pause on all public hearings in the disability royal commission to stop the spread of COVID-19 to people with disability is a good chance to iron out current issues, disability advocates say. Commission chair Ronald Sackville AO QC announced on Monday that hearings in Brisbane and Alice Springs would be postponed due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19 to people with disability.
Over and over the last two weeks, the same words echoed. They didn’t listen to me. They didn’t see me. They didn’t think I was worth helping.
Ms Mitchell’s testimony at the third public hearing held in western Sydney this month has been one of many to shine a light on the challenges of getting treatment for complex medical conditions, and navigating Australia’s health system.
A Wiradjuri woman who is the full-time carer for two adult sons with intellectual disabilities has told the royal commission that the “double whammy” of being Aboriginal with a disability has pushed her family into homelessness.
The Australian health care system is not equipped to meet the complex needs of people with intellectual disability, UNSW Professor Julian Trollor said. “People with intellectual disability are dying from similar things to most Australians, but there is a large gap when it comes to the proportion of potentially avoidable deaths” he said.
People with intellectual disability face a profound life-time struggle with a health system that at times ignores and mistreats them, a royal commission has been told. A doctor says patients with intellectual disability may not understand they are receiving inadequate care nor have the ability to report it.
As it turns its attention to examining the Australian health system, the Disability Royal Commission is adapting to the needs of the people who are at the centre of this inquiry, people with disabilities. Over the next two weeks it’ll hear evidence from people with intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injuries and autism. But being in a hearing room can be a confronting experience. So to help them, the Royal Commission has held a session to explain what they might encounter.
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The Disability Royal Commission resumes hearings in Sydney this morning focusing on the healthcare provided to people with Intellectual Disabilities. It’ll investigate why the group is twice as likely to suffer preventable death with Commission chair Ronald Sackville warning the inquiry will hear disturbing evidence.
The Disability Royal Commission is set to be a defining feature of the disability landscape in 2020. The mandate is huge, and the pace is fast. The Royal Commission is far from over, in fact it has really just begun. While we don’t know what the final recommendations will be, the Commission is publishing Issues Papers, Progress Reports and videos from the hearings, that give us some idea about what they are thinking.
Closing date: March 20, 2020
People with disability, including young people and First Nations people, are over-represented across the criminal justice systems in Australia and are at heightened risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The issues paper is calling for responses about prisons and forensic mental health facilities where forced treatment, seclusion (solitary confinement) and other restrictive practices, such as physical, chemical and mechanical restraints may be used.
The disability royal commission will resume next month as it works towards delivering its first major report in October. The next public hearings will be in western Sydney, looking at allegations people with cognitive disabilities are dying because of poor health care. It comes after a rocky start for the commission, with some advocates critical of the lack of disability voices in its opening phase.
The Commission has released planned community events, public hearings and cohort specific engagements up until June 2020. The schedule is subject to change and more events will be confirmed at a later date.
Transcripts are available for the hearing into homes and living for people with disability in Victoria with particular interest in the experiences of people who have lived or are currently living in group homes. This hearing took place in Melbourne during the first week of December 2019.
National Legal Aid chairman Brendan Thomas said the service’s new website would help ensure people and their families or carers could access free, independent advice about engaging with the royal commission.
Closing date: March 20, 2020
The Royal Commission wants to understand the experiences of people with cognitive disability in accessing or receiving health care. Health is a key issue for the Royal Commission because people with disability may experience violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in health settings. The denial of the right to health care may also be a form of neglect. Access to, and treatment of, people with cognitive disability in the health system will be the subject of the first hearing in February 2020.