in to jobs. People with disabilities and the carers are currently 30% less like to be employed than the generally population.

On would think with the current discussion and debate surrounding the introduction of Disability Care Australia and the views being expressed by people with disabilities themselves you would be forgiven for thinking the gap in narrowing. The reality is the jobless rate among people with disabilities is on the increase. As reported by Australian Network on Disaility.

Why then is it that so much of the Disability Care Australia legislation and the Productivity Commissioners Report  hinged around the increase employment of people with disabilities and the relatives that play a vital care role in a family members life.  I can see how the availability of regularly respite care support will enable the primary care given to go beack to work.  I can see the huge increase number of jobs in the disability sector, especially when the talking about doubling the number of people who will be supported in Queensland alone.

My struggle is why because people will be assured of assistance to get out of bed in the morning and be assisted to get to work on time, do they suddenly overnight become employable?  Yes we can address public access issues and  improve public transport for the needs of people with disabilities, but how to we bridge those attitudinal barriers, that equate disabilities to illness and incapacity. How do we as Australian with disabilities make our seemly visible abilities more visible.

"There are times when I feel I need to twice as much to prove my capabilities to perform a job than my competitors without disabilities. Then there are times I feel I a seen to have supper powers because of the professional approach I take to my work.

As if the is some think of rule of thumb the people with disabilities can not achieve as well as the non disable counterparts and to do so is a supper feet. Mate I am lucky if I can get the sales person to talk to me, yet alone convince a potential employer he or she has the correct CV in their hands  and I have not lied about my achievements. A person with a disability is dammed if the don't reveal it to a potential employer in the cover letter and if The do they run the risk of not getting an interview.  No one has ever explained how we can prove it is my epilepsy that leads to discrimination and not my cerebral palsy.  When the contraints of my CP are much more visible.

To use a Pauline Hanson expression, "Please explain . . . how support disability Care Australian will make us suddenly employable?"

  .   

The road to the introduction of NDIS

I don't assume the transition period between now and the introduction of the NDIS or Disability Care Australia will not be an easier one, as the frustration. confusion and desperation all ready shows.  People are still left unsure on the simple issues, Will I be  eligible?

"If I am 62 not, but Disability Care Australia doesn't commence here in Queensland until 2916.  It not fair that because I live in Queensland I will not be eligible. My needs as a person with a disability don't cease when I turn 65!"

A very valid point, after years of  tears, frustration and either no support services or appropriate services to meet their needs only to find the launch date in their state deems them ineligible. The good news on the introduction and trial sites of Disability Care Australia is on July 1 the starers gun will be fired. For those nearing the age of 65 or born just a few year too early to enjoy the security of NDIS the goods news the these people will be carer for by current aged care funding packages.  Currently their are thousands of young people with disabilities either living in aged care facilities or accessing services intended for older Australians.

As the people join Disability Care Australia and they are moved into more aged appropriate support services, nursing homes beds and funding will be freed up for older Australian with disability such as people who have experience stroke.  I agree more funding will be needed as Australia's population ages.  However for now let us celebrate the improvements the introduction of  Disability Care Australia.

As I talk to parents, cares and families of people with disabilities in their forties, I see a glimmer of hope in their eyes, but I and see and hear despair, pain and frustration. 'We need NDIS now! Not in 5 years time. I don't know if I'll still be here caring for my child in five years, what if I haven't got 5 years?What happens to my son or daughter if I die before then?"

Again valid point of reference. These are real people living real  with real needs.  The people I talk to are exhausted with the frustrations of fighting past and current state governments.  They and the love ones the care for still have to some how survive as they continue to meet the care needs of an adult child.  Remember many of theirs older carers currently receive no government funded support at all and rely on the assistance from other family members, friends and volunteers for a few respite care hours a week. In all the exhaustion this brings to their lives, they are left to care for someone with a significant disability, while trying to access whatever support they can in the meantime.  Added to this they must get the head around a new system of care, underpin by a different level of government based on totally different parameters, and new fundamentals.

To these people you might as well be speaking another language. Concept of social inclusion, community participation, support for open employment, an end to underemployment due to disability and alternative accommodation options are as foreign to them, as people with disabilities living with their families was in the 1920's. It just didn't happen!  All people in the late 60's and 70's who care for their adult children with disabilities is isolation and marginalization for them all their have ever known. To imagine a community in which the NDIS is designed to operated in is beyond comprehension.

