The Disability Information and Resource Centre

A media release from Dignity for Disability:

MEDIA RELEASE, 3rd December 2010

My Perfect South Australia for People with Disabilities

Today on International Day of People with Disability, Kelly Vincent MLC is thrilled to launch Dignity for Disability’s “My Perfect South Australia for People with Disabilities” Word and Visual Art competition.

The competition offers $2,000 in prizes and encourages people living with disabilities, their families, carers and supporters to express their ideas as to a perfect South Australia for people with disabilities.

‘This competition idea essentially comes from my own love of words and art, and my belief that they are powerful tools in shaping the world around us,’ said Ms Vincent.

‘We’ve all heard of “Unmet Needs” where people are waiting for essential services like mobility aids, accommodation and respite, but what exactly does that mean for people and their lives and what is the perfect solution?

‘Today is a day of celebration and this competition is about celebrating people with disabilities as part of our world. However, it is also about their struggles and frustrations and gives people a chance to express their perfect South Australia for people with disabilities in a way that we may not have heard or seen before.

‘It’s about breaking the mould, and giving people with disabilities a different kind of voice – one that the Government cannot ignore.’

Entrants may use word or visual arts to express their ideas and entries close on 20 February 2011. Winners will be announced on 20 March 2011, one year to the day of the historic election that saw Kelly Vincent elected as South Australia’s youngest and first ever Member of Parliament to use a wheelchair.

Further information and a competition entry form can be found at d4d.org.au

A media release from Dignity for Disability:

MEDIA RELEASE 2nd December, 2010

Stories, Not Statistics

In the lead up to International Day of People with a Disability, Kelly Vincent MLC yet again calls on the Minister for Disability to clear the now infamous Unmet Needs Waiting list. However, this time Ms Vincent has also offered to help the Minister understand that there are stories behind these statistics.

“For years disability advocates have been calling on the State Government to clear the Unmet Needs List and for years people have languished while waiting for respite, accommodation, in-home support and other basic services” said Ms Vincent.

“This Government seems to accept that there is a crisis in the disability sector, at least their rhetoric does, but they do not seem to understand that it is people (not just the budget) who are in crisis.

“How is it, that in this day and age in South Australia we have more than 300 people who are seen as being in critical need of accommodation and more than 600 people who are in need of in-home support such as assistance with showering or getting into bed at night.

“I cannot understand why this State Government is allowing the crisis to continue. How can Mr Foley say that we don’t have the money when the State Government is happy to spend more than $500 million on a sports stadium?

Ms Vincent has decided to take a different tack by asking the people who are waiting for essential services to tell us a bit more about their story.

“Tomorrow, on the International Day of People with a Disability I am calling on all of those people who are on this voiceless list to speak to me about their unmet needs. I will be in Rundle Mall from 2pm until 3.30pm with a clipboard, ready to hear people’s stories.”

Ms Vincent will continue to collect the real stories of the people who are waiting on the list throughout the Parliamentary sitting break. People can tell their stories by either logging on to the Dignity for Disability Website at www.d4d.org.au from 3 December 2010 and filling in the ‘Stories not Statistics Survey’, or by contacting Ms Vincent’s office via phone (8237 9543) or email (megan.folland@parliament.sa.gov.au). Ms Vincent will present the people and their stories behind the statistics to the Minister in February next year.

Ms Vincent will be in Rundle Mall tomorrow, Friday 3 December 2010 from 2pm until 3.30pm.

A media release from Dignity for Disability:

MEDIA RELEASE 1 December 2010

Better Late than Never

Kelly Vincent MLC congratulates the Rann Government on finally announcing a review of the Disability Services Act.

In 1993 the South Australian Disability Services Act was passed, and one year later it was reviewed. That review recommended that the Act be reviewed every five years. Now, 15 years later, under fierce pressure from both the disability community and Kelly Vincent MLC, the Minister for Disability, Jennifer Rankine has belatedly announced a review.

“The disability community has long awaited and desperately needs this review, and while it is welcomed, it is absurdly overdue. The community is simply sick of waiting and cannot afford to wait any longer” said Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent.

“The Minister has now indirectly answered one of the three questions regarding the Act that I asked of her in Parliament in October, but I still await answers as to why has it taken so long to initiate this review, and whether the Minister will commit to implementing any more of the recommendations made in 1995?

“I am hoping that the Minister’s answer to these questions will be followed by further answers to the more than 50 questions I have posed in Question Time since I was elected in April this year. To date, I have been given the courtesy of answers to only three of these questions.

“I hope the government doesn’t take another 15 years to complete this review, and it DOES NOT use it as a shield which prevents them from fixing the Disability Unmet Needs crisis that our most vulnerable people face every minute of every day.

