Page 3220 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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True and lasting change will be driven by the choices people with a disability and their families make when they have the resources to purchase the supports they want, and the preparedness of the community to meet those changes. The ACT government was successful in its bid for $500,000 worth of funding from the commonwealth to help prepare people with disability in the ACT for the introduction of DisabilityCare.
This funding will be invested in working with the mental health community to prepare people with psychosocial disability for DisabilityCare, including developing a gateway where people with psychosocial disability can connect with disability and mainstream supports and mental health services, developing a peer workforce in the ACT that is able to work within a DisabilityCare context, and by helping supported decision making for people with psychosocial disability.
A peer working group for people with a disability has been established and it will work with the NDIS task force to develop and potentially lead local conversations with people with a disability and their families around the issues and opportunities that DisabilityCare can bring to the ACT. The peer working group has already met to discuss potential topics, including how to support people who make some mistakes and how to be an employer or get employment.
Funding has also been used to develop the capacity of people with disabilities and their families to take advantage of choice and control under DisabilityCare. This will develop strong, connected and empowered communities.
Madam Speaker, it is well known nationally that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are significantly under-represented as users of disability and mental health services. To address this in the ACT, the task force is working with the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs, the elected body and Winnunga health services, amongst others, to receive advice on what people in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community need to prepare themselves for DisabilityCare Australia. A series of workshops which help build the capacity of people with disability to make choices and envision a good life for themselves and their families can be delivered.
Funding has been provided to develop a digital storytelling project which allows people to tell their story in video format. The completed videos showcase the choices people have made and how these choices have changed their lives. The videos can also be used to start discussions about how others can change their lives.
Family leadership as a way of supporting control and choice will also be supported. A project is being developed which will foster family leadership, build the capacity of families to make choices and to develop skills, and also foster the independence and positive aspirations of the family members with a disability.
In addition to working with people with a disability and their families, we have commenced jointly funded ACT and commonwealth work with service providers. The introduction of the NDIS will mean dramatic change for service providers in the way that they receive their funding and the way they deliver their services.
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