I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy in 1970 at about 2 year of age.  At a time doors were just being opened to the community.  These were cracks and only a chosen few passed under the cracks to be allow out.  At that time very few people with disabilities were living as part of the community.  Even my parent were ask to consider state care for me.

I was the only child with a disability at my primary school, one of two when I commenced high  school, one of about 20 when I completed high school.  My school had a support unit for the hearing impaired, and the second person with a disability to enroll at the Darling Downs Institute for Advance Education and the only student ever to graduate from University/College of Southern Queensland.

Like most of the parents of my friends with disabilities, my own parents are in their late 60's who are not as articulate or socially. I know all to well the struggles these people have had because I have walked their journey with them and seen their pain. I too have my on tales to tell of my battles with the Department of Disabilities Services Queensland.

Until now guarded mistrust was a means of survival, when you hear these people talk and listen to their stories, you'll understand both their tears of hope and frustration. The journey forward for us will not be easy.

The concept behind the National Disability Insurance Scheme is much much more the a change in funding for early intervention programs, equipment funding and meeting the support needs of people with disabilities. Each of us holds different hopes for a future under the watch of disability care. For many whose support needs have remain unmet, it the dream of being able to shower everyday, for others its respite to be able to simply doing the grosery shopping and have a cuppa of coffee known their child is being care for at home.

However the NDIS is designed to revolutionize the way we 'think about disability', many will find these principles confronting and challenging to embrace.  The induction of Disability Care Australia in the main a human rights issue.

"It is the recognition the people with disabilities, their families and those who care for them have the same rights to choice as every other Australian.  The right to live in a type of accommodation of their choosing, the right to live with people the own age in a appropriate setting, the right to chose which town or city the wish to live in. The freedom to be able to move interstate without the fear of losing the support funding that already have. The right to early intervention programs and therapies to ensure they reach their full potential and become full participants in the communities in which they live. The right to access thing like education, sporting, leisure and culture activities and the right to full employment rather the the underemployment we have experienced for many years."

For too long in this country we have played lip service to the inclusion of all people with disabilities in the community. Young people with disabilities living in aged care facilities is a far cry from the type of social inclusion people with disabilities and the families are now demanding.  Disability Care Australia is about empowering people with disabilities to have self-determination over their own future.

Yes it is hoped in Queensland that about double the number of people currently receiving support will be  able to receive assistance for the first time. However Disability Care Australia will see major changes on how funding is allocated in many regions across the country. The major change is a specific dollar amount will be attached to an individual's name and that funding must be spent on them.  However some will be surprised than their be no money going into personal bank accounts.  All money must be held in 'trust' by a host provider of an individuals choice.  The money must be spent to help the person with a disability achieve there nominated goals registered with Disability Care Australia.

So some of the fears in remote indigenous communities about people having to sharing their funding with their mob are unfounded.  This is not another welfare payment.  The whole system of the new look disability care  system is to fully engage people in their community and that includes for the majority full employment for the first time.

In order to fully implement the purpose change campaign for under the NDIS the federal government and the wider community must introduce reforms to the education system and housing, transport infrastructure in terms of disability access needs to be urgently address and does public access to building particularity in areas with high employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

I think their are pockets in the community the believe the NDIS is merely a funding shift.  A restructure in funding arrangement between the state and federal governments can not alone create the social changes that are needed to bring about the reforms now legislated.

For the under 40's the reforms perhaps hold the greatest potential for future possibilities.  It is in exploring possibilities that maybe achievable under NDIS that we as a community must now grapple with.  We come from a long history in Australia of a culture that undervalues abilities and achievement of those with disabilities. We have failed despite all the erotic to achieve full equality.

We continue to underestimate the potential for people with disabilities.  When I hear comments from my own support workers about the quality of my work and professionalism.  I think, to myself, what do you expect from a professional?  People do not employ project officers who can not operate professionally and I am in a federal government leadership training program.

