HUMAN RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY

Advocacy Audit of the Productivity Commission Report

In March 2011 a number of advocacy and disabled persons organisations met to discuss the PC draft report released in February. The meeting decided to do an audit of the report against the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other UN Conventions.

The audit can be downloaded at this link
NDIS Human Rights Analysis May 2011

Self Assessment Tool and the NDIS
“Research – Research Participants Required!

A significant area of work which needs to take place before the NDIS can be implemented is the framework for self-assessment that will enable people with disability to articulate their needs and obtain the resources they require for their support. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a potential framework for the development of assessment tools. Danielle Cheeseman is an honours student from University of Sydney, who is doing a study on the suitability of a self-assessment tool, which is being developed using the ICF as its framework. Danielle is supervised by Ros Madden, who is perhaps Australia’s leading expert on ICF. They are seeking volunteer participants, people with disability to come to the offices of People with Disability Australia and do two interviews. One in April/May and one in June/August. The purpose of these interviews would be to critique the self-assessment tool, providing feedback on how useful and relevant it is in assessing needs.

The flyer for this research is located at PWD website.

If you are interested in participating in the study, or would like further information, please contact:

Email Danielle Cheeseman
Email Ros Madden
or ring Ros Madden:Phone: 9351 9115

What is the Productivity Commission inquiry into a Lifetime Disability Care and Support Scheme?

The Australian government is concerned that the current systems of support for people with disability are not working. They have asked the Productivity Commission to look at ways the system can be made better so that people with disability can get support no matter when or how they become disabled. This includes discussing:

- What limits should there be on who gets support in this system?
- Should money for supports go to people with disability themselves or to service providers?
- How should support money be funded? Should there be a special tax, or should governments all pitch in?
- What else needs to be considered, like disability advocacy, aids and equipment or keeping good staff in the support system?

The inquiry is due to report to the government by the end of July 2011.

To find out more about the Inquiry, visit the Inquiry website.

Why is this inquiry important?

The Productivity Commission will do detailed research on how much it would cost to do different things in terms of disability support. They will look at what would be good and bad about different ideas. That means the government will have a lot of information so they can make a decision about what to change.

Because the inquiry is being run by the Productivity Commission, the law says the government only has 28 parliamentary sitting days to respond to the final report from the Productivity Commission. The report will make recommendations, and the government will have to respond to them by the end of November 2011.

What can I do?

Join the Every Australia Counts campaign. There is information on the campaign at the Every Australian Counts website

You can also:

- Write to your local newspaper or call your local radio station about the need for a National Disability Insurance Scheme;
- Speak to your community group about the need to change things for people with disability;
- If you are involved with a federal political party, you can ask them what their policy position is on this issue.