Federal Budget 2017: disability sector commentary

Great NDIS and job support wins, but harsh welfare measures for people with disability
Disabled People’s Organisations Australia, 9 May 2017

Disabled People’s Organisations Australia (DPO Australia) welcomes some big wins for people with disability in tonight’s Federal Government Budget, but is very concerned by the punitive approach to welfare support that will make life harder for those doing it tough, including people with disability.  “We are extremely pleased to hear that an increase in the Medicare levy will fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme and finally guarantee the support needs of people with disability”, said Ms Therese Sands, Director, DPO Australia. “The NDIS is a critical investment in our social infrastructure, an investment for all Australians, now and into the future” ... read the full media release here.

A fully funded NDIS: certainty for every Australian

Every Australian Counts, 9 May 2017

Treasurer Scott Morrison tonight confirmed the government will fully fund the NDIS beyond 2019. 

In his Budget speech tonight, Mr Morrison announced the Commonwealth will increase the Medicare Levy from 2% to 2. from 2019 to help fund the NDIS. 

One fifth of the money raised by the Medicare levy, along with NDIS underspends and other savings will be channeled into the NDIS Savings Fund ... read the full media release here.

Federal Budget 2017: Down Syndrome Australia commentary

Budget Night 2017-2018

9 May 2017

Down Syndrome Australia's CEO, Dr Ellen Skladzien provides this useful summary of tonight's Federal Budget, on items most relevant to Australians with Down syndrome and their families:

The most positive news for the disability sector in the budget was the decision to provide full funding to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) through an increase in the Medicare Levy of 0.5 % from July 2019.  This will provide important funding for the Scheme going forward. It is likely to be controversial as it is basically a tax increase- but provides ongoing funding for NDIS and security for the scheme going forward.

One area of concern in the budget is a funding cut of $12 million to the Information, Linkages and Capacity building component of NDIS.  This is funding that supports organisations, like Down Syndrome organisations, that deliver information, referrals and peer support to people with disability. It is also the part of the scheme designed to assist people with disability who are not eligible for an individualised NDIS package of support. The Government has rationalised this by indicating it is due to WA not joining the national scheme.  However, given that the current level of ILC funding is extremely low compared to the required level of support required in the sector, it is disappointing to see this cut.

Other key budget measures for disability include:

• $33 million dollar package to support aged care and disability workforce growth
• $209 million to establish the Independent NDIS Quality and Safeguards commission
• Investment in Disability Employment Services program over the next 4 years including funding to index payments, funding attached to individuals rather than service providers, and a trial to provide DES to children with a disability in their final years of schooling.
• Changes to the residency requirements for the DSP and age pension.

There are also a range of health measures which will potentially have a positive impact on people with Down syndrome including:

• Lifting the freeze on the indexation of the MBS and reversing the removal of bulk-billing for diagnostic imaging and the increase in PBS copayment and related charges
• $165 million mental health package including $80 million for community psychosocial services
• Investment in health research
• Decision not to privatise Australian Hearing

There was also significant investment in education taking on the Gonski funding model.  This was announced in the lead up to the budget and has been somewhat controversial due to concerns about decreased funding to some private schools.

Overall there are some really positive outcomes; however, Down Syndrome Australia will continue to monitor the ILC situation- particularly if WA changes their approach to NDIS.

Latest issue of International Journal for Direct Support Professionals: Understanding Pain

OUCH! How Understanding Pain can Lead to Gain when it Comes to Supporting Those with Developmental Disabilities
Lara M. Genik, Tamlyn Freedman-Kalchman, C. Meghan McMurtry, and Yona Lunsky, International Journal for Direct Support Professionals,  Vol 6 #5, May 2017

... For many years, people have wondered if individuals with DD experience less pain, more pain, or experience it differently than those without DD. Some people even wondered if those who engage in self-injury didn’t feel pain. Researchers have been trying to find out the answers to these questions, but still aren’t totally sure. We do know that people with DD may respond more slowly to pain and express it differently than those without DD. We also know that even people who self-injure can feel pain. And most importantly, we know that true insensitivity to pain is extremely rare. So, as direct support professionals we should always assume that the people we support can feel pain ...