Sadly some support workers still see their roles as keeping clients company and entertain, which is carry forwards for the days when support was primarily given for respite care purposes. Today support is about supporting people to achieve their nominated goals.  The goal of my support in the eyes of some workers s to have fun.  Only a few understand the full community engagement I am seeking.  I do not want to be taken to a movie or go out to play the pokies.

There is nothing wrong with these activities their just things I do with my family and friends.  I refuse to pay out if my support funds things I can either do with others or  alone.  My support needs in community access are know their someone with me if I have a seizure and carry things I can't.  This transition seems hard for workers to comprehend when traditionally people with disabilities have been isolated from the communities and support staff are the only people in their clients lives.

I have worked hard to crave out a lifestyle of independence and I celebrate the introduction of disability care and the empowerment it will given me to live, work and grow independently for as long as I can.

However the mindset of what people with disabilities should do, who the chose to hang out, how they form relationships and types of activities the will chose will be greatly challenged by the NDIS.  When we see people with mild intellectual disabilities are now undertaking university studies, those who have supported people with disabilities for many years will feel this shift in types of support services the most.

These workers are no different than other members of community and even parent of people with physical, intellectual and behavioural disabilities I currently work with.

People with disabilities want to be with their friends from school why can the remain a community.  

For some this is what the want and enjoy and the introduction of Disability Care Australia should not take this from them.  However, I challenge how this is attitude from support people in young people lives follows a social inclusive society model.  Sure I see my school friends from time to time.  However when I went off to university our lives took different directions. Today my friends are either people I work or attend church with. Unless a person needs full time supervision provided by supported employment and/or day respite centers, the should not be in my view segregated or set apart from the community  Assimilation in to the workforce and community is a natural progression we all experience upon leaving school. It is assistance in making choices around these lifestyle goals that NDIS seeks to promote.

So when I hear statements like these being made by teachers and teacher-aids in "special education" classrooms I shutter.  I wonder whose "choices" we are really discussing. Are we willing to really let going and let individuals make their own choices, like every other member of the community.  To give people the real power of choice me need to let go and accept they will make very different choices to ones we would make for them.  Some may be wrong  and the consequences painful.

 we do not make choice for our other adult children who are leaving school. Some will chose to drink or smoke and some stupidly will drink and drive.  We might like to control or kids more, but we re frame as the find their own way and make their own choices.

Here many tell me I am wrong and my right to choices goes to far. We have a soical duty to   protect those with disabilities.  I continue to strongly voice this opinion  to give people real choices for their lives we must be prepared to wittiness the ban in order to wittiness who some young people with disabilities will shine.

Yes I think the introduction of disability care will challenge many. The road to NDIS is rocky, challenging and scary. But if we chose to be grown-ups and embrace the journey together the destination will be worth it!

ArtISability Pilot Program

ArtISability is a Professional Development Visual Arts Program

I have designed for Artists with disability. 

Artist's with disabilities face additional challengers as a result of their limitations. Artist may apply to join our program if they have a physical, intellectual, sensory, learning, behavioural, neurological disability and/or mental illness and they need support to join the mainstream arts community. 

Some of the obstacles there artist may face are physical access to buildings where mainstream artist meet, public art galleries, educational and training opportunities, and  transporting their work. Artist may struggle with written or verbal communication or require learning supports to complete training to further develop and refine their visual arts skills.

Mental illness and Behavioural disabilities bring challenges that dispute their daily routines.  Periods of depression, anxiety and isolation make continuity in their art practice hard to maintain and forming professional relationships difficult. As an artist presentation and self marketing is essential.

Most artist I know struggle with their self-image and self-worth.  Producing our artworks is like giving birth.  To criticize our work is to criticize our inner being.  Yet to achieve and make a living we must expose ourselves to the critics.

However none of these challengers are a difficult to overcome as our task of public education and overriding negative energy and attitudes towards us and our craft.  Life as an artist is isolating, so too can be living with disability.  We we don't isolate ourselves the attitudes of others based on misinformation and misunderstanding can isolated us.

ArtISability seek to provide artist with disability professional development opportunities through removing the costs of being supported to undertake a three day training opportunity, and link them to the local art's community. 

Our 2013 pilot visual art retreat program will be hosted at the Metro International Hotel in Ipswich CBD from the 4th to 6th October for Ipswich Residents Only, 

If you or someone you know
would like to know more about our program

you can email me for an 

application pack.  

