From: To: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN); Subject: sub860Submission to the Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 Date: Thursday, 17 January 2013 12:11:42 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.
Have not been able to get respite because disability services would not recognise my son. He fitted every criteria, although they refused to recognise any diagnosis even though my son only had 2 hours 2 days a week schooling in a room of a delinquent learning environment. My son was made to do distance education and was not until 2011 August was he given a chance to be reintroduced into a main stream school. On entry he was still reduced days and hours with him only being able to access 15 hours funding. He was grade 2 level at 11 years old. Last year he did full term at grade 6 level and graduated. This year he may not even be able to attend high school as we still have no result as to if he has funding due to funding submissions falling on the last year of primary school and I am not setting him up to fail. We finally got some form of respite last month after trying since 2006, because disability decided to pay for an assessment of my son, which told them the same thing the other doctors have told them for years. The respite I have to pay for and is a huge burden on a family where there is myself on a carers pension and allowance, and partner receiving no income and my son, who due to his autism costs me a fortune in repairs and damages over the period. I don’t get the days I want for respite - more what is left over. Next 3 months I get 3 lots of respite which one will cost me over $100 and the other 2 $50 each. If my son does get funding for school, it equates to 15 hours about. My son is very intelligent and his report shows while he passed yr 6 level for most, he qualified as passing yr 7 for the rest. My son is doomed to not get the required education he should have due to funding, even though he is probably more intelligent than the regular children attending. My son may not even have any opportunity to learn at all if the funding does not come through. We are extremely disadvantaged to begin with.
The main features of the NDIS that will make a difference to the community are:
Better access to mainstream support and services, Better access to education and work opportunities, The ability to receive services when needed and in the way that suits the person
The most important services for the NDIS to provide are:
Education support (technology/services/equipment), Flexible in-home/outside home respite, Crisis and emergency support
I support the introduction of the NDIS.
There is an incredible lack in what is available to people living with disabilities and such expense involved when it is available, but reality the people trying to access are on pensions for disabilities or carers. While disabilities finally recognised us - we still don’t even have a caseworker. We receive no help and totally unaware what is available for us.
I agree for my submission to be made public