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📌 Easy Read, social stories, communication boards and Key Word Signs
📌 Languages other than English
📌 Support, mental health and wellbeing
📌 General information about coronavirus
Information about coronavirus – or COVID-19 is changing every day – and information can be hard to find.
With everything that is going on, no one has time to go hunting for what they need.
We’ve collected lots of information for people with disability, their families and carers and popped it in one place. We’ll be updating it daily to make sure our Every Australian Counts community has the very latest info at hand.
We have also collected other helpful resources and tools from around the web – everything from Easy Read resources for people with an intellectual disability to videos to fact sheets.
Make sure you check out our FAQ page as well, and our news section. And if the answers aren’t there send us your question and we will get an answer as soon as we can.
And just in case you missed it – here are a couple of the big hotlines during this time if you need more help:
Disability Information Helpline – 1800 643 787
Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm (AEST) and Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 7 pm (AEST) – not open on public holidays.
NDIS Coronavirus hotline – 1800 800 110 then press 5
There are special teams of NDIA staff available to answer your questions and help with your plan if you press 5 after calling the NDIS contact centre. Open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm (local time).
National Coronavirus hotline – 1800 020 080
Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
More hotlines and support services
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
NDIS
The NDIS are frequently updating the Coronavirus (COVID-19) information and support section of their website. There are lots of FAQs and fact sheets. Some of the pages being updated the most are:
- Latest advice from NDIS
- For participants – coronavirus (COVID-19)
- For providers – coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Information in languages
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
NDIS Commission coronavirus (COVID-19) information
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for people with disability
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): Frequently asked questions
Government services
Disability Information Helpline
A hotline has been set up to help people with disability during the pandemic. On weekdays it is run by IDEAS.
They can help find answers to your questions.
Contact the Disability Information Helpline on 1800 643 787.
The Helpline is open Monday to Friday 8 am to 8 pm (AEST) and Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 7 pm (AEST). It’s not available on public holidays.
The people on the helpline can give you fact-checked information. They can also refer you to a disability advocate or a free counselling service if you would like some more support.
Services Australia (Centrelink)
Information for people affected by coronavirus (COVID-19)
Economic Justice Australia
- COVID-19 and Centrelink factsheet
- Claiming Centrelink during COVID-19: a step-by-step guide
- Disability Support Pension (DSP) and COVID-19 payments
- COVID-19 scams
- Jobseeker and COVID-19
Department of Social Services
- Fact sheet – Information for Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment recipients in response to COVID-19
- Fact sheet – JobKeeper Payment impacts on Disability Support Pension Recipients – Easy Read
- Fact sheet – JobKeeper Payment impacts on Carer Payment Recipients – Easy Read
Australian Government
There is a Coronavirus Australia government app in the Apple App Store and Google Play, and a WhatsApp channel on iOS or Android.
Update: New COVID-19 Home Medicines Service
Department of Health
Coronavirus Helpline – 1800 020 080
- Coronavirus health alert
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) resources
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Easy Read resources
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): Our plan for keeping people with disability safe – Easy Read
- Management and Operational Plan for People with Disability
Australian Human Rights Commission
Easy Read, social stories, communication boards and Key Word Signs
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIS)
Easy Read – Coronavirus (COVID-19) information (PDF 3MB)
Easy Read – Purchasing Personal Protective Equipment (PDF 2.2MB) or (DOCX 51.7KB).
Down Syndrome Australia
Coronavirus information and Down syndrome page
Easy read guide to Coronavirus – What is Coronavirus? What can I do to stay safe? Where can I get more information and help?
- 11 page PDF – Easy Read guide about Coronavirus
- 11 page docx – Easy Read guide about Coronavirus
- 2 page PDF – Easy Read guide about Coronavirus
- 2 page docx – Easy Read guide about Coronavirus
Council for Intellectual Disability (CID)
- Easy Read – Staying safe from Coronavirus
- Easy Read – Look after your mental health during Coronavirus
- Easy Read – Staying at home during Coronavirus
- Easy Read – About the COVIDSafe app
- Easy Read – Coronavirus rules
- Easy Read – If you think you have Coronavirus
- Easy Read – Looking after your health during Coronavirus
Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN)
Information about Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Easy Read – What is Coronavirus (COVID-19)? PDF or Word
- Easy Read – What does Self-quarantine Mean? PDF or Word
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Essential Items Checklist PDF or Word
Easy Read Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness Planning for COVID-19 – For People with Disability
VALID
Easy Read – Coronavirus (Covid-19) News
Easy Read video – What is Coronavirus?
