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.
Some NDIS participants aren’t having their most basic care needs met, such as assistance to get out of bed each day, because of a shortage of disability workers. Others cannot access assistive technology or other allied health assessments to achieve their goals for social or work participation.
A 20-year-old autistic man has been “languishing” in a country hospital for nearly a month because his family cannot find suitable skilled support workers. Ryan Croft’s family said they had to admit him to Bunbury Hospital because they could not find the right support for his destructive and sometimes violent behaviour.
Families and social services minister Anne Ruston says a new action plan and guide will be developed for ‘disability confidence training’ for professional service providers. “We’re hoping to provide educational institutions and professional bodies with the tools they need to incorporate disability awareness and confidence into their training.”
The paper revealed that administrative delays were the main barrier to discharge of “long stay” disabled patients in states including Queensland and Victoria. But a range of other barriers were reported, including a lack of housing options or supports for patients after their release.
A newly released report shows the Government is still short of its target to have no one younger than 45 living in nursing homes, and no one younger than 65 entering aged care homes, by 2022.
They are the only two staff supporting six residents, who have all tested positive to COVID-19 themselves after being exposed to a case during a one-day program last week.
The Victorian government has seized control of two supported care homes in Melbourne’s outer north-west after an investigation revealed coercion and abuse of residents, uninhabitable living conditions, forgery of signatures and access to NDIS services being hindered. Sydenham Grace and Gracemanor (formerly Meadowbrook) supported residential services in Sydenham and Melton South, which house people with mental illness and disabilities, have been placed into administration.
Under these current policy settings, experts say, Australians with disabilities are being left to fend for themselves, as workers with little to no workplace protection fall out of the workforce in droves.
Life Without Barriers chief executive Claire Robbs began her evidence by publicly apologising to the resident – known by the pseudonym Sophie – but said she did not escalate the incident to board level as it did not occur while in the organisation’s care.
A woman with cerebral palsy was sexually assaulted in a public park after her disability accommodation provider refused to let her meet her date in her own home, the disability royal commission has heard.
The Framework applies to any worker funded under the NDIS and translates the NDIS Principles, Practice Standards, and Code of Conduct into observable behaviours that service providers and workers should demonstrate when delivering services to people with a disability. The Framework provides a common language to describe “what good looks like.”
Despite disability and care sector workers being proud of the work they do, many report wanting to leave the sector because of a lack of career development opportunities, new research finds. The report found that this was predominantly because of poor leadership, inadequate pay, a lack of career opportunities such as promotions or learning new skills, and significant periods of unpaid work and travel time.
This report provides an overview of the lessons learnt from more than three years of reviewing disability service provision to people who have died. Sadly, the majority of deaths reviewed are ‘unexpected’ and raise significant concerns about the quality of service provision, possible preventable early deaths, and teach us that oversight and action must continue to be taken on both an individual and system-wide level.
Eligible NDIS providers in Victoria will be able to claim a one-off payment from the NDIA to cover costs for support workers to receive their COVID-19 vaccination.