Disability support is a matter of significant public and community interest, with employers operating in a highly regulated, accountable and sensitive environment. The type of care and conduct of employees towards those in their care has come under closer scrutiny in recent years as community expectations have shifted to zero tolerance of any form of abuse perpetrated against supported persons.
Just over a quarter of Australians in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are fully vaccinated – behind the national average – with hundreds of thousands of people yet to have a jab despite being in the federal government’s highest priority groups.
Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC has announced two new Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) advancements for NDIS participants, following a successful roundtable with the SDA sector today.
Frustrated disability groups say the Australian government has failed to protect the nation’s most clinically vulnerable people during the pandemic. Now, they have put forward an 11-point plan to urgently improve the vaccine rollout for the disability community.
Despite many people with disability being highly skilled with incredible stories to tell, a lack of accessible career pathways, employment opportunities and commitment to authentic representation are creating significant blockages for those wanting to forge careers on or behind our screens – although there are signs things are changing.
The Paralympic Games turn the world’s eyes to the achievements of the superhuman athletes that take part, but the reality is that the vast majority of the millions of disabled people are distinctly ordinary. That recognition – and the desire to have the ordinariness of disability acknowledged by the public – lies behind Adam & Eve DDB’s ’We The 15’ campaign, the name of which references the 15% of the global population who are disabled.
Does friendship between support workers and people with disability violate professional boundaries, endanger the working relationship, and unwittingly contribute to social isolation? Or is it a positive, natural by-product of compatible people spending a lot of time together?
Mr Mung’s NDIS plan has provided him with a mobility scooter and he accesses physiotherapy and swimming classes with the help of a Burmese-speaking support worker. But securing that help was a battle.
The Commonwealth says the states must agree to reform the National Disability Insurance Scheme before finalising a new joint funding agreement in two years, as new data reaffirms the cost of the multibillion-dollar program is spiralling towards unsustainability and not delivering the results it was meant to.
With growing demand for disability support workers, the Andrews Labor Government is rolling out a new campaign to help develop a strong and skilled disability workforce – to support all Victorians to get the help they need and deserve from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The 2021 Census has been hailed as a giant leap for digital accessibility in Australia, following years of design work and testing by experts and advocates, who say the online form sets a new standard for government content and has improved data quality.
Advocates for the rights of people with disability have long experience in successful and high-impact campaigning. Below, the Every Australian Counts campaign shares some of the backstory to their recent success in fighting off the Federal Government’s plans to introduce independent assessments under the NDIS.
Disability advocates are not surprised by the data, and say the NDIA’s existing culturally and linguistically diverse engagement strategy is “rubbish” and key elements around its implementation have been overlooked.
Families are furious after private details of vulnerable Victorians with disabilities were at the centre of a massive privacy bungle.
The latest National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) quarterly report shows the world first scheme is continuing to grow at a record rate. Minister for the NDIS Minister Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC said today’s report shows we have much to celebrate as a nation.