• The subscription to this Canadian journal is free. Email the editor, Dave Hingsburger at dhingsburger@vitacls.org to subscribe.
• Back issues are available to download here

Representation in advertising and media

How to change the world through advertising
Geneieve Clay-Smith, Taste Creative, 5 May 2017
It might sound like a bold and idealistic statement, but when we represent diverse people in advertising campaigns and when we challenge gender roles, we’re having an impact on society ... Apart from being the right thing to do, it makes sense — people with disabilities need the same stuff as everyone else! They have money, they are consumers too, of course it’s a good idea to include people with disabilities in marketing — all brands should do it ...



Something to watch out for - this comic book launches in July 2017:

• Meet the world's first comic book superhero with Down syndrome

Comedian Rosie Jones wants disabled TV characters who are 'gritty and flawed'
BBC, 14 April 2017
Stand-up comic and writer Rosie Jones says we need to see disabled characters on TV "who are gritty, and flawed, and three-dimensional like every other person is". The comedian, who has cerebral palsy, says she's "angry at how disabled people are portrayed by the media" ...
Oscars diversity debate must include learning disability
The Guardian (Letters), 24 February 2017
Diversity has long been an issue at the Oscars, which are due to be awarded on Sunday. Last year’s #OscarsSoWhite campaign highlighted the lack of racial diversity. But disability has been overlooked in this debate, with even less of a voice for people with a learning disability ...

Hollywood's push for diversity is ignoring the largest minority community

Gregg Mozgala, America Magazine, 28 February 2017

At Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, five African Americans received Academy Awards, for acting, producing and screenwriting. This came one year after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was blasted from all sides for not being “diverse” enough. Today, the Academy is being hailed for its immense progress in the area of inclusivity.

But this is only one thread of progress. Authentic diversity would mean including a group of artists who gain almost no mention in the popular press ...

Where Were the Actors with Disabilities at the Oscars?
Easter Seals, 27 February 2017
The 2017 Academy Awards presentation was all about diversity. So where were the actors with disabilities?

A Los Angeles Times interview with Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin asks the same question. Matlin is deaf, and her Oscar for best actress in Children of a Lesser God marks the last time an actor with a disability won an Academy Award. The only other actor with a disability to ever win an Oscar was Harold Russell, a veteran who lost both hands during World War II. He earned two Oscars in 1947 for his role in 'The Best Years of Our Lives' ...

A recent study found only 4 per cent of TV show characters in Australia had a disability
Every Australian Counts, 14 February 2017
A recent piece of research by Screen Australia benchmarked the current diversity of Australian TV by analysing nearly 2000 main characters from 199 free-to-air Australian TV shows.

'Seeing Ourselves: Reflections on Diversity in TV Drama' found that only 4 per cent of TV show characters in Australia had an identifiable disability. In reality, just over 18 per cent of Australians have a disability.

This research also analysed who plays characters with disability, and what this means to stakeholders. It found that actors without disabilities are placed in 91 per cent of roles for characters with disability.

See the full article summarising the research on the Centre for Applied Disability Research here.

A little tidying up

Our banner has been refreshed, and some links have been updated.

Added:

• A new page page of links to Online information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Located in the short list of pages under the banner, above.

• Some new blogs to the list of 'blogs we read' in the right hand column:

In My Own Words - interviews with people with Down syndrome
IncludEd - inclusion in education, a section of the Starting with Julius initiative
Look, Cook, Eat - a 'digital how-to cooking magazine designed for people with intellectual disabilities to help promote an independent lifestyle.'

• A new website link has been added to the list in the right hand column:

Australasian Society on Intellectual Disability(ASID) https://www.asid.asn.au/

And some links to inactive blogs and websites have been removed.

Weekend reading and viewing: 6 - 7 May 2017

On the 2nd of May, 2016, my beautiful friend, Annie Love, lost her son, Nicholas. He was just four years old. A mere baby – and the baby of the family. Just a little guy but in his wake, a gaping hole. And all I could think was, how will Annie keep from falling in? ... My limited experience of loss and grief tells me that this space will never be filled. It can’t be. You learn to live around the space ...