Disabling Words

It strikes me as ridiculous that people who claim to be writers are unaware of the powerful impact words have and the collective responsibility we have in using current terminology. The word of God gives warning to the power when it tells us the tongue cuts sharper than the sword.

As a writer and an advocate for people with disabilities I feel a sense of failure and embarrassment this morning. Having been excited to have a piece on social inclusion printed to see the words 'Leadership in the Disable Community', beside my work brings shame. Two words thoughtless added by my editor, erodes my attempt to dissolve the the barriers between people with disabilities and the general community. 

When people with disabilities fight so hard not to be grouped together.  To not  from exclude groups or clubs and rather be included in mainstream activities. To be label in the media as a 'community' you realize how entrenched  negative community attitudes are towards people living with disabilities.

Again this morning I realize how unprepared Australians are to receive the values that unpin the NDIS, We are not mature enough to tear down the attitudinal boundaries.  In a system of support that seeks to address underemployment and increase social participation of Australians living with disabilities, the barriers feels as isolating as being surrounded by mountains a herder like cattle into a holding ground.

Please if you seek to write and print articles on social inclusion, chose appropriate terms and language that empowers rather than disables. Help us educate, rather than box us in!         

Roles in Disability Care Australia

In the disability sector the most vital role is the relationship between their support worker and the clients they work with. In the main the introduction of NDIS now known as Disability Care Australia, these already established relationships and relationships the will be introduced will be relatively under changed, where these  Client/worker relationship built on well grounded polices and procedures will continue unchanged.

In Queensland in preparation for the introduction of the NDIS in 2016 some clients who already receive packages through Disability services have switched to self-directed funding,  under this arrangement with the state government clients and/or their adult guardian have a greater say in how they  use their funding .

This funding is allocated under the Queensland Government's Growing Stronger Program. Where greater emphasis is placed on client choice. My life! My choice! Is  the principle that underlines this funding and much of the funding that will be distributed under Disability Care Australia. If you have not been contacted by the Department of Disabilities Services of you service provider to change to this new fund system, then for now how you use your support will remain unchanged.

My life! My choice! Gives clients and families three different models that enables them to be more empowered to make choices around their daily living needs and support goals. Eventually all people with disabilities living in Australia will be able to do this.

However this is a huge shift in thinking for everyone involve. We need to take slow steps to allow these changes to take place, understand what the mean for clients, families, carers, guardians, the adult guardian board, support workers, service providers, the dismantlement of the Department of Communities, the staff and all people working in the sector.  The changes are a few years away, but now is the to discuss what these changes mean for us as individuals and collectively.

Any change creates uncertainty, this uncertainty use in the right way can be a powerful tool. Or we can let this uncertainty be ruled by fear leading to a state of confusion. The introduction of  Growing Stronger and later Disability Care Australia is simple to give people as greater say in the life style choices.

Both systems allow this to occur in a number of ways:

1. Structurally it is predicted that many clients and families will chose not to make any changes in how the are supported and who they are support by.  For these people the greatest joy maybe to know the equipment needs will be meet.
2. Then there's a group of clients who would like a greater say in who supports them, when they are supported, how often they are supported and how they wanted to be support. Currently they may go bowling on a Saturday morning, they might decide they now like to go fishing on Saturdays or the want to attend a respite center to make new friends. This is about real people making real choices for their lives. The people chose a provider to 'host' the package on their behalf and disperse funds to produces the services the clients want from one or more service  providers.
3. It is expected that only a small number of people will chose to apply for an ABN and completely self-manage package.  This means rather than use staff from an existing service provider such as the Cerebral Palsy  League or the Endeavor Foundation, clients will advertise, interview, train and employ their own staff.  These people will be subjected to the same rules and regulations as all small business owners and bound to maintain the disability standard.

So you see while on the surface level, service delivery appearance will look the same, the governing principles and governance model will undergo significant change.  The word governance is the decision making process around what a support system will look like.  Until now this governance roll in Queensland has been undertaken by the department of Communities Disability Services, Board members of Service Providers and Case Workers, Community Linking Officers and Client Coordinators.

