News Hub Opinion
Voices of experience on living with disability, inclusion and how the NDIS is transforming lives.
Amazing things are going to happen
My name is Kathryn Lyons and I’m going to change the world.
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Let our voices be heard
I really wasn’t sure where to start. Being autistic, I have a lot of thought processes going on but I wanted to share our experience on the NDIS journey.
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Hope for the future
I grew up “with my mother’s knees” – the sort that didn’t like to stay together when I looked a certain way. And I also learned her generous ways, and gave the same delights to my daughter. Oh, and apparently there were quite a few other genes I passed on that were “just not right” in so many ways.
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Forward we must go
Last week Every Australian Counts launched a social media action triggered by the announcement that the Federal Social Services Minister is ready to move ahead with a new Board of the NDIA.
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Disability, Diversity and the NDIS
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of the most important social reforms in recent history. The NDIS creates a uniform system of disability services across Australia and increases the social and economic participation of people with disability.
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NDIS. Personal growth, new opportunities
The NDIS rollout in Victoria has encouraged new enterprises – from sole traders to not-for-profit associations.
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Calling Out Ableism in the Media: Stop Being So Offensive To Disabled People
This weekend’s Good Weekend featured the story “Parenting an intellectually disabled child: life forever on duty” about Alex Browne a 22-year-old man with an intellectual disability. It showed that not much has changed when it comes to improving media representation of people with disabilities in this country. But listen up journos, it’s not okay to degrade people with disabilities and represent us as burdens, just because you think it makes a good story.
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Access NDIS
Today, the call came. After years of campaigning, seeing it germinate from a crazy new idea to a bi-partisan policy, biting fingernails over government changes, trials and then the roll out and waiting to transition.
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The quiet revolution
We’ve all witnessed it – in the shopping centre, at the movies, on the tram. A child screaming and hitting out, a desperate mother trying to keep it together.
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WA need our perspective, not theirs
Around the country, disabled Australians and their families were celebrating. Australia is #ndisready, social media proudly proclaimed. A sea of purple signs, bearing the words ‘I <3 ndis’, rolled across our computer monitors and television screens.
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People get ready… as the NDIS becomes a reality
Up until now, for many of us living with disabilities or caring for someone with a disability, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been something that we have only advocated for and dreamt about. But on 1 July, the NDIS moved from trial phase to full rollout and for thousands of Australians, the advocacy will finally pay off and it will be time to turn those dreams into reality. Here is some advice on what you need to do to get NDIS ready.
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Let’s give the NDIS a chance; A mother’s perspective
I would like to share our NDIS journey and how it has changed our lives for the better. I hope it will give people some perspective and give people hope that the scheme is destined for greatness.
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The importance of home
As the full roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) commences across Australia, many people with disability, and their families and support networks, are still unsure of exactly what it will mean for them when it finally comes to their area – especially when it comes to people’s options of where and how they live.
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Quang’s transport tips
Disability advocate Quang Nguyen explains just how important transport is for every day life.
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Let’s hear them roar!
Disability advocate Leigh Creighton has made it his life’s mission to speak out for the rights of people with disability. Here’s his story.
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All the world’s a stage for David
David Baker’s workforce participation has come from inspired teachers, personal helpers and mentors in the arts and Victorian TAFE theatre courses. Now he is getting ready to mentor others.
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Talking cents about the NDIS
It was with apparent naivety that I was shocked to see in last week’s The Australian “$5bn budget hit as NDIS fund dwindles”. Could it be that the NDIS, the only policy in Australian that our last four Prime Ministers are in complete agreement on, is up for question again?
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Paying lip service to accessibility
One of the worst aspects of living with a disability and being unable to work is the social isolation. Being trapped in your home, day after day. The social isolation is a huge causative factor in depression, which goes hand in hand with chronic pain and illness.
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Is there room at the advocacy table?
It can be hard for parents to take a step back and allow their children to have their own voices. However, when it comes to advocacy, it’s especially important to find the right balance. Here Renee Bugg, parent to Poss who is on the Autistic Spectrum, talks about how they’re meeting the challenge.
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Open letter to SMH – ‘Primary disability sector supports NDIS, point blank’
Disability advocate Tricia Malowney wrote an open letter to Rachel Browne, journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald – in response to a December 7 article called ‘Disability sector has grave concerns about NDIS roll out’ – explaining that people with disability and their families are the primary part of the ‘disability sector’.
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