“Better late than never” said Ms Vincent.

October 28th, 2010

Parliamentary Question Time

The Hon Kelly Vincent MLC

I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister representing the Minister for Disability a question regarding Disability Services in this State.

Mr President, as all members would be aware, the Disability Services Act was passed in 1993 so as to provide for the funding and provision of disability services in SA. At that time the then Minister for Health proclaimed that that the legislation ‘serves to endorse and protect the right of people with disabilities to dignity, autonomy and self-determination’.

As members would know, there is a section of the Act which required for the Act to be reviewed within 1 year of its commencement. And on 31 March 1995, a report on the Review of the Act was indeed provided to the new Minister for Health. Looking back at the contents of the review, there were some very wise recommendations made at that time.

For example, the review recommended:

• the establishment of a formal complaints mechanism to handle complaints about services provided for people with disabilities; and
• that a system of mandatory reporting be implemented; and
• that consideration be given to the implementation of a volunteer Community Visitors Scheme; and
• that the Act be reviewed every 5 years.

From what I hear, these ideas are still being recommended by people who champion the rights of PWD’s today. Yet, 15 years on, we in the Disability community are still waiting for these recommendations to be implemented.

My questions to the Minster are:

1. When will the Minister conduct a comprehensive review of the Act?
2. Why has it taken so long to conduct such a review?

Will the Minister commit to implementing any of the recommendations listed above?

Disability Speaks have released the following:

“GILLARD MUST SPEAK”

On Disability crisis support and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)!

The Federal Election on August 21st may just well be the most important one ever for people with a Disability.

With support for NDIS growing many will be waiting to see whether Gillard speaks with the same conviction or passion as her predecessor did.

Admire or despise for his political legacy Kevin Rudd there is no doubt he (and his wife Therese) promoted disability related issues with a genuine passion and understanding.

With a growing 2-4% of the primary vote sympathetic to disability issues the election of Kelly Vincent MLC d4d to the SA Parliament confirms this lobby is increasing in political expertise and strength.

Tony Abbott spoke with conviction and passion in SA on May 7th when he confirmed Liberal support by saying

“The Coalition appreciates that people with disabilities get a raw deal. The Government has commissioned a Productivity Commission inquiry into how we can deliver better and more effective services to people with disabilities. The Opposition strongly supports this inquiry and should we come into government at the end of the year we would very much look forward to getting the recommendations of the Productivity Commission and I give people this assurance, that we would treat any Productivity Commission recommendations in this area much more seriously than the Government has treated the recommendations of the Henry Review. “

We will wait to see with much interest what disability emergency crisis management funding the Liberal Party will commit to long suffering people with disability while the Productivity Commission inquiry runs its course? Support is essential now! National Disability Services (NDS) released a media announcement this week that both the Greens and the Nationals were indicating support for NDIS.

Julia Gillard must get on the record on both short and long term resolution the disability sector so desperately needs.

Bill Shorten, Federal parliamentary Secretary (ALP) has done a remarkable job highlighting the despair and possible solutions that the disability sector faces. Many will already be feeling strongly disposed to an ALP victory based on Mr Shortens passion and work. Bill may care to remind Julia that we are unaware of any parents killing their children because the wait is too long for a tonsillectomy or because their new school desk lacks a shiny veneer, yet the reality is that no less than 10-12 children with disabilities have been allegedly killed by their desperate parents in Australia in the last 5 years.

Who really wants to be Prime Minister with that on your CV so let’s hear what both Tony and Julia are going to do about it? Let’s hope if nothing else that both Tony and Julia demand that the states meet their current responsibilities.

REMEMBER YOUR DISABILITY ALIGNED VOTE CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

David Holst

Chair – Disability Speaks Steering Committee

0418 555 683

www.disabilityspeaks.com.au

disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net

The Hon Jenny Macklin MP – Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Bill Shorten MP – Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services have jointly issued a media release regarding funding to support carers of children and teenagers with disability.

Disability Speaks have released the following:

The Disability Speaks E Blast of 22nd March 2010 has caused some angst in the disability sector.

Some feel that successful candidate, Kelly Vincent, was slighted by some of the comments.

This was certainly not the intent and David Holst, Chair of the Disability Speaks Steering Committee, said,

“No one more than me knows how tough the fight is when you take it to the very high political level as I have found over the last 7 years. That was the message we were trying to get across and the need for the sector to unite behind Kelly and D4D. I would like to apologise to Kelly and any one else who felt any comments in the media release were inappropriate. As the original founder of Dignity4Disability I am genuinely delighted that D4D has won a seat and Kelly will be our representative. Whilst I resigned as a director of D4D some time ago, I continued to proudly support D4D financially, with access and advice and with many other substantial contributions and am really proud to have done so. I am genuinely ecstatic that D4D and Kelly have won a seat. It is one of my proudest personal moments that I have had involvement from day one as the founder of D4D and continue to do so .