Remembering Nicholas

The Little Mumma, 2 May 2017

A short video about an experimental play written by Kathryn Evans, a woman with mosaic Down syndrome who is recovering from 'frozen syndrome', a result of anxiety.

Frozen Girl 

Today Tonight, Adelaide, 

28 April 2017
Tutti Arts (Adelaide)

... My intention ... is to give an account of how standing up for people with intellectual disabilities is possible, even to arguably the scariest individuals you can imagine. Here’s what happened ...

My Marine instructor insulted me by using the r-word. This is how I responded

Jay Mitchell

Upworthy, 22 July 2016

In a world where science is getting dangerously close in allowing people to play the role of natural selection, this three-part series will address why Down syndrome is vital in enriching our society… now and in the future.

In the first episode we go to America to meet Stephanie Thompson, the head of the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network who finds families desperate to give babies with Down syndrome a home. We also look at her personal experience in having a son with Down syndrome, who’s been in care for the last decade ...

What's Up With Down Syndrome? Adoption

Attitude Live, 30 April 2017

(video 28m 37s - first video in a series of three)

I'm tired of influential people using disability slurs as insults. As long as these people continue to use them, the average person in the workplace or schoolyard or street will think it's OK, too ...

Disability slurs are as damaging as racism and homophobia

Carly Findlay

Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 2017

Disability sector news

New facility
Win News Sunshine Coast, 3 May 2017 (news video)
An Australian first college for young people with disabilities has opened its doors in Caloundra.

Dylan Alcott 2017 Patron for International Daw of People with Disability

Dylan Alcott is one of Australia’s most successful and well recognised Paralympians. Born with a tumour wrapped around his spinal cord, Dylan survived a three year battle to live and has been achieving ever since ...

NSW CID board member strikes again, this time at the UN

NSW Council for Intellectual Disability Board Member Robert Strike has been selected to attend high level talks on issues affecting people with disability at the United Nations in New York in June ...


Funding for community legal centres
While the NSW Government had already planned to implement a 'rescue package' of funding for community legal centres, such as the Intellectual Disability Rights Service,

... the federal government is to reverse its controversial funding cuts to Community Legal Centres (CLCs) in the upcoming budget – a move the community legal sector has described as a “huge relief” ... Government Reversal on Cuts to Community Legal Centres, Pro Bono Australia News, 29 April 2017

Clickability: new disability serices review site to go nationalSam Carroll, SBS, 9 March 2017
Two Melbourne-based social workers have developed a 'TripAdvisor-style' website allowing people with disabilities and their carers to rate and review support services on offer ...

• People with disabilities now have their own relevant version of Yelp, Mashable Australia, 6 March 2017

News and Commentary on the NDIS (67)

NDIS complaints mount, disability service providers demand urgent improvements

Dan Conifer, ABC News, 4 May 2017
Disability service providers are demanding urgent improvements to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as complaints mount about poor-quality plans ...

• It’s time to act, to get the NDIS on track, National Disability Services, 4 May 2017

Don't play politics with the NDIS

Rachel Browne, Sydney Morning Herald (Editorial), 3 May 2017

The NDIS must be adequately - and sustainably - funded ... The overriding fear is that, despite all the good intentions behind the NDIS, problems with its implementation may result in something akin to a zero-sum game for Australia's most vulnerable people ... There is no doubt the NDIS must be adequately – and sustainably – funded. The cost of failure to deliver is far higher.

First Peoples: Living Our Way - A Conference for Aboriginal People Living with Disability

Tuesday 23 - Thursday 25 May 2017 - Wagga Wagga NSW

First Peoples Disability Network

First Peoples Disability Network is hosting a conference for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability to come and learn how you can engage with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and share your story. 

We will have a variety of guest speakers for you to hear how Aboriginal people with disability can be best supported in their journey for more choice and control with their service supports and life.

Registrations close Friday 19th May 2017.

NDIS reviews practices after lengthy delay in helping critically ill Queensland toddler

Robert Baird, ABC News, 28 April 2017

The National Disability Insurance Agency says it is reviewing its practices after a Queensland toddler with a life-threatening condition has waited more than five months for vital treatment ...


