Unpaid carers facing significant economic disadvantage
Unpaid carers in Australia face a significant economic disadvantage, research reveals, prompting the launch of a campaign to bridge the gap between unpaid care and workforce participation.
Resources
Disabled teens suffering the mental health effects of bullying
If we could stop the high levels of bullying that adolescents with a disability experience, we could make a big difference to their health, learning and wellbeing. So school anti-bullying programs need to acknowledge the link between having a disability, being bullied and poorer mental health.
Man battling cancer and Centrelink raises social media storm
The ordeal of a father battling bowel cancer and Centrelink at the same time is setting social media ablaze, prompting a crowdfunding appeal and an outpouring of rage on Facebook.
Critical gap’ for young people with disability In nursing homes under NDIS
A lack of clarity around who qualifies for the National Disability Insurance Scheme is causing young people in nursing homes to fall through a “critical gap” between the health and disability sectors, according to a new report card from the Summer Foundation.
Just Invisible: Medical access issues for homebound/bedridden persons
People who are homebound and/or bedridden have extensive and systemic problems with accessing the medical healthcare system, including access to General Practitioners, medical professionals, hospital systems and allied health. If you don’t turn up you are assumed not to need or want the service. This extensive report details many of the problems faced by homebound/bedridden … Continued
Patients lives at risk after NDIS funding redirected, Mental Health Victoria says
A woman with bipolar disorders says she feels “cheated” after discovering she is no longer able to access mental health support because her illness is not considered a lifelong disability.
Beaten, abused, humiliated and filmed by Victoria Police
John’s psychologist was worried about his mental health. She asked the police to check on him. CCTV footage shows they did much more.
The insidious consequences of disability pension cuts
rexplains the cruel cycle of poverty and devastation being inflicted on the mentally and physically ill by ongoing welfare cuts. THIS story is to explain to people who don’t live with mental illness, the security a home can bring.
Hidden camera captures nurse ‘abusing patient’
A nurse has been fired after horrific footage emerged of him allegedly abusing a patient who suffers from a disability at a Melbourne hospital.
Access to health services by Australians with disability
People with disability use a range of mainstream health services—such as GPs, medical specialists and dentists. Some experience difficulties in accessing these services, such as unacceptable or lengthy waiting times, cost, inaccessibility of buildings, and discrimination by health professionals. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a web report on this.
Not everyone with a disability wants a cure – nor should we expect them to
Sunday is International Day of People with a Disability, and its themeis “transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”. People with disabilities are a diverse bunch – many of us want to see cures for our conditions, and many don’t – but what we all want is quality of life here and now.
Desensitisation
Australia’s Disability Laws is set up based on the person with disability having to make a complaint. It is up to the person with disability to challenge discrimination when it happens. Is the constant complaint-making affecting our mental health?
Gap in palliative care for Australians with a disability
Around one in five Australians live with a disability — and like the rest of the ageing population, they’ll require end of life care when they become ill. But close attention and understanding of the palliative care needs of disabled people is sorely lacking.
This woman has been arrested 131 times fighting for disability rights—and she’s not done yet
Anita Cameron, one of the protesters arrested that day, has a message for people who are shocked by the photos. “Concentrate on why we’re there, and not how we’re being treated” by police, she says. “People look at the disability and they think we are helpless or fragile…and that’s so far from the truth.”
Group home ‘hell’: Open letter calls for royal commission into treatment of people with disabilities
More than 100 prominent academics have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling for a royal commission into violence, abuse and neglect of people with a disability.