Disability Speaks media releases are the work of many people but I have the final OK before distribution. The ideas distributed on DS are not the beliefs of all committee members and are often specifically designed to generate support and/or widespread community debate. Our most recent release was meant to be a call to arms for the whole disability community to step up, unite, and support Kelly and D4D. Some however read it differently. Disability Speaks remains committed to pushing the disability debate to the wider community!

With Kelly’s affirmation and confirmation of success expected on Tuesday, I personally and DS have already offered our total support to D4D and Kelly. Disability Speaks and I personally have great resources and networks that we will utilize for D4D and Kelly ’s advantage. We call on everyone in the disability community to do the same. No doubt in coming weeks D4D will be looking for new members, financial support and volunteers to do a plethora of tasks.

Disability Speaks was formed to deliberately take a very different approach to the hard political agenda. We have plans for DS to continue for the long term and look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with Kelly and D4D and fighting the good fight. It is essential that many other sector groups as possible do so to maximise the moment.

Kelly’s confirmation will be symbolic for the disability sector and I will applaud her loudly!”

With the possibilities offered by a Federal National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), it will be critical that pressure is again exerted on the major political parties to clearly state their views and policies on NDIS and other key disability issues in the run up to the federal election. Disability Speaks is planning to make some exciting operational and strategic changes for the long term. Suggestions include:

• Planning meetings and “E” blasts on a more regular schedule
• Hosting more public events including conferences and public meetings
• Inviting more subscribers to contribute their views and opinions for the “E” blast circulars
• Appointing an editor for “Disability Speaks Online” to oversee the preparation and distribution of the “E” blast circulars
• Appointing a Social Networking coordinator eg face book, twitta and website content
• Exploring how subscriber comments can be placed on the website and the development of blogs
• A calendar of forthcoming events and activities be established and maintained
• Setting up an NDIS subcommittee to explore public awareness options around this program

These proposed suggestions and any others you would care to table will be discussed at the next Steering Committee meeting to be held on

Thursday April 15th at 1.00 pm

at Disability Information & Resource Centre (DIRC), 195 Gilles Street.

If you would like to discuss these and any other issues, please come and share your ideas.

Peter Cookson
Acting Online Editor

Disability Speaks Steering Committee

Disability Speaks www.disabilityspeaks.com.au

You are invited to read this Media Release regarding the upcoming DisABILITY & Ageing Expo in Mt Gambier.

THE HON JULIA GILLARD MP DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Minister for Education; Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Minister for Social Inclusion

JENNY MACKLIN MP

Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

BILL SHORTEN MP

Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE Embargoed 19 July 2008

Autism specific child care centre for South Australia

The Australian Government will set up one of six autism specific child care centres in Adelaide to provide dedicated early intervention and care for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

In an Australian first, the six centres will also form the basis of Specialist Autism Sites which will also focus on research and training to help achieve a better understanding of autism and develop best practice services.

Parents know that mainstream child care environments can be over-stimulating for children with autism, making it difficult for them to develop new skills.

Raising a child with autism can be extremely difficult and few people understand the challenges that parents face.

Research indicates that an autism specific approach to child care and early intervention can stem a decline in a child’s intellectual advancement and improvements in many other areas of development. The six new autism specific centres will involve teachers, psychologists, an occupational therapist and a speech pathologist in the delivery of programs designed to develop the skills of the child in the following areas:

• Social interaction and play skills

• Cognitive development

• Self-help/tasks of everyday life

• Communication

• Sensory integration

• Fine and gross motor skills

The Centres will enable the Government to measure the effectiveness of the autism specific child care and intervention model and help inform consideration of further expansion.

Today’s announcement builds on the Government’s $190 million Helping Children with Autism (HCWA) package which will provide an estimated 9,000 children diagnosed with an ASD up to $12,000 for early intervention support.

The six autism centres also form part of the government’s commitment to establish 260 child care centres across Australia.

Other autism child care centres will also be located in North West Tasmania, Perth, South Western Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs will be conducting an open selection process for service providers to deliver all six of these centres.

Service providers will be expected to have expertise in child care and early intervention for children with ASDs and affiliation or partnership with a relevant university or hospital specialising in pediatric, early childhood or ASD-related research or services.

For more information on the open selection process for service providers please go to www.fahcsia.gov.au or call on 1800 289 177 and TTY 1800 260 402.

Media Contact: Vincent Tulley 0409 244 865