Success with ILC Grant
Down Syndrome Australia, 26 April 2017

Down Syndrome Australia is pleased to announce that we were successful in the recent ILC- ACT Jurisdictional grant round on behalf of the Down Syndrome Australia Federation.

DSA will address the need for ongoing access to resources, peer support and quality information by leading a consortium of State and Territory Down syndrome Organisations to deliver the Information for Life project. This Project will enable us to provide information and linkages to families in the ACT and to develop and deliver national resources. We are very excited about this new opportunity and look forward to working closely with our colleagues in the ACT and across the Down Syndrome federation to deliver this important project and achieve good outcomes for people with Down syndrome and their families.

Concern over speed of NDIS rollout in Indigenous communities, as NSW launches approach

Aimee Volkofsky and Declan Gooch, ABC News, 20 April 2017
A lobby group is calling for a slow down in the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Aboriginal communities, as its rollout looms in remote parts of NSW.

The NDIS will launch in many of the state's regional areas from July 1, and will see people with a disability able to receive funds directly to spend on services they choose.

The First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) said it believed the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which is behind the NDIS, has not done enough to ensure there is enough culturally-appropriate support for applicants ...

NDIA to appeal McGarrigle ruling as test case

NDIS.gov.au, 8 April 2017
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has carefully considered the Federal Court decision handed down on 28 March 2017 in relation to the case of Mr Liam McGarrigle.

Because this is effectively a test case with implications for the long-term financial sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the NDIA has decided to appeal the Federal Court decision to the Full Court and has lodged an appeal today.

While the NDIS was set up to be able to contribute to some of a participant’s transport costs, the NDIS Act specifically requires the NDIA to fund reasonable and necessary supports that “take into account what is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide” ...

NDIS hiccups are expected, as with any large-scale social reform

Helen Dickinson, The Conversation, 18 April 2017

... one of the problems with judging success and failure is that they often look the same part way through. We shouldn’t be surprised that such a huge reform process is encountering challenges in the implementation process and these issues don’t mean that the NDIS is failing overall ...

Down Syndrome Australia supports equal NDIS access for WA
17 April 2017
Down Syndrome Australia has written to the WA Minister for Disability Services advocating on behalf of Western Australians with Down syndrome to have equal access to the national disability scheme. Read the full text of DSA's letter here.

Warning: watch out for dodgy operators in NDIS
Clare Kermond, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 April 2017
Disability workers, unions and advocacy groups are raising the alarm over the likelihood that less experienced, less qualified staff, and even dodgy operators could pour into the sector under the National Disability Insurance Scheme ...

Disability Loop eNews Issue #34, 4 May 2017

Carers NSW
Stay up to date with all if the latest NDIS information for carers by subscribing to Carers NSW monthly NDIS update.

• Dates and locations for Carers and the NDIS 2 day workshops across NSW

____________________________________________

• Previous posts about the NDIS

• Page of links to online sources of information about the NDIS

Event for adult brothers and sisters: Sydney

A gathering of adults who have a sibling with Down syndrome. Enjoy a get together, support each other and make friends:

Mr Tipply's - The Attic Room 

347 Kent Street (cnr King St) Sydney 

5.30 - 10.30 pm Friday 19 May 2017 

No cost - food and drinks available for purchase 

To register contact Down Syndrome NSW:

• ph 9841 4444

• email admin@dsansw.org.au

• register online here

DSA Director finalist for Western Australian of Year

Down Syndrome Australia News

1 May 2017

Congratulations to our DSA Board Member Catia Malaquias for being a finalist in the Western Australian of the Year awards. Catia is a long standing advocate for inclusive education and representation of people with a disability in the media and advertising.

Catia has made an important contribution to the representation of people with disability in mainstream advertising through her organisation Starting with Julius. She has worked with large Australian retail giants including Target and Kmart to ensure that their advertising is representative of Australians including Australians with a disability. She has also worked tirelessly to achieve recognition of the evidence-based benefits in student outcomes of students with disabilities being educated together with their same-age peers including through her work as co-founder of the School Inclusion Parent Network (SIPN).

We are very fortunate to have Catia as a board member and congratulate her on this honour.

