From: To: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN); Subject: Submission to the Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 Date: Friday, 25 January 2013 4:08:06 PM
Please consider this email a formal submission by me to the Senate Standing
Committee on Community Affairs Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance
Scheme Bill 2012.
The current disability system has many problems that need to be addressed.
The current system leaves PWD powerless, with little choice and little control of what happens in their lives. The funding is inadequate and what funding there is is often controlled by service organisations or government. This means that PWD have to go cap in hand to these bodies just to try and get funding to lead any where near a normal life. There are too many middle men in the current system. It is tied up in red tape and bureaucratic policy which means it is very hard for PWD to have their wishes met. The current environment is extremely risk adverse and PWD are often denied access to experiences other people take for granted. This is usually based on a lack of appreciation of the principle of “dignity of risk”. The current system is measured on money spent not on the outcomes for PWD. Many organisations have forgotten why they can to exist in the first place and where their focus should be. Many of the supports PWD need are accessible in the community but are often del ivered at far greater cost by disability specific organisation thus meaning there is far less money to go around.
The main features of the NDIS that will make a difference to the community are:
People with a disability can choose the types of support to use, Better access to mainstream support and services, People with a disability can plan their lives and pursue their goals and dreams
The most important services for the NDIS to provide are:
Education support (technology/services/equipment), Support for families and carers, Accommodation options
I support the introduction of the NDIS.
The NDIS offers hope to PWD that they will at last have control over their own lives and be able to make choices that are most important to them. When given the oppurtunity and the right tools PWD can make choices that result in the life they want. The NDIS offers hope that PWD will no longer be seen as a sub section of society but rather just part of the diverse mix that makes up our community as a whole. It is vitally important that choices are left as wide as possible and that the options for PWD are not closed down by organisations and politicians who put their own interests before those of the people the NDIS is there to support.It is also crucial that the NDIS constantly evolves and that new ideas are encouraged and trialed. It is also important that considerable effort is spent in bringing the whole of Australian society along on the journey so that disability is no longer seen something seperate but part of the diversity of our culture and that the benefits of this ap proach are for everyone.
I agree for my submission to be made public