Europe names world’s first disabled astronaut
The European Space Agency on Wednesday named the first ever “parastronaut” in a major step towards allowing people with physical disabilities to work and live in space.
The European Space Agency on Wednesday named the first ever “parastronaut” in a major step towards allowing people with physical disabilities to work and live in space.
The cost to restore not just Maddison’s funding to what was “reasonable and adequate” but restore funding for all those people with disabilities before the tribunal, is a pittance in comparison to what the NDIA has spent in legal fees fighting us.
This big – yet barely publicised – change to NDIS access came this year from a Federal Court decision known as NDIA v D. In late August, the Federal Court clarified the meaning of two words – “available” and “remedy” – as they relate to accessing the NDIS. So much more than a battle over the meanings of words, this decision widens the threshold of people eligible for the Scheme.
Earlier this year, she applied for the NDIS again, with support from the spina bifida clinic at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. This time she was successful. Soon, Ms Armstrong will receive a new, custom-made wheelchair thanks to her NDIS funding. “The longer I can stay mobile, the more I can work, the more I can be a contributing person in society,” she said.
School is a crucial place to think about friendships for kids with disabilities because, as research confirms, it’s a space where all kids learn to make and maintain friendships. Some studies imply that schooling plays an even more important social role for students with a disability than for typically developing kids – with non-disabled students modelling appropriate behaviours.
The organisation has been footing the bill for registered nursing care since October 2019, when the NDIA notified three residents at Nardy House that their funding for registered nurse care would be cut.
The latest NDIS Quarterly Report shows that of the 23,137 new participants to enter the Scheme in the quarter, 9.4 per cent (2,169) identified as First Nations peoples.
But this all changed earlier this year, when Kim learned that Oscar’s funding had been cut, drastically reducing his access to the support and care he’d relied upon. “It just makes me feel sick,” Kim says. “It’s basically cutting Oscar adrift from everything that we’ve just established.
“Most of the changes we need to make to be safe during a pandemic were already part of my day-to-day life. I realized how much wisdom, skill, and resourcefulness I had gained because of my disability long before the pandemic. As a disabled person, I already had the skills, the mindset, and the knowledge to survive this.
“Our current system is inadequate and indefensible. It must be replaced,” then-prime minister Julia Gillard said as legislation to create the NDIS was introduced to Parliament in November 2012. Almost a decade on, that nation-changing social security scheme has reached a critical juncture.
“Engaging people who are disabled or who are heavily experienced in disability means you’re going to get the best outcome in terms of being accessible. It’s the knowledge, experience, and the type of thinking that you can’t really get from someone who doesn’t have that lived experience.”
Another State responsibility, the education systems, could also be letting children with developmental delay down, Minister Shorten believes, causing more parents to look for support from the NDIS and driving growth in participant numbers above expectations.
A key concern identified was that schools failed to follow policies and laws when denying or discouraging the enrolment of students with disability, and failed to identify and implement appropriate, reasonable adjustments for students with disability.
The minister in charge of the NDIS has vowed to track down “shonky” disability providers, telling them to “get off my scheme”.
Providers and others are abusing this critical but costly service. Once packages are approved, there is an incredible lack of transparency and unaccountability for the spending.