Image description: Photo of Catia and son, Julius,
Playing with dinosaurs, taken at Target Australia
photoshoot.

Netball All Stars group for players with an intellectual disability: seeking players

Hills District Netball Association will be running a Netball All Stars group for players with an intellectual disability in 2017.

Who: Players aged 8 or above

Where: Netball Complex, Pennant Hills Park (Sydney) 

When: Friday nights May – August, 5.15pm – 6.30pm each week

Sessions: Sessions will be made up of warm up activities, skills practice and some game play. It is anticipated that the group will enter at least one carnival throughout the season. 

Cost: $50. This covers player registration and insurance in addition to carnival entry fees. 

To register for the program, download the registration form by clicking this link

Send your completed form to: hdnaallstars@gmail.com

Latest additions to 'events' pages

• Click here for Down Syndrome NSW events

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 

• All current events listings  

PossABLE Expo Albury

12 – 13 May 2017 - Albury Entertainment Centre

IDEAS

The NDIS launches in the Murrumbidgee and Riverina Regions from July 2017 and the Ovens Murray Region from October 2017. 

PossABLE is an Expo that provides the opportunity for people with a disability, their families and carers to see, hear and try the best options to assist their life choices.
These Expos bring together people and organisations from everywhere to help people with disability live a full and independent life of their own choosing. 

Who is IDEAS? Visit their website here.

Sexuality and Relationships Forum

Saturday 27 May 2017 - Corrimal (Wollongong)

Family Planning NSW

Forum for parents and carers of people with intellectual disability. 

Family Planning NSW provides parents and carers with much needed information and resources about sexuality and relationships. Our forums help parents and carers to gain a clearer understanding of their child's sexuality and how to support their personal development in a positive way.

More information about program content 

• Flyer - please note there are two pages, the second outlining options for workshops within the forum 

• Information about Family Planning NSW training events for support professionals

Carers and the NDIS 2 day workshops
Carers NSW

Dates and location across NSW are now available here.

Is there such a thing as a good group home?

9:30 am – 3:00 pm Friday 9 June 2017

New Law School Annex, University of Sydney

Centre for Disability Studies and Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) NSW

What does the research tell us? What action do we need to take to improve the quality?
What are the alternatives?

Who should attend? 

Those in a leadership role of accommodation support services including CEOs and senior managers; Families of people with intellectual disability; Service coordinators/case workers; Funders; Professional staff who support individuals living in group homes

Presented by Professor Christine Bigby (La Trobe University, Living with Disability Research Centre)

Screenability Program at the Sydney Film Festival
7 - 18 June 2017 - Sydney

The focus of Screenability is to grow participation via internships with a wide range of industry professionals, showcasing productions by filmmakers with disability in a festival context, and providing best practice in building diversity in the screen industries. 

The programming of titles for Screenability has been a stimulating process, and has uncovered creatives with talent and dedication eager to own the disability narrative. There are many films about disability, but today’s projects made by those with lived experience of disability offer the most startling, provocative and authentic cinema.

Ripple Effect 2017 + 2018

August 2017 - September 2018 - Cootamundra NSW
Murmuration Integrated Theatre

Murmuration is working in collaboration with The Arts Centre Cootamundra to facilitate a series of inclusive creative workshops throughout 2017 and 2018. 

Across three art forms participants will take part in a creative development process culminating in a presentation and showcase. Participants will be taught by and exchange with professional artists with and without disability. 

The workshops are designed to inspire and engage a diverse range of people’s interests, needs and abilities.

Women’s Health Learning Circle

Image description: text reads 'The Women's Health Learning Circle' Family Planning NSW is starting a Women’s Health Learning Circle for women with intellectual disability aged between 45-64 years of age. Image description: A woman in a blue top, smiling, looking up to her left. The Learning Circle will be a place for women to learn about their bodies and the changes they will experience as they age. The Learning Circle will run once a week for four weeks and be led by experienced reproductive and sexual health educators. If you know anyone who would be interested in attending The Learning Circle please forward the information on to them. Places in The Learning Circle are limited so it is important people register to attend the group. Some of the things you will learn about are: menopause health checks for you private body parts relationships how to keep your body healthy The Women's Health Learning Circle will meet once a week for 4 weeks. Where: Family Planning NSW,  328 - 336 Liverpool Road, Ashfield When: 2.00 - 4.00 pm Thursday 8 June 2017 Friday 16 June 2017 Thursday 22 June 2017 Friday 30 June 2017 If you would like to be part of this group contact: Abi Monaghan P: 02 8752 4388 E: healthpromotion@fpnsw.org.au It is important to contact us before 2 June if you want to be part of this group.

