Monday, 28 April 2014

News and commentary on the NDIS (20)

Disability scheme supports everyone
Bruce Bonyhady, The Australian, 26th April 2014
"EveryAustralian counts” is the catchcry that has united the disability sector, galvanised the nation to support an increase in the Medicare levy and won multi-partisan political support for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

For the first 30 years of my life, I mistakenly thought “every Australian counts” was a statement of fact. But from the time, nearly 30 years ago, that my eldest son was born with cerebral palsy, I have seen people with disability do not count. In those days, most Australians with disability were shut into Dickensian institutions. Invisible. Now they are largely shut out from an ordinary life, supported only by loving but increasingly exhausted and isolated families ...

Rick Morton, The Australian, 25th April 2014
Federal spending on disabil­ity will rival defence funding, ­approach parity with money spent on Medicare benefits ser­vices and outpace all spending on schools in the decades to come, according to Commission of Audit figures.

But disability groups and a conservative think tank said the combined figures for the Disability Support Pension and the Nat­ional Disability Insurance Scheme — which had forecast $36.8 billion of annual spending in 2023-24 — fail to take into ­account other economic ­dividends ...


iPad from NDIS gets Zoe talking and texting
Rachel Baxendale, The Australian, 25th April 2014
Zoe Lovegrove’s increased ability to let her family and friends know how she’s feeling has brought her mother to tears more than once since she received a tablet computer as part of her NDIS plan in December. The 18-year-old, from Bridport in Tasmania, has Down syndrome and often struggles to communicate, but the tablet, coupled with the extra support for her and her family from a caseworker, has made a huge difference ...

Safeguards and the NDIS
NSW Ombudsman, Fact Sheet, April 2013
On 10 April 2013, the Disability Complaints Commissioners met with the CEO of the National Disability Insurance Agency (then DisabilityCare), David Bowen, to discuss safeguards and the NDIS. Mr Bowen advised that it would assist the Commonwealth to obtain the perspective of the 
Commissioners on the necessary safeguards.

Below are the minimum safeguards the Commissioners believe ought to be in place under the NDIS for people with disability. At a minimum, all efforts should be made to ensure that the safeguards for people with disability under the NDIS are at least as robust, transparent and procedurally fair as those available in the current disability system ...

Liberal MP warns disability scheme could be run more efficiently
Margaret Paul, ABC News (online), 15th April 2014
The Liberal MP who is chairing an inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has guaranteed there will be no cuts or delays to the scheme in next month's federal budget ...


Fear, hope and disability
Kathy Evans, Sydney Morning Herald, 15th April 2014
While not without its problems, the National Disability Insurance Scheme has thrown some Victorians a lifeline ... What has been missing in the general hoo-ha has been the voices of those it seeks to protect. As the first year draws to a close, how exactly has it changed their lives? ...

Paralympic great Kurt Fearnley says the NDIS will benefit the whole of societyMichelle Pain (Hobart) Mercury, 11th April 2014
... (Kurt Fearnley) met Claremont’s Daniel Thomson, 21, who is among more than 500 already benefiting from the NDIS trial.

Daniel, a softballer, basketballer and Special Olympian, has autism spectrum disorder and has difficulty with everyday life skills. Mum Kathy said NDIS support, through Baptcare, had been life changing, and has allowed her to work more.

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