Strengthening Disability Advocacy Conference 2017
Getting into gear for the NDIS journey

Friday 15 September @ NAB The Hall

Les Cope

Photo of Les Cope, President of Ability Dignity Access Management (ADAM inc.), Administrator at NDIS Grassroots Facebook Group

President of Ability Dignity Access Management (ADAM inc.), Administrator at NDIS Grassroots Facebook Group

Prior to his involvement with Ability Dignity Access Management (ADAM inc.), a Victorian non-profit organisation whose main focus is empowering and supporting people with disabilities. Les was a founding member and Chairman of ‘Chandler Co-operative’, one of 13 disability groups forming the Victorian Parent Advocacy Collective (VPAC) in the 1980s-90s. VPAC in-serviced school communities and supported children with disabilities to access their local schools through the Victorian School Integration program. This enabled Les’s son to complete his VCE, after which he decided he never again wanted to be segregated.

His high needs and the families experience in those early years was instrumental in his success for early access to the NDIS. The NDIS now provides him with the supports he needs to live an independent life.

Les continues to share Information and empower others towards self-advocacy in his current role as an administrator with the ‘NDIS Grassroots Discussion Facebook Group. This complex group, with  over 30,000 members including people with a wide range of disabilities, their families, community members and professionals, supports people with disabilities to understand, work with and navigate the NDIS.

His  posts and documents covering NDIS processes, individual planning and problem solving are available through the NDIS Grassroots Discussion group in the files section and as individual posts.

Session

Motor’s running and we’re ready to roll

Friday 15th September, 2017: 11:00am - 12:00pm

The strength of personal stories and grassroots campaigning on the rights of people with disability touched the general public and politicians alike. This panel will reflect on how highlighting the disparity of people with disability in living an ‘ordinary life’ shamed the nation and brought the NDIS into being. We turned the narrow dusty road into a super highway- but are we there yet?