Both sides of politics remain fully committed to the scheme, publicly, amid fears of another “mediscare”-like campaign. The scheme’s participants and the large diaspora of carers and their families are a potent political force and have been rallying to ensure the scheme remains supported.
“It’s obviously very topical at the moment,” Reynolds said. “I think the context of this is really important … Remembering we’ve got half a million people now on the scheme, the overall percentage of people who are going through to the AAT appeals process is still minuscule.
For the next five years, Arts House will fund artist fees, as well as access and production costs to support two residencies and presentations each year for Deaf, Disabled, neurodiverse and chronically ill artists, curators, collectives and their collaborating allies. The inaugural residents are Catherine Dunn and Sam Martin, Leisa Prowd and Mishka.
If you asked me at the time, I would have gladly skipped school and played video games instead. And yet, I did learn. I learnt how to spell, write, to do maths, languages, chemistry and drama. More importantly, I learnt soft skills. I made friends, navigated social cliques, traded lunchbox snacks, was teased, teased others, took risks and learnt from them, avoided girls then later discovered they weren’t so bad after all.
So I don’t care if the next prime minister does not have the best memory or feels blessed to not have a child like me. What I do want is a prime minister who will listen to disabled people, and work with us to resolve the many challenges we face not only with the NDIS but also in the many other areas of life where we face death, discrimination and disadvantage.
Kerriene Minjoot never felt like her blindness was a barrier to her succeeding at work, until she joined the very government agency tasked with improving the lives of Australians with disabilities. “I did not expect to go into working at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and ending up feeling more disabled than I ever have before,” she said.
Many have been forced to close their books. Waiting times for an AAT decision have blown out. “It’s more like civil litigation, going up against lawyers,” says Toby’s advocate, Belinda Horne, who notes she is not a trained lawyer. “Like if I had a broken arm, I could go to the doctor and show up. I don’t have to go to a solicitor.”
“Our policy on the NDIS is to defend and fix the NDIS, lifting the NDIA staffing cap, doubling existing funding for advocacy, fixing regional access and stopping waste… it’s to put people at the centre of the NDIS,” Albanese said.
With the Federal Election on 21 May 2022, the major parties have been out making promises, promises to voters. Here is a comparison of the disability announcements and policies of the major parties made to date.
“It’s been so difficult historically for people with disability and families to get heard and be treated like their concerns are worthy and important enough to consider”
Functions which were to be conducted by staff with delegations could not be outsourced: delegation for decision making remained within the agency. Processes as well as functions needed to be broken up. Outsourced functions would be information gatherers and information givers, ruled by KPIs. These KPIs would become problematic.
the NDIS is a microcosm of so much that is wrong with the way we deliver services across the care economy from disabilities, to aged care, to health care and education. It is sucking up and revealing the shortcomings of the rest of our social services.
Connor Brookhouse spent two years fighting the National Disability Insurance Agency for funding that would allow him to live independently. After knocking him back twice, the agency finally agreed to fund what Connor had originally requested just days before his appeal was due to be heard at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
As news that Anthony Albanese failed to recall NDIS policy details dominates the headlines, I can’t help but feel frustration that the focus is on ‘memorisation’ over ‘implementation’.
A Bendigo mother has slammed the NDIS and says the system to review plans is not allowing people living with a disability to have the continuity they need. Disability support worker Jo Boyd spent almost a year fighting to increase her 19-year-old son’s NDIS funding.