Only now as self-directed funding is being offered can families and clients say, I don't want 10 hours in home support, what I need is 5 hours in hours per week to assist with personal care, landry and meals preparation  and I like to use the other 5 hours to be support do a TAFE  course. In order to change the way people with disabilities are being supported some people will meed to look for new support providers. 

This is a major shift in thinking and methodology for case workers and coordinators. People who have previously been employed to design, write and implement support plans, with only assist in the writing and implementation.  The days when someone working for a service provider decides a client will spend 'x' number of hours at a shopping centre are thanking ending. Where traditionally support workers have felt the need to prompt or decide activities for clients, these types of governance decisions will be directly made by clients, a family member or appointed caregiver or guardian. 

More than ever before support workers must be able to make the shift from a more traditional role of 'a paid carer' to support worker.  A support workers role is to enable a person to achieve the goals.  The days when client are only receiving support as respite care for the caregiver(s) in their lives are ending.  Under the watch of Disability Care Australia all support will be linked to the goals the person wants to achieve.  

If that goal is to be able to make themselves a sandwich for lunch the support worker will find it hard to defend taking a client to a movie.  People with disabilities want and enjoy the same things as everybody else.  With the right to make decisions about how the will spend their time to comes responsibility. Where a client lives independently and chooses to go bowling instead of doing the shopping when supported, then lack of choices of things to eat is the consequences.

Many of us like to protect others from harm and making mistakes, NDIS or Disability Care recognizes that even people with disabilities have the right to make mistake, bad choices even where they can be harmful. Support Workers will no longer be directly the client through the daily routine.  The client will decided if the have a shower at the start or the end of the shift, they may chose to do both and they may chose even not to have a shower.  It is their life and their choice.  It is not the role of the worker to make judgments on how the person asks to be supported. 

Many workers who have worker in the sector for many years will struggle with this change in governance, for those accustom to making decisions for the people they support this will be difficult.  While some clients and families are very happy with how they are supported now, many tell us, they want to decide what type of voluntary work the like to do, to go ice staking rather than swimming. Under NDIS individualized support is set to become even more individualized. 

Workers who unable to adapt to a change in governance will struggle to please the clients. As we saw yesterday that means they may struggle to keep their employment. 

Goals Posts for Support Workers

In terms of the commencement of Disability Care Australia little has been discussed in terms of the most significant relationships in the care of people living with disability and their families.  This is the pay role of a support person.  Under Disability Care Australia a support person may be a teachers aid, a therapist, a paid attendant carer, a nurse, paid carer or support worker.

What role and how a person is ‘employed’ after each state switches to the new system should  look very differently from worker to worker and be different for each individual client depending on their support goals.

The Game is About to Change

For the distance the day to day operation of Disability Care Australia may not look any different except for an expansion of the number of people who are able to be supported.  Once fully implemented in Queensland, about double the number of people who currently receive support care will be supported by Disability Care Australia.

A lot of confusion still exist in the Community about who will be eligible for support post 2016 in Queensland.

ü  A young person with a significant disability who requires assistance with daily living and their direct caregiver and family where appropriate. (Under the lesigation a young person is someone under the age of 65 as at 1^st July 2016).

ü  People with disabilities who have disabilities or acquire a disability will continue to have their needs provided for by insurance, private and public health systems, rehabilitation services, age care services – such RSL Care and Blue Care which are currently predominately services which support older Australians and Veterans Affairs.

ü  Disability Care Australia will not cancel out or override existing government departments and services, such as the public health system, the age care system, mental health services, Government Housing and Accommodation services.  The departments will continue to operate independently of Disability Care Australia and can be access by persons with or without disability.  For an example regardless of a person age and ‘ability’ status the same application progress for government assistance for housing will remain post 1^st July 2016 in Queensland.

ü  What Disability Care Australia aims to do is close a gap in service provision for younger Australians living with disability.

ü  Currently there are around 6500 people with disability living under the age of 60 permately in nursing homes around Australia. Thus a fully operational Disability Care Australia will free up around 6000 nursing places, that is a increase significant in the number of older Australians who experience disability will be able to access age care because younger persons with disability will not longer desire that type of care.

