I spoke not in my capacity as President of People with Disability Australia, nor as a board member on any of the other boards that I sit on. I spoke as a disabled woman and a carer who, like many of us, has spent a lifetime battling disability and mainstream services and systems.
Lead author Anne Kavanagh from the University of Melbourne said the survey found of those undecided, 68 per cent reported there was inadequate data about the safety of the vaccine and 59 per cent were worried about possible side effects.
Almost three months into the COVID-19 vaccination program the federal government is still working out the best way to immunise people with disabilities despite their inclusion in the first two phases of the vaccine rollout.
Any Australian over the age of 50 will be able to get a COVID vaccine from May 3, but many vulnerable Australians are frustrated that they are still yet to be vaccinated despite being in the priority group.
COVID-19 has done many things to people with disabilities. Along with visiting higher rates of death and suffering on us, as well as just plain fear, it has also highlighted some of our unique strengths. One of them is our ability to face and navigate difficult dilemmas few others face quite the way we do. But strengths usually come with a cost.
The Australian Greens have called on the Morrison Government to urgently prioritise disabled people, and disability support workers, in the national vaccine roll out after it was revealed that just 6.5% of this cohort have received their first dose.
Australia’s more than 6000 disability homes were to be among the first to receive vaccinations under phase 1a of the plan released by Mr Hunt in January. But a parliamentary COVID-19 committee heard on Tuesday that just 93 group disability homes – or about 1500 of the 25,000 residents – had received their first vaccinations.
Able Australia representative Chandi Piefke says she is yet to be presented with a plan from the government to vaccinate people living with disabilities. She said her clients were part of the 1a group and Able Australia was now looking at taking the matter into their own hands and transporting patients to their local GPs for vaccination.
Disasters like flooding can worsen social inequalities around health and housing. For people with disability, however, the effect can be especially profound.
Something is horribly amiss when thousands of Australians with serious disability have not received their first COVID shots eight weeks into the vaccine rollout. And those with disability deserve an explanation for why they have been ignored in the first phase of the rollout and assurances they have not lost the respect Scott Morrison used to claim he was giving them.
nd and low-vision Australians are being shut out of the Covid-19 vaccination process because the government’s eligibility checker and clinic finder website fail to meet basic web accessibility standards, according to Australia’s biggest provider of low-vision services.
In moves to address climate change, many of us make assumptions about how to make a difference. Stop using straws, get rid of packaging, use less air-conditioning. But what if that straw makes the difference between being able to drink or not, you rely on packaged, pre-cut fruit because you’re unable to cut it yourself, if air-con is essential for your ability to function.
The administration of the COVID-19 vaccine is considered to be medical treatment under the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 (MTPDA). In summary: If a person has decision-making capacity, they can consent to or refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. If they don’t have capacity, and there is no advance care directive, their medical treatment decision … Continued
A disability royal commission report in December found that the federal government failed to make any significant effort to consult with people with disability or their representative organisations during the early stages of crisis.
Disaster planning for people with disability matters. We perpetuate inequality with every step we don’t take, and risk entrenching disadvantage. And if you make things inclusive for people with disability, you tend to make it inclusive for large swathes of groups also at risk in emergencies, including older people, socially disconnected people and others. Many birds, one stone.