When Rosalie Dow moved into transitional housing in Melbourne with her two young children in 2013, she thought it would only be for a few months. Dow’s son, Mayer, was two, and showing signs of what would soon be diagnosed as Coffin-Lowry syndrome, a rare and often debilitating genetic condition with complications including intellectual disability, … Continued
Australia has 960 train stations, and by the end of 2017, each state was required to have ensured that 90 per cent of their stations met accessibility standards. “Across the country, we would be at best 50 per cent compliance to those standards,” said Susie Pascoe, CEO of Sterling Infrastructure — a company that delivers services across Australia’s rail network and assesses the accessibility of stations and walkways around trains.
There have been more than 7,000 serious incidents — including sexual misconduct, serious injury, abuse and neglect — in disability group homes over the past four years, according to a startling new report from the NDIS complaints watchdog. The report followed an inquiry into disability group homes, set up to identify trends among issues occurring in the sector and how best to address them.
The minister announced earlier this month that the average waiting time across Australia for NDIS participants medically fit for discharge from hospital is now 33 days. This is down from an average of 160 days in Victoria at the time of the federal election.
Equal access to education has been a hard-won right. As a teacher and parent I understand that while laws might demand the inclusion of all children, achieving this is not always easy. To help relieve some anxiety, here are my five top tips for starting the school year off right.
The Government has announced it will establish a new system of administrative review that is user-focused, efficient, accessible, independent and fair. As part of these changes the Government will abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and replace it with a new federal administrative review body.
All matters currently before the AAT will continue. If you are a participant with an NDIA case currently before the AAT there are no further steps you need to take. The process for review of your matter remains unchanged and will be completed within the expected timeframes.
A bleak new report has revealed the scale of issues in Australia’s supported accommodation system. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s inaugural ‘Own Motion Inquiry’ into Aspects of Supported Accommodation found that people with disability had experienced thousands of incidents in group homes run by seven of the nation’s largest providers.
How should non-disabled people who care about the wellbeing of people with disabilities respond to blatant ableism when they see it?
Disability culture is large, diverse, and exciting. It’s also hard to get a handle on.
The Federal Government has announced it will abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and replace it with a new body. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the former Government “irreversibly damaged” the AAT’s public standing over the past nine years.
One of the most notoriously politicised bodies, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, will be abolished after the attorney-general declared its reputation had been irreversibly damaged.
Ending violence against people with disability requires a detailed plan on how we make housing, education, health and transport equal for us. So it brings me great sadness as a disability rights campaigner to say the royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability currently looks unlikely to join the list of royal commissions that change the country.
“It’s no longer a question of whether it’s necessary, but how to achieve the best impact,” Gorriti says. “Firms who embrace inclusivity with people-centric cultures and accessible spaces will become future employers of choice and outperform others by attracting the best talent.”
A New South Wales man was today (Friday 16 December) sentenced to three years behind bars for his role in a multi-million-dollar fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, the Hon. Bill Shorten MP, has today announced that almost 60 per cent of NDIS legacy appeal cases inherited from the former Liberal-National Government have now been cleared through overhauled dispute resolution processes.