ü  Similarly for many years I access Home Care Services because I was unable to have my needs meet under any other funding means.  It was a system that was never designed to meet the needs of a younger person living independently with a disability.  Waiting all day for someone to come and shower you two days a week was not conductive to finding employment and often resulted in inappropriate supports.  Again the introduction of Disability Care Australia sees a removable of younger Australians from this services making room for support of older Australians living with impairments the support and assistance the need.

ü  The freeing up of these vital services for older Australian’s living with disability should have a follow on effect. With the transfer of public hospital patients to nursing homes happening more freely,  more hospital beds and rehabilitation beds should become available. The introduction of Disability Care Australia should have a follow on.

As we move from a system that has been dominated and driven by service provision to a system of disability care which is designed to be market driven. A system that is drive by a market is a current that moves according to demand.

The Game May Look The Same

In the disability service industry that will mean the market will become directly driven by the demand of services from people living with disability. Not longer with the government be the gatekeeper of funds.  Funds with be directly accessible by clients and their families to buy the equipment, therapies, teacher aids and support services they feel will best meet their needs; or needs of their family member or person the have guardianship over. And yes where the Adult Guardian Board has guardianship of a person with a profound disability it will by the Adult Guardian that has the direct buying power of services and equipment.

This means in regions where there may be an over supply of support service the forces of market mechanisms may be particularly felt. This could felt  in a number of ways.  The service fees a provider charges may be force down in order to complete with other services, this will have some impact on service delivery as services not compete more directly with each other. However, the opposite may or may not occur in a region which is traditionally under supplied.

Changes under Disability Care Australia also mean people wanted to buy a support service will be able to for the first time approach a genetic service such as Blue Care or private OT and bypass disabilities services providers altogether.  Within this new delivery system there the freedom to directly employ support workers or cleaners.

The services, the clients and the workforce may look the same buy the empire is govern by very different rules.  Support staff and services will no longer be able to decide how there services will operate or when.  If the service delivery is not what, when and how a client wants, they with be free to look at other services and change.  They may like they way one service provides personal care but use another service to meet their respite care needs.  In a market which is control be meeting the support goals of an individual, a service offering a substandard or even standard service may not survive in a open market place.

At the front door to a disability support service provider stand the staff. These are the people who provide direct support needs to people with disabilities, run supported accommodation, man the respite care day or residential services, the therapists and teachers aids who have the day to day client contact. Potentially it is these frontline workers who will feel the shift in the rules the most. As the clients, families and guardians have an empowered role in how their needs are meet, those caught giving standard blanket care service delivery, will see a decline in work.

The goal posts are further and higher than ever before.  The goal is no longer to keep your employer happy but meet the needs of the clients in the way the want them met.  Regardless of whether you chose to work for an independent agency, be self employed or remain will your current employer it is the client who is paying your wage.

Not that this is visible by any direct change. The way you are paid and your entitlement should remain the say as clients and family members under law must use an independent broker or their funds.  No money will be going into anyone’s direct bank account unless a service provider is nominated by a client to directly allocate and distributed funds on behalf of a client in a very simular way they do now.  Except for one major difference at anytime they are free to request their funds and move to a number service or means of administration for the funds.

From the time a client enters into and agreement with disability Care Australian it is them who decides the level of service delivery they want and what the are prepare to pay for it.  If I know Sally does more housework  than Sandy in an hour at a higher standard, I am going to request Sally, When Peter is more respectful and more fun to be with, than Paul who supports me every other day, I going to see if Peter can work with me more often.  If Jo takes my son to the same park everyday for fish and chips and John takes my so to lots of different places and gets him to eat differ foods and engages him in lots of different activities I not going to be to keen for Jo to support my son us his an considerable lower rate of pay.

Clients and families will have a direct say in their support staff.  If their not happy they know their funding can be moved to another service provider. Staff who repeated have declines from clients will either sit on the books and not get the hours they need or be let go. Staff performance with be one of the biggest challengers as be move to a market driven disability service.  Is you kick stronger enough for the changes, Disability Care Australia will bring.      

See the Child not the Disability

UNICEF seeks to highlight both the needs and the rights of children with disabilities. 

By insuring rights through birth registration Children with disabilities have access to 

education and medical care leading to an increased ability to reach their full potential. 

This results in meaningful inclusion in their communities.