“We believe that if Oliver had not have had the labels of autism and intellectual disability attached to him, he would absolutely have not have been prescribed psychotropic medications,” McGowan said.
Responses to the issues paper about education and learning for people with disability have been received from individuals including people with disability, family members of people with disability, advocates, organisations and government. This overview is a summary of what people are saying. The use of restraints and seclusion in schools, experiences of bullying, and what neglect … Continued
Despite the refrain throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that ‘we are all in this together’, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability last week revealed the many hardships encountered by people with a disability over the past six months.
Noting the Royal Commission’s Statement of Concern released on 26 March 2020 about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disability, and Issues Paper on Emergency Planning, the hearing highlighted the experiences of people with disability during the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic.
Damian Griffis, chief executive of the First Peoples Disability Network, said the virus has exacerbated existing inequalities in Australia. He said the group has received phone calls from across the country from people who don’t have access to crucial items such as incontinence pads.
Australians with disabilities have suffered higher rates of domestic and family violence, are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and felt “expendable” during the Covid-19 pandemic, a royal commission has heard.
A disabled woman has caught COVID-19 from a support worker after the National Disability Insurance Agency refused to allow her sister to provide care instead during the pandemic. Sheree Driver told the disability royal commission on Wednesday that her sister’s mental state had rapidly declined after being without care for almost a month as a result of the decision.
The Federal Government’s emergency response plan to COVID-19 made no mention of people living with a disability, a royal commission has heard. Senior Counsel Assisting Kate Eastman SC said people with a disability and their advocates “watched and waited” for the Government to come up with a plan. But people living with disability were conspicuously absent.
The Second Progress Report summarises the work carried out by the Royal Commission during the period 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020.
Celebrating his 10th “truly free” day of freedom since he was 16, Indigenous man Daryl Carr, 35, who has a mild intellectual disability, had a single message. “I don’t want to see the mob go through what I went through,” said Mr Carr, a Wiradjuri man who has spent most of his life behind bars. He was released from prison in late May after a NSW Supreme Court judge found that Mr Carr had been cruelly detained on a five-year extended supervision order for 11 years, sometimes for “minor breaches”.
Free and confidential counselling and support services are available to support people with disability, their family, carers and supporters impacted by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (also known as the Disability Royal Commission). In Victoria, these services are provided by Relationship Australia Victoria and drummond street services. The two organisations’ services are independent and separate from the Disability Royal Commission.
The lack of awareness of our human rights permeates throughout the health sector and recent hearingsby the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability have shed light on the human cost. Health sector responses have been a life-and-death matter for people with disabilities for a very long time. Throw in a global pandemic and reforms to health sector policy and practice have never been more urgent.
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.
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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