Job opportunity for a person with Down syndrome in the Macarthur area

Do you know someone with Down syndrome in the Macarthur area looking for work? Richardson and Wrench Campbelltown is looking for a dynamic member to join their team. Position: Office Assistant This role is part-time and consists of general administative duties including:- Printing and photocopying; Shredding; Morning tea and afternoon tea runs; Greeting customers; and Copying tenant details on various office forms. For more information please email Peter Laming at: plaming@randw-campbelltown.com.au

New books

Not Always Happy,
Kari Wagner-Peck, Central Recovery Press, 2017

While most people meet their child for the first time in a delivery room, some parents have to meet their child in the reception area of an administrative building.  

Not Always Happy is a humorous and sharp chronicle about adopting and raising a son with Down syndrome from the Maine foster care system. The author quickly learns that life is best lived by expecting the unplanned when she makes the decision to become a parent in her late forties. As her unconventional family moves along in this life, she and her husband are less aware they are raising an atypical child or an adopted child. They are raising their child, and their family struggles with the same universal themes that any family goes through ...

• Due for release 16 May 2017 in print and as an eBook

The Lucky Few: Finding God's Best in the Most Unlikely Places

Heather Avis, Zondervan, 2017

When I started my journey into parenthood I never thought it would look like this. I never planned on having three adopted children, and I certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome ... It’s only the lucky few that recognize that the most beautiful things in this life are often found in the differences. What some would see as misfortune, I’ve learned to see as nothing more than pure luck.

Down's Syndrome Screening and Reproductive Politics: Care, Choice, and Disability in the Prenatal Clinic
Gareth M. Thomas, Routledge, 2017

In the UK and beyond, Down’s syndrome screening has become a universal programme in prenatal care. But why does screening persist, particularly in light of research that highlights pregnant women’s ambivalent and problematic experiences with it? 

Drawing on an ethnography of Down’s syndrome screening in two UK clinics, Thomas explores how and why we are so invested in this practice and what effects this has on those involved. Informed by theoretical approaches that privilege the mundane and micro practices, discourses, materials, and rituals of everyday life, Down’s Syndrome Screening and Reproductive Politics describes the banal world of the clinic and, in particular, the professionals contained within it who are responsible for delivering this programme. In so doing, it illustrates how Down’s syndrome screening is ‘downgraded’ and subsequently stabilised as a ‘routine’ part of a pregnancy. Further, the book captures how this routinisation is deepened by a systematic, but subtle, framing of Down’s syndrome as a negative pregnancy outcome. By unpacking the complex relationships between professionals, parents, technology, policy, and clinical practice, Thomas identifies how and why screening is successfully routinised and how it is embroiled in both new and familiar debates surrounding pregnancy, ethics, choice, diagnosis, care, disability, and parenthood. 

The book will appeal to academics, students, and professionals interested in medical sociology, medical anthropology, science and technology studies (STS), bioethics, genetics, and/or disability studies.

This one is not new, but NSW CID has stocks available for sale:

Forgotten and Found
Kim Walker, NSW Council for Intellectual Disability

Written by NSW CID Life Member Kim Walker, this book tells her story from childhood, to institutions, to community life and to becoming an amazing advocate! 

Kim tells us the story of her life to explain why no child should grow up in an institution and separated from family. Kim’s story provides a powerful case for what she always wanted – all disability institutions to be closed and all people with disability to have a good life in the community ...

