However, these barriers could be avoided if government policies and services were changed to provide the supports and services that would allow people with disability to be equal members of an accessible society.
Since its establishment in 2019, the Disability Royal Commission has put the spotlight on the public trustee system, exposing countless cases of people losing control of their lives under the system. Investigative reporter Anne Connolly has been at the latest hearings and she joined RN Breakfast to discuss.
Longfellow is her brother’s only living relative, his next of kin and nominated carer. These final two titles should enable her access to her brother’s documents. But she’s spent the past three years fighting the NDIS for information, going back and forth with FOI requests, with many rejected or returned in heavily redacted format.
“I’m very wary about the rhetoric we’ve had in this country about welfare reform, and the narrative that disabled people don’t have lives worth living. We’ve seen these regressive ideas played out in the management of the pandemic.
These changes signal the end of most legislated COVID safeguards. Rules to enforce mask-wearing on public transport, vaccination for entry to public spaces, and isolation of close contacts have been dropped by state and territory governments in recent months.
More patients with a disability who have been medically cleared but are stuck waiting in hospital for a NDIS plan will be able to go home earlier, with the Andrews Labor Government expanding a program to reduce bed block around the state. The $39 million Pathways to Home program helps patients with a disability transition home or into home-like accommodation once they are medically fit for discharge from hospital, and while they await their permanent accommodation plans through the NDIS.
Minister Shorten said the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is implementing an operational plan to reduce the time taken for participants to be discharged from hospital.
A recent report found the main reason for the delay in discharging people with disabilities was getting plans and funding approved.
People living with a disability are waiting 160 days on average for the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to get them out of hospitals, even though they have been found fit to leave,
Many have admitted the pandemic impacted their wellbeing and financial capabilities. Already present with disadvantages, people living with disability face even more restrictions during this period.
Working across the mental health and disability sectors, it is not uncommon to hear of people falling between the cracks of services. Someone may present to a disability-specific health service, and be turned away due to a co-occuring mental health difficulty. They might then present to a mental health service and be turned away due to having a disability.
There are 3,000 vacancies in disability housing and 1,430 NDIS participants stuck in hospital because the bureaucratic process of securing adequate NDIA funding for housing and support is complex and takes many months or years. Instead, the focus of the NDIA appears to be on reducing short-term up-front costs. This means slow and inaccurate decisionsthat affect NDIS participants.
These resources provide a simple, accessible way for consumers, carers and their families, as well as lived experience workers and staff, to quickly understand, educate and communicate Victorian mental health rights and principles under the Act. The resource includes a series of social media posts and images, as well as download versions that can be used as reference guides
There was a “gap between systems” with the federal and state governments coordinating hospital discharges, saying NDIS clients seeking release from hospital faced “complex and lengthy NDIA processes” and “limited housing options”.
“People have experienced a lot of fear, illness, isolation and neglect,” explained Dominic Golding, policy officer at National Ethnic Disability Alliance. “COVID has had a really big impact on where we feel secure and safe.”