Women With Disabilities Australia
About Coronavirus. Also called COVID – 19 (Word)
Access Easy English
- Easy English COVID-19 resources – updated very frequently
Department of Social Services
COVID-19 Information and support for people with disability and carers
- Coronavirus – Should you wear a mask? – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – What is it? – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – 5 things to do right now – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – What you need to know – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – Social distancing – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – Staying at home – Easy Read
- Updated: Coronavirus – Wearing a face mask – Easy Read
- Coronavirus – Who can you call? Easy Read
- Fact sheet – JobKeeper Payment impacts on Carer Payment Recipients – Easy Read
- Fact sheet – JobKeeper Payment impacts on Disability Support Pension Recipients – Easy Read
Department of Health and Human Services (Victoria)
- Do I have to wear a face mask? – Easy English – Poster (PDF)
- Do I have to wear a face mask? – Easy English – Handout (PDF)
- Do I have to wear a face mask? – Easy English (Word)
Australian Government Department of Health
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Our plan for keeping people with disability safe – Easy Read
Australian Human Rights Commission
Key Word Signs Australia
Coronavirus information for people who use Key Word Signs
- Key Word Sign poster – Tips on avoiding coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Coronavirus Information Signs
- Easy English – The Coronavirus – how to stay healthy
The Autism Educator
The Autism Partnership of Easterseals Chicago
Two Way Street
Talking to kids about Coronavirus and COVID-19 chat board
Photosymbols
Easy read posters
Scottish Commission for Learning Disability
COVID-19 Guided Self-help Booklet Series
- Introduction
- Coping with feeling down
- Getting a good night’s sleep
- Being active and staying well
- Solving problems
- Coping with anxiety
- Relaxing
Other visual resources
Speak Out Tasmania
Coronavirus How to Stay Safe and Keep Others Safe
Council for Intellectual Disability (CID)
Stay home stay busy during Coronavirus
MINDHEART
#COVIBOOK – Supporting and reassuring children around the world. PDF downloads in different languages: Español (Spanish), English, Italiano, Português (Brasil), PDF Português (Portugal), Français (French), Polskie (Polish), עברית (Hebrew), Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian), Deutsche (German), Türkçe (Turkish), Pусский (Russian), عربي مصري (Egyptian Arabic), عربى (Arabic), ρουμανικός (Romanian), Magyar (Hungarian), Ελληνικά (Greek), Dansk (Danish), Српски (Serbian), Welsh
Ricky Buchanan (@jeshyr)
PBS
Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
How You and Your Kids Can De-Stress During Coronavirus
How to Talk to Your Kids About Coronavirus (with lots of links to activities and videos)
Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC)
Keep Mob Safe posters:
BrainPOP
Coronavirus educational video, games, quiz, and other activities for kids
ABC Behind The News
Videos about the news for children and young people
Languages other than English
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIS)
Auslan – Using the funding in your plan differently
Auslan – Support for children under seven years old
Auslan – Making plans last longer
Auslan – What will be in your next plan?
Auslan – Taking part in the NDIS
Text-only Easy Read booklets in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Filipino (Tagalog), French, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Macedonian, Samoan, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
Coronavirus (COVID-19) – NDIS participant information
العربية / Arabic, 简体中文 / Chinese – Simplified, 繁體中文 / Chinese – Traditional, Tagalog / Filipino, Français / French, Ελληνικά / Greek, हिंदी / Hindi, Italiano / Italian, македонски / Macedonian, Samoa / Samoan, Tiếng Việt / Vietnamese
Deaf Australia
Frequent advocacy and information updates for Deaf people in Auslan on the Deaf Australia Facebook page and Vimeo channel.
Expression Australia
Daily Auslan video updates on their Facebook page with summaries of all the latest news and announcements.
Department of Social Services
COVID-19 Information and support for people with disability and carers
Auslan version of Helping others
Auslan version of Looking after yourself
Auslan version of Coronavirus (COVID-19) accessible resources
Auslan version of Support for your situation
Auslan version of the Disability Information Helpline
Auslan version of the Who else can you talk to?
First Peoples Disability Network
Coronavirus information in Auslan with captions
SBS
Coronavirus information in 63 languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Bangla, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Croatian, Dari, Dinka, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hakha Chin, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Karen, Khmer, Kirundi, Korean, Kurdish, Lao, Macedonian, Malayalam, Maltese, Mandarin, Nepali, NITV Radio, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Rohingya, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese.
Northern Territory government
Audio recordings about coronavirus in Aboriginal languages
Ethnolink
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Translated Resources – Information in Your Language: Arabic | العربية, Chinese (Simplified) | 简体中文, Chinese (Traditional) | 繁體中文, Easy Read (Easy English), English, Farsi | فارسی, Greek | Ελληνικά, Hindi | हिन्दी, Indonesian | Bahasa Indonesia, Italian | Italiano, Japanese | 日本語, Khmer | ភាសាខ្មែរ, Korean | 한국어, Portuguese | Português, Punjabi | ਪਜਾਬੀ, Spanish | Español, Tamil | தமிழ், Thai | ภาษาไทย, Turkish | Türkçe, Vietnamese | Tiếng Việt.