Weekend reading and viewing: 29 - 30 April 2017

I knew my daughter and her friends were awesome, but I had no idea just how awesome until today. Devon, my 20-year-old awesome girl who happens to have Down Syndrome, goes to Highline College as part of the Achieve program ... She tripped running to get across the street last Tuesday trying to catch the light rail breaking her ankle. She didn’t know her ankle was broken, but she was with her so called “disabled friends” who made sure she was safe, and helped her get all of the way home and got a hold of my wife to make sure she didn’t have to try to ride her bike home. They were a platoon of friends who knew exactly what to do, elevation, ice, help, who to call, they were even prepared to call an ambulance ...

OMG

Sean Adelman, Eximius

25 April 2017

NOS Magazine published an anti-choice and a pro-choice piece, back to back, last week ...

Abortion and Disability: Pro and Anti

David Perry, How Did We Get Into This Mess? 

24 April 2017

“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in January and with good reason. First-time writer-director Macon Blair created a gem that mashes up a comedy-crime-revenge-thriller buddy film wrapped in a female-driven plot that may be the first film ever to crush the notion ‘retard’ is a funny word ...

Feeling At Home — A Chat With Filmmaker, Macon Blair

Kari Wagner-Peck, Good Men Project

26 April 2017

If you have not seen the TedX talk by Torrie Dunlap of Kids Included together, then you are missing out on one of the most cohesive explanation of the different models of how we view disability. After watching this 17 minute video you won;t be able to view disability the same way ...

The real problem with disability is how we think about it

Think Inclusive, 2015 

(Video and Transcript)

... That’s what Kari Wagner-Peck yelled at a man who used the “R-word” in her son’s presence. Wagner-Peck, a Portland, ME-based blogger whose son has Down syndrome, says she felt as if the man understood her when she told him not to use language like that again ...

Putting a Stop to the 'R-Word'

Sabrina Sooknanan, NY Metro Parents

24 April 2017

What your local MP can do now about Deadly Disability Discrimination

The Advocacy Team at NSW Council for Intellectual Disability is calling for community follow up action to last month's Parliamentary Forum on the Deadly Cost of Disability Discrimination in the NSW health service for people with intellectual disability:

Michael Sullivan (Chair NSW CID), Fiona McKenzie
(Vice Chair NSW CID) and NSW Minister for Disability
Services, Hon Ray Williams

We thank both the Minister for Disability Services, Hon Ray Williams, and the Shadow Minister for Disability Services, Hon Sophie Cotsis, for both speaking at the Forum.

We have told all NSW MPs:

• Almost 40% of people with intellectual disability are dying from preventable deaths in NSW
• People with intellectual disability are dying on average 27 years younger than the general population
• Ignorance, inadequate training and discrimination within our health services are key reasons this is happening

Now we have an urgent request for our MPs: 

The NSW Government’s Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) agency runs specialist health care services. These services help people with intellectual disability get the specialist health services they need. However instead of maintaining and expanding these services, the NSW Government is slowly closing them down.

Next year ADHC itself will close down and the money ADHC uses to fund these services will go to the NDIS.

We believe NSW Health should take responsibility for funding these services from next year, but so far Health Minister Brad Hazzard has been silent on this issue. The health outcomes are already bad for many people with intellectual disability. Closing down these services will make them worse. We need a commitment from all MPs that they will strongly advocate for NSW Health to maintain and expand these ADHC specialist health services.

Please help us keep up the pressure and take the following actions: 

• Phone, email and arrange to meet your local MP, tell them about the unacceptable high number of preventable deaths for people with intellectual disability, and ask them to support the maintenance and expansion of these important ADHC specialist health services.

• Phone and email the Minister for Health Hon Brad Hazzard and the Shadow Minister for Health Hon Walt Secord and ask for their commitment to the ongoing funding of the maintenance and expansion of these ADHC specialist health services.

You can find a guide to emailing and phoning MPs and all their contact details in this blog about the parliamentary forum. 

If you need help in preparing for your meeting with your local MP we can run a workshop for you and your family, friends and colleagues either face to face or remotely. Contact us at advocacy@nswcid.org.au

We will have the videos from the Parliamentary Forum available to view shortly. In the meantime we ask you to contact your local MPs and help us end Deadly Disability Discrimination.

