Advokit Update #1 - Advocacy and the NDIS - DANA Conference in Brisbane - Oct 31 - Nov 1, 2013

3 October 2013 Advokit Update #1   Hello Advokit subscriber, We hope you find the Advokit by DANA a useful online tool to discover relevant information and resources and to navigate the NDIS. We intend the website to address the needs of its users so please use the online functions to provide feedback, suggest improvements or submit case studies.  Recently, only minor amendments have been made to the Advokit content.  This Advokit Update collects some of the recent news, commentary and resources relevant to the NDIS. EVENTS   5th National Disability Advocacy Conference On 31 October-1 November 2013, DANA is hosting the National Disability Advocacy Conference at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Details of the Conference, and registration forms, are available on the DANA website. The earlybird rates cease to be offered after tomorrow, 4 October 2013. Ian Parsons, who is currently investigating data collection by advocacy agencies in relation to the NDIS is a confirmed speaker and there shall also be a representative from National Institute of Labour Studies at Flinders University, which has been tasked with evaluating the operation of the NDIS during its launch. Experts shall also discuss the NDIS in relation to psychosocial disability and brain injury, and other presentation topics shall cover the importance of accessible information, strong safeguards and decision making support.    Implementing DisabilityCare Reforms Conference On 27-28 November 2013 this Conference will be held at the Rydges World Square in Sydney.  To access further information on the program and pricing of the conference, view the Implementing DisabilityCare website. Free passes are on offer for people with disabilities and their families and small not for profit organisations. Applications can be made online.    NEWS “DisabilityCare” no more - the NDIA to minimise rebranding costs   As promised during federal election campaigning, the new Coalition government has removed the name given to the NDIS and its administering agency earlier this year, reverting to its legislative title National Disability Insurance Scheme and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).  The  Agency CEO explained that their “approach to re-naming the Scheme and the Agency will be to minimise associated costs by, for example, letting existing DisabilityCare branded stocks run out before ordering replacement stocks bearing the new names. The Scheme’s branding, i.e. our colours, font and design will remain the same, and changes will be made in-house to the maximum extent possible.”   New Minister for the disability sector: Senator Mitch Fifield   The Hon Kevin Andrews MP has been appointed Minister for Social Services and Senator Mitch Fifield is the Assistant Minister for Social Services, with responsibility for Disability and Aged Care. Jan McLucas MP, outgoing Minister for Disability Reform, expresses deep concern that there will be no Cabinet Minister “to fight for people with disability” as the NDIS is rolled out under the newly elected government. Columnist Stella Young also writes of her dismay at the abolition of a dedicated minister for the portfolio. This concern is echoed by Kelly Vincent MLC in South Australia. In a media release, President of PWD Australia Craig Wallace notes the knowledge and skills Senator Fifield brings to the role and his unequivocal commitment to full implementation of the NDIS, and that Ministry titles matter little “next to the need to get delivery on the commitments the Coalition has made to the disability reform agenda”.  Optimism and admiration for Senator Fifield is also express in this Ramp Up column by Dr George Taleporos of Youth Disability Advocacy Service. New AAT members to review NDIA decisions In early August, several new members were appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to hear NDIS matters. The AAT has power to examine a wide range of decisions by NDIA. The appointees  have direct experience in working with people with disability, their families and their carers.  Notably, in NSW, Professor Ron McCallum AO, previously the Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has been appointed to the Tribunal. See the AAT website for more detail. RESOURCES My Voice, My Choice The Disability Trust, based in Southern New South Wales has created an online website tool aimed at assisting NDIS participants with the management of their plans and interaction with the NDIA. The project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and lists as its main functions: ·         The ability to store documents; ·         Help clients manage their funds; ·         Provide valuable resources for clients; and ·         Provide clients with the ability to share information. For more information visit the My Voice, My Choice website. DANA Member Projects: Supporting Choice and Control These resources are linked to from the Supported Decision Making section of the Advokit: Casey and Reece: Decision, Decisions, Decisions  As part of a Practical Design Fund project, the Speak Out Association of Tasmania has created an excellent resource for young people with intellectual disability making choices and understanding decisions.  This animated video is available for all to access on YouTube. Support My Decision Another useful resource to assist people to make decisions and exercise choice and control under the NDIS is this web tool created by ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Services (ADACAS).   This website uses a supported decision making framework to assist and support someone through the process of making a decision. Ask me. I make my own decisions Advocacy for Inclusion has released a 45 page report on the findings of their study into the experience of control and choice of people with disabilities in the ACT.  The report offers insightful recommendations of national relevance for informing, engaging and empowering participants under the NDIS.     COMMENTARY The ‘disability battle’ doesn’t end here Shawn Burns, a journalism lecturer at the University of Wollongong, has warned the wider community of the danger of the perception that DisabilityCare will resolve all of the challenges confronted by people with disabilities. In Burns ABC ‘Ramp Up’ article, he outlines that the National Disability Strategy encompasses far more than what DisabilityCare will deliver. Fundamentally, DisabilityCare is a personalised funding model, however according to Burns, “funding is simply the first step, not the only step”. Among the six priority areas of the NDS, policy action is necessary to increase the inclusiveness of communities, increase rights protection and provide jobs and business opportunities. It is important that these issues are not swept out of the public spotlight due to misconceptions about the true function of DisabilityCare. Similarly, Burns identifies that advocacy plays an important role in the implementation of DisabilityCare. The NDIS will provide the ability to access funding, however “it can’t be assumed that with the delivery of funding comes infinite wisdom”, said Burns. It is in this capacity that independent advocacy plays an important role; to ensure that clients are given the necessary assistance to make informed decisions about their well-being. Read Shawn Burns article in full. Where is the choice?...fears as the NDIS is rolled out Advocates and other commentators continue to express concerns about the implementation of the NDIS.  Some columnists have focused on the challenge of getting the pricing and policy settings right for the NDIS to deliver what it has promised to people with disability: control and choice of supports. On the ABC’s Ramp Up website, Dr George Taleporos (Manager of DANA member Youth Disability Advocacy Service in Victoria) argues that service providers “need to get serious about understanding their market and what services people want”. For the new market to operate as intended, DisabilityCare Australia must foster responsiveness and innovation. This need is also identified by a column in the Newcastle Herald, yet Don MacAskill, (the CEO of Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-operative) observes that in these early stages the NDIS “has merely shifted the responsibility, inhibited innovation and, most alarmingly, diminished choice.” Both authors recognise the potential of the NDIS to transform the options for people with disability but also that service and product providers must step up and adapt to demand, and the Agency must ensure that its administrative, regulatory framework encourages, not inhibits, this occurring. The Chief Executive of peak body National Disability Services believes that pricing for one-on-one support has been set too low in launch sites, and this will diminish choice. Read Ken Baker’s comments in this Guardian article.                                Email            Website               Twitter          Facebook

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