Australian Government Department of Health
NEDA – National Ethnic Disability Alliance
COVID-19 Global Pandemic – Where to find multilingual information easily and quickly
Other helpful websites
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO)
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA)
Coronavirus (COVID-19) information and resources
IDEAS
All blog posts and resources tagged with Coronavirus / COVID-19
Melbourne & Victoria – #COVID19 Rules
People With Disability Australia (PWDA)
Association for Children with a Disability
Carers Australia
Raising Children Network
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and children in Australia
Blind Citizens Australia (BCA)
Information on Coronavirus (Covid-19)
BCA Happy Hours – weekday virtual catch-ups for people who are blind or vision impaired
Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN)
Information about Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness Planning for COVID-19 – For People with Disability
First Peoples Disability Network
Coronavirus (Covid-19) – Community Information
Women With Disabilities Australia
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
NACCHO Aboriginal Health News Alerts – Coronavirus
Australian Coalition for Inclusive Education (ACIE)
Learning at home during a time of crisis COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Summer Foundation
Summer Foundation Connect & Support – COVID-19 Response
Reasonable & Necessary podcast with Dr George
Autism Awareness Australia
Autism and Coronavirus (COVID-19)… The Essentials
Down Syndrome Australia
Collaborating 4 Inclusion & QDN
COVID-19 Planning Resource for People with Disability
Council for Intellectual Disability (CID)
Information about Coronavirus COVID-19 for people with intellectual disability. Information, advice and tips on staying healthy and well, and more.
Advokit
Advokit is a pop-up website with information and resources from all around the web designed to help people with disability get through this really difficult time.
Support, mental health and wellbeing
National 24/7 crisis services
lifeline: 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
beyondblue: 1300 224 636
Looking after your mental health during the coronavirus outbreak
Youth support services
headspace: 1800 650 890
How to cope with stress related to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
View this post on Instagram
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
SANE Australia: 1800 187 263
Blessing Manifesting
Managing Anxiety About the Corona Virus
US Centre for Disability Rights
Action page for people with disability who use support workers
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Coping with stress during the 2019-nCoV outbreak (poster)
Helping children cope with stress during the 2019-nCoV outbreak (poster)
Mental Health Considerations during COVID-19 Outbreak (PDF)
Head to Health
Inter-Agency Standing Committee
Briefing note on addressing mental health and psychosocial aspects of COVID-19 Outbreak- Version 1.1
Facebook groups
Local neighbourhood support groups are popping up for people who need a hand or who can help others out. A couple of Australian groups for people with disability have been created:
Disability and Chronic Illness COVID-19 Information Clearinghouse Australia
Covid-19 and People with Disability
Mind UK
Coronavirus and your wellbeing
Creaky Joints
Coronavirus Anxiety: Key Advice for Chronic Illness Patients from Health Psychologists
ABC Behind The News
Important things to remember about upsetting news
The Guardian
Silver linings: how to stay positive during the coronavirus crisis
Providers and workers
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
This morning (March 24) the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission sent out an update to all NDIS providers regarding gear and equipment. It contains important information for both providers and people who employ their own workers about:
- when workers should self isolate
- where to find training on infection control for workers
- who should wear personal protective gear
- where providers and workers can get gear from
And a follow-up email about important research on health risks and vulnerabilities of people with disability.
The Commission’s coronavirus information page covers:
- A free training module on Infection prevention and control for COVID-19 for workers
- The link to a webinar by the Department of Health on COVID-19 preparedness for in-home and community aged care, and
- A link to their Provider Alerts about COVID-19
National Disability Services
Coronavirus (COVID-19) information
Disability Services Consulting
Resources and policy for people with disability and providers
Supporting People to Stay Infection Free – a free 30-minute online training module for workers.
General information about coronavirus
Australian Government
- Essential information
- Key updates
- Health and prevention
- Supporting the community
- State and Territory Government information
- Receiving financial support
There is a new “Coronavirus Australia” government app in the Apple App Store and Google Play, and a WhatsApp channel on iOS or Android.
Update: New COVID-19 Home Medicines Service
Department of Health
- National Coronavirus Helpline – 1800 020 080
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) resources
- Find the facts
- Home isolation and care
- For travellers who have been in mainland China, Iran, Republic of Korea and Italy
- For international travellers
- For parents of school aged children
- For aged care residents and families
- For childcare, schools and higher education
- For employers
- For travel, transport and hotel industries
- Posters
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Health Direct
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Symptom Checker
ABC News
BTN – Behind The News (for young people)
Department of Social Services
COVID-19 Information and support for people with disability and carers
Have we missed anything? Email us if you have seen something we should add to this list.