Intellectual Disability Healthcare: online courses from University of Queensland

The University of Queensland now offers three courses in its online program Intellectual Disability Health Care. Course instructors are Prof Nicholas Lennox and Miriam Taylor from the Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability, University of Queensland:

Able-Minded - Mental Health and People with Intellectual Disability
Gain an understanding of mental health issues and ethical decision-making for people with intellectual disability.

Through my Eyes – Intellectual Disability Healthcare around the World
Learn, from personal stories, the daily life and challenges faced by those with intellectual disabilities.

Well and Able - Improving the Physical Health of People with Intellectual DisabilityLearn how to help those with intellectual disability achieve better health.

Education matters

My daughter with Down syndrome deserves to be in a regular classroom

Heather Avis, Good Housekeeping, 15 April 2017
... we found ourselves catapulted into a world we knew little about and quickly did all we could to figure it out. We discovered this "Down syndrome" thing is pretty incredible ... As it wove itself into the normalcy of our day-to-day lives, I would often catch myself looking around trying to figure out how I got so lucky. It was as though there was this secret club of people who get to do life with Down syndrome, and somehow, I was let in.

But the world of Down syndrome is not all lazy rivers. Over the past 8 years, I've spent more time in raging rapids, clinging onto a rock for dear life as my daughter has undergone lifesaving surgeries and spent way too many hours in doctor's offices. And as we have entered the world of public schools, the taste in my mouth has been anything but sweet ...

Response to Senate report on students  with disability: some positive, but weak

Catia Malaquias, SWJ IncludEd, 2 April 2017
The Australian Government has quietly tabled its Response dated March 2017 to the Senate Committee’s Report entitled “Access to real learning: the impact of policy, funding and culture on students with disability” (released on 15 January 2016) ...

Australian Government launches 'Leading Learning 4 All' website

Catia Malaquias, SWJ IncludEd, 8 March 2017

... the emphasis of the website on school leadership (is) to promote an inclusive school culture, to develop, mentor and support inclusive teaching practices and to foster collaborative relationships with parents of students with disability – each cornerstones of a robust inclusive education system ... Although we have previously expressed our reservations about a “special education” association like ASEPA being tasked with developing inclusive education resources for regular mainstream schools, we acknowledge that the website provides access to a wealth of useful information, tips and resources for principals and teachers in mainstream schools to better include students with disability ...

Do we really believe in inclusion?

Chris Wejr, Think Inclusion, 14 February 2014
As an education system and society, we have made huge strides in the inclusion of students with visible disabilities in our classrooms, groups, sports, and friendships. I wonder, though, if we have made as much progress in including ALL students… especially those who appear on the outside to be similar yet are different (or perceived to be) on the inside. I am not talking about the act of everyone having a seat in a classroom; I am talking about having a mindset of real inclusion ...

New musical theatre class: St Ives

Image: Applause Musical Theatre Academy logo 

 Image: Becky (a young blonde woman who has Down syndrome), a character from the TV series Glee, in cheerleader costume. 

Caption: Doesn't your teen deserve some Applause?

Text of the poster (available as an image on the Applause Musical Theatre Academy Facebook page):

Applause Musical Theatre Academy

Build confident, creative kids through performance.

Applause Musical Theatre Academy is starting a new class in Term 2 for teens with special meeds on 

Thursdays from 6.00 pm - 7.00 pm in St Ives.

This class will provide your teen (from Year 6 to 12) with an avenue to express him/herself creatively and freely, and build confidence not just in performing.

Your teen will learn to song, dance and act songs from popular musicals such as High School Musical, The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music.

Drama is also taught through fun acting exercises.

With two music-qualified, industry experienced professionals teaching the class and love piano accompaniment, this is the real deal.

There are performance opportunities so your teen will get moments toshine performing on the stage in front of an audience.

Image: Becky from the TV series Glee, in cheerleader costume. Caption: Doesn't your teen deserve some Applause?

Register for our free trial class on Thursday 4 May here: 

www.applausemta.com.au/enrol-now.html

• If you are sure your teen will love this class, then pay the $25 registration fee and your teen will get a free Academy T shirt worth $25.

For more information call Ingrid on  0405 495 099 or email ingrid@applausemta.com.au