Community Legal Centres help people with disability who need free legal services. The Australian Centre for Disability Law is also the only Community Legal Centre that specialises in issues relating to people with disability and next year will have 30% of their funding removed.
Please help us let the Prime Minister know that we value Community Legal Centres, and that people with disability more access to legal help, not less.
Sign this petition and share it with your networks.
Speculation continues that a new board for the NDIA, the agency delivering the NDIS, will soon be announced and there’s been no confirmation that the new members will include anyone with a lived experience of disability or service expertise.
Delivering massive disability reform without without those directly involved represented in its governance flies in the face of the whole philosophy of the NDIS. Anything about us, must include us.
The NDIS agreements signed by states and territories and the Commonwealth allow state disability ministers a say in who makes up the NDIA Board. The Board needs members with sound financial and corporate skills and it needs people who directly represent the disability community. Let’s send a social media message to every state disability minister to tell them lived experience matters ...
Literature review on managing dementia
- Li, S. S. et al. The HSA21 gene EURL/C21ORF91controls neurogenesis within the cerebral cortex and is implicated in the pathogenesis of Down Syndrome. Sci. Rep. 6, 29514; doi: 10.1038/srep29514 (2016)
- The full text of the article is available free online
Hi I am Heidi and I am 21 and I have down’s syndrome which is an extra chromosome and I find that some people are very negative towards people with Down’s syndrome because they don’t understand it and think that we are not equal.
The things people are saying are making me cry because people don’t value us like they should ...
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Board Recruiter must be replaced after failing to offer up a single candidate with either a disclosed disability or lived experience of disability.” said Trevor Carroll, President of Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) and spokesperson for Disability Australia.
This is in response to today’s article in The Australian by Rick Morton that indicated not one of the potential candidates for NDIS Board positions has either a disclosed disability or lived experience of disability.
“Disability Australia members are dismayed at the fact that not one of the candidates put forward has been identified as a person with disability or having lived experience of disability’ said AFDO President Trevor Carroll representing 200,000 people with disability.”
AFDO first raised these concerns in its Media Release on 4th September 2015, when the Department of Social Services (DSS) advertised for Board positions without including selection criteria that placed any value on a potential Board member being a person with a disability.
We acknowledge the need for a Board which represents a range of different disability perspectives in the disability space, most importantly people with disability.
“The NDIS is at its heart a scheme about people with disability. It beggars belief that experience of disability is not valued when recruiting for Board positions.” Imagine the community uproar if the government decided to appoint only men to an agency focusing on the wellbeing and rights of women: this is how people with a disability will feel about these mooted changes.
It is the Minister’s responsibility to talk to people with disability organisations about suitably qualified applicants.
“If you want the NDIS to be a success a Board member must understand and have first hand knowledge and experience of the constituents he/she intends to serve.”
"In this report, the Special Rapporteur provides guidance for policymakers to ensure that all policies and strategic frameworks, from the design and planning to the implementation and monitoring are fully inclusive of persons with disabilities. Disability-inclusive development strategies not only improve the situation of persons with disabilities, but also contribute substantially to the development of society as a whole."
Resolution is The Place’s annual, new year festival of short live dance and performance works by emerging artists ... 2017 will be Resolution's 28th edition. It is a unique platform for artists to present their work on an established London stage, as well as offering support and guidance throughout the process, from application to post-performance.Thanks to Down's Syndrome Association (UK) for the link.
1) The journal is intended to be widely distributed; you do not need permission to forward. You do need permission to publish in a newsletter or magazine.
2) You may subscribe by sending an email to dhingsburger@vitacls.org
3) We are accepting submissions. Email article ideas to either the address above or to anethercott@handstfhn.ca
4) We welcome feedback on any of the articles that appear here.
Other Step Up! for Down syndrome dates, NSW events:
 If you cannot attend an event we encourage you to support those participating in the walk by making a tax deductible donation.Links to Step Up events nationally |
Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Alastair McEwin will be conducting a national consultation which will help guide the development of his priorities and seek input from the disability community on how he can most effectively work to advance the rights of people with a disability. These consultations aim to engage with the disability community and gather information and knowledge on the extent and nature of disability discrimination and the human rights of people with disability in Australia.Did you vote at the recent federal election? Could you not vote? We want to hear from you either way.
The Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is conducting an inquiry into the recent federal election.
We would like to provide them with feedback on your experience. Please share with your networks.
If you could fill out this survey then we can have a better idea of what worked and what didn't, we will let the government know what they need to improve and what they should continue to do.
The survey will be open for 2 weeks until Monday 24 October.
These links provide information about events run by other organisations that might be of interest to people with Down syndrome, their families, carers and professionals who support them
The story of Jamie Bérubé’s journey to adulthood and a meditation on disability in American life
Published in 1996, Life as We Know It introduced Jamie Bérubé to the world as a sweet, bright, gregarious little boy who loves the Beatles, pizza, and making lists. When he is asked in his preschool class what he would like to be when he grows up, he responds with one word: big. At four, he is like many kids his age, but his Down syndrome prevents most people from seeing him as anything but disabled.
Twenty years later, Jamie is no longer little, though he still jams to the Beatles, eats pizza, and makes endless lists of everything—from the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania (in alphabetical order, from memory) to the various opponents of the wrestler known as the Undertaker ...This excerpt published in Raw Story will whet your appetite for the whole, and might address a significant question for your own family:
... To that point in his life, Jamie had never experienced the death of a family member. Then, too, there is the fact that I do not often speak or think of our “spiritual” development ... But this was a form of “spiritual” development I recognized, and I immediately regretted not being more aware of Jamie’s possible needs in this respect ...
Worried. Sad. Angry. Scared. Upset.
We all have these feelings sometimes. If these feelings last 2 weeks or more or keep coming back it maybe a mental health issue.
NSW CID has Mental Health Fact Sheets - good info and and great conversation starters around what can be a sensitive topic.
Ask CID can also help with information and referral to Mental Health services
Ph 1800 424 065
Mental Health Day is near, so maybe it's time to check in on your Mental Health or the health of someone you know.
Mental Health Month NSW is part of a national mental health promotion campaign held throughout October each year. The timing of the campaign centres on World Mental Health Day, which is marked each year on October 10.
For further information visit the Mental Health Association NSW website.
- We had 102 bikes registered – our biggest year
- We have over 150 including kids for dinner on Saturday night!!
- We have raised $95,535 for Down Syndrome NSW (bringing the total raised by Scrapheap Adventure Rides to over $500,000!)
- This is our biggest Scrapheap Adventure Ride yet!!
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| The fundraising effort for 2016 is very, very close to its target of $100,000 and has taken the 7 year Scrapheap Adventure Ride total over half a million dollars! Scrapheap Adventure Ride 2016 My Cause page |
