From: To: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN); Subject: sub870Submission to the Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 Date: Thursday, 17 January 2013 12:25:52 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.
I do not have a disability or a family member affected by disability (yet), but I have taken an interest in disability issues for many years as a service provider and academic.
The main features of the NDIS that will make a difference to the community are:
Ensure support and equipment is available when needed, People with a disability can plan their lives and pursue their goals and dreams, Increased ability to coordinate services to suit the “whole” person/family
The most important services for the NDIS to provide are:
Therapy and allied health services, Equipment and home/vehicle modifications, Support for families and carers
I support the introduction of the NDIS.
It puts people at the centre of decision making. If you don’t fit a particular box, you end up with the nearest approximation. Near enough is not good enough. From an economic standpoint the question should not be “where is the money coming from?” but “what does it cost NOT to have the NDIS?” More people freed up to make a contribution socially and economically to society has to be good for everyone. It is not just a benefit to people with disabilities and their families. My only concern now is that the property industry is still designing homes as if we are never going to grow old or end up incapacitated in some way, or that no one in our family is either. I’d like to see more pressure put on the property industry to make the Livable Housing Design Guidelines mandatory rather than voluntary. Although these Guidelines are generic and will not suit everyone with specific disabilities, they do provide for the spatial and structural elements that will make modifications cheaper and easier if needed. Once people with disabilities get out and about more often, the design of the built environment will be the next challenge. Existing standards in the building codes are necessary but not always sufficient.
I agree for my submission to be made public