News Hub Opinion
Voices of experience on living with disability, inclusion and how the NDIS is transforming lives.
Open letter: Regarding the reality of booking a COVID vaccination for children with disability and medical conditions
This month, young people with disability joined the list of people who are allowed to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Being eligible is one thing – but how easy is it to actually make happen? Just as we have heard from so many people with disability and families in our community – Heike and her son Bodhi found out just how difficult it can be – the hard way. This is Heike’s open letter to the government.
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Explainer: What changes to look out for in the NDIS Amendment Bill
What are the top 5 big issues we can expect to see in the new NDIS legislation? We’ve all heard plenty about compulsory assessments – but what other changes to the NDIS are going to be hiding in there? Our friend Chadwick – who is a Senior Solicitor from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre – has very helpfully written an explainer to try and make it as easy as possible for people who are not experts in law to understand.
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Are the proposed Independent Assessment tools capable of informing funding decisions in NDIS participant plans?
What’s wrong with NDIS independent assessments? We asked our friend Muriel Cummins from Occupational Therapy Australia’s NDIS Taskforce to help explain why the selected assessment tools are not fit-for-purpose, and why they should not be used to determine plan funding.
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I quit my job with the NDIS in protest against independent assessments
“We are not being listened to and I have had enough.” Carl Thompson has just quit his job as an NDIS Local Area Coordinator out of anger and frustration with the National Disability Insurance Agency.
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Proposed changes to NDIS intervention for autistic children
The NDIA’s latest consultation paper on autistic kids is about more than early intervention like the title suggests. It proposes rigid and fixed funding blocks for children’s NDIS plans, well below averages in Nick Avery’s region. Nick wants you to know why this consultation is so alarming – and encourages you to provide feedback.
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NDIS Autism consultations are “futile and frustrating” – this new consultation is a case in point
Late yesterday afternoon on Stuart Robert’s last day as NDIS Minister, the NDIA released a new consultation paper called “Interventions for children on the autism spectrum”. The paper proposes radical new changes to NDIS funding and supports for Autistic children. Katharine Annear explains why this consultation paper has Autistic people outraged.
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An Open letter to Minister for the NDIS Stuart Robert
Dr George Taleporos thought long and hard about accepting the NDIA’s invitation to take part in the pilot of the new NDIS assessment process. He understands why everyone is concerned about the introduction of these new compulsory assessments and all the changes to the NDIS planning process. But in the end he hoped he could make a difference by providing detailed feedback about what the process was like. But now with the assessment complete George has a message for the Minister for the NDIS. And that message is stop – and come and talk to us about what should come next.
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“My NDIS ‘Independent Assessment’ was a nightmare”
“As an autistic person this petrifies me. The NDIS assessors don’t want to hear outside the boxes of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I can only imagine how bad this will be for people who can’t articulate their needs well. We need to fight and make ourselves heard.”
Aaron Carpenter volunteered to take part in the pilot of the new “independent assessments” being introduced to the NDIS later this year. His experience was a “nightmare”. He wants everyone to know what went wrong – and why we can’t let this go ahead.
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NDIS needs reform but flawed assessment model requires more work
Michael* hasn’t showered or changed his clothes in three weeks, but when the National Disability Insurance Scheme independent assessor asked him how much difficulty he had washing his body, getting dressed and eating, he replied: “None.”
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Time to make all new housing more accessible
There is a once-in-a-generation opportunity right now to improve housing accessibility, for everyone. We asked our friend Dr Di Winkler from the Summer Foundation, and the Building Better Homes campaign to explain it all for us.
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Choice and control, advocacy and relationships – keys to addressing abuse and neglect
This year we learned of the horrific and tragic death of Ann Marie Smith. Her death prompted a police investigation (which is still ongoing), the creation of a taskforce in South Australia and a review into the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission by the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS.
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Pandemic experience shows the NDIS is still not working like it should
“Please stop making this so hard. We are bruised and fragile already, COVID has made us even more vulnerable, and then we have to fight against the very service that is meant to be helping us. Please stop making our needs a battleground, stop assuming we are somehow trying to swindle services we don’t need, and just let us have the NDIS that we were meant to get.”
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New SDA rules are a win for participants and for the NDIS
There have been some great changes recently to the rules about Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). We know it can be hard to stay on top of everything that is happening so we have asked our good friend and resident SDA expert Dr George Taleporos to explain it all for us.
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Corona’s brand new world
The last few months have been really really tough for a lot of people in our community. But for EAC supporter Lumi Winterson, the pandemic has given her the freedom to explore activities that are great for her mental health and wellbeing.
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Self managing my NDIS package
Heather Coombes was one of the panelists at our Make it Work forum in Redlands Queensland. She has self managed her NDIS plan right from the start – and has some useful advice for anyone who might be considering it.
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The Federal Court decision to fund sexual supports – and what it means for for all NDIS participants
Last week, the Federal Court of Australia sent a clear message to the National Disability Insurance Agency. And that message was – if an NDIS participant needs a support because of their disability, the NDIS must fund it.
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COVID-19 contingency planning: everything actually worked!
Someone in my home got the dreaded phone call last week – he’d been exposed to COVID-19 and needed to self-isolate. And to my extreme shock, all our contingency plans actually worked as intended!
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Disability, health and the coronavirus: Why action is urgently needed
We all have stories to share about when the medical system has let us down. But people with disabilities have more than the average person.
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A big AAT win for Jake – and all NDIS participants with complex needs
Advocates from VALID have shared the story of an important win at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for Jake, a young man with complex support needs. Here’s what the AAT agreed to.
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Housing for people with disabilities: what needs to happen
Today our good friend Dr George Taleporos will give evidence to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability at their hearings in Melbourne.
We asked Dr George what he planned to tell the Commission – and what he thinks needs to change when it comes to housing for people with disability.
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A quick catch up with Carleeta on International Day
Today is International Day of People with Disability. The purpose of the day is to promote understanding of the issues facing people with disability, and to push for change.
We don’t often hear from people who use different forms of communication on this day. So we thought this was a good chance to ask our Champion Carleeta what she has been up to lately.
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A quick catch up with Benjamin on International Day
Tomorrow is International Day of People with Disability. The purpose of the day is to promote understanding of the issues facing people with disability, and to push for change.
We don’t often hear from young people with disability on this day. So we thought this was a good chance to ask our Champion Benjamin what he has been up to lately, and what he would like to see change for young people in this country.
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It’s time to get young people out of nursing homes
Last week the Royal Commission on Aged Care released their interim report. The report was long and there was a lot to take in, so we asked our good friend George Taleporos at the Summer Foundation to cast his eye over it and tell us what we needed to know.
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“I know what red tape is”. Self advocates tell the PM a few home truths
A couple of weeks ago the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the new Minister for the NDIS Stuart Robert held a meeting with a small group of people with disability and their families in western Sydney.
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