People with intellectual disabilities twice as likely to suffer preventable death, study finds
Research released in the medical journal BMJ Open on Wednesday reveals a disturbing pattern of unnecessary deaths in the Australian health system.
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Concerns People With Mental Illness Could Fall Through Gap of NDIS
The not-for-profit sector is calling for urgent action amid concerns people living with a mental illness could “fall through the gaps” as the National Disability Insurance Scheme absorbs some mental health services.
Doing time without the crime: mental impairment in the justice system
Would you plead guilty to crime you didn’t commit and serve out the jail time? What if your only other option was being locked up with no release date in sight? A lot of people with a cognitive disability or psychiatric illness are facing that dilemma in Australia right now. They’re being told to to … Continued
CEO Pay Should Be Tied To Staff Mental Health, Jeff Kennett Says
Mental health as a key performance indicator (KPI)? It’s a future BeyondBlue Chairman Jeff Kennett wants to see for Australian business. The former Victorian Premier has called for performance bonuses for chief executives to be partially tied to the mental wellbeing of their staff. Kennett is making the proposal to the Business Council of Australia … Continued
‘We’ve had as much awareness as we can take’: fighting symptoms of mental illness and not just stigma
Mental illness won’t go away once we address stigma – we need to address the symptoms, writes Ben Pobjie.
Autistic man shackled, naked during ‘distressing’ nine months at Victorian hospital
A young man with autism was shackled for up to 24 hours a day during a nine-month ordeal at a Victorian hospital.
Human rights complaints after mentally ill kids expelled
Desperate parents are turning to the human rights watchdog to seek justice for children removed from schools for mental health conditions. Nearly 20 complaints of children being expelled, suspended or removed from classes for a psychiatric or psychological disability have been made to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission in the past three … Continued
When the NDIS becomes a lifeline
I support the right to assisted dying, but I also worry that people will look at me with my crooked and paralysed body and make that decision for me. The support provided by the NDIS ensures people like me also have the right to live, writes George Taleporos.
Coroner recommends new safety measures after Katrina ‘Katie’ West chokes on dinner at Scope supported accommodation in Lilydale
A CORONER has recommended new safety measures after an intellectually disabled woman choked on her dinner at a Lilydale supported accommodation facility.
Psychosocial disability definition causes confusion among NDIS applicants
People with a mental illness must demonstrate a psychosocial disability to be eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), however a recent survey has revealed most respondents do not know what that means.
Losing Angelica: why one family decided to relinquish their daughter with a disability
Dual disability can be crappy for many reasons. For those with the diagnosis, it’s tough enough having a brain that doesn’t seem to work as efficiently as everyone else’s. It’s even worse when you become anxious, or hear voices. For families it can be an enormous, sometimes impossible, burden. But saddest of all, it doesn’t … Continued
Disabled lost in benefits limbo amid Centrelink pension crack down
Disabled Australians could be forced to wait up to a year for their disability support claims as the government’s crackdown on the pension clogs the system with thousands of medical examinations.
‘Sometimes the coroners are our biographers’: It’s time for Australia to act
The Bolshy Divas describe themselves as “disability activists in the style of feminist masked avengers”. In April, six divas appeared before the Senate’s community affairs committee for a hearing into the abuse of people with disability. They arrived with a bundle of white roses. Taking turns, the divas read out 40 examples to illustrate the … Continued
UN examines Australia’s forced sterilisation of women with disabilities
Australia’s human rights record is being assessed by the UN human rights council before the universal periodic review and the sterilisation of women with disabilities was raised in its session in Geneva.
Aboriginal people with disabilities get caught in a spiral of over-policing
Police have become the default frontline response to Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities. In the absence of culturally responsive and therapeutic community-based support, regular police contact from a young age sets this group up for a lifetime of “management” by the criminal justice system.