Page 815 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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There are still difficulties for people trying to regularise their plans and have plans reviewed or altered as their needs changed, and there is still a huge demand from the disability community for support from advocacy groups like People with Disabilities, Communities@Work, Hartley Lifecare and Advocacy for Inclusion.
Just today the federal government has announced an additional $6.5 million to access a skilled disability advocate and funding for legal services to assist in the NDIS appeals process, including $80,000 to Advocacy for Inclusion. That gives some indication that the system still has a long way to go before it is a seamless process.
All these issues are affecting families who were born in Australia, who have lived in the ACT all their lives and until quite recently knew how the system worked. Many of them are still struggling to negotiate the new administrative arrangements, the new terminology and the new way things are being done. Now think of the many hundreds of people with a disability living in the ACT for whom Australia is not their birthplace and English is not their first language. Start to imagine what complicated pathways they struggle with: a physical disability, an intellectual disability, a language barrier and cultural differences and difficulties.
We know that Canberra is a proud multicultural city. According to the 2016 census, 26 per cent of the capital’s population was born overseas. That is over 100,000 people, and there are thousands more who are the children of migrants to the ACT. Every year we all enjoy going to the Multicultural Festival and experiencing the slices of different cultures there. I know many members always enjoy the many functions and celebrations from our multicultural community at the Theo Notaras Centre.
We are home to hundreds of diplomatic missions from all around the world and we hear hundreds of languages being spoken in our community. But there is another side. In my role as shadow minister for disability, I have had numerous discussions with many disability advocacy groups in the ACT about the issues they see in the sector. One that is frequently raised with me is the difficulty they have trying to support people from the multicultural community accessing disability services. I have raised these concerns with the minister and officials regularly during annual reports and estimates hearings.
The CALD community, or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, represents 26.4 per cent of the ACT population but comprises only 10 per cent of the 7,000 NDIS plans operating in the ACT. This means that the Canberra CALD community is significantly underrepresented in accessing disability services. This confirms the anecdotal evidence I have also received.
It is understandable that many in the CALD community feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed when trying to access services. Many do not even know how to start looking or where to seek help. It is often not for the lack of trying or desire to have a go; it is simply the reality that there are not clear pathways of support. As with many things, you do not know what you do not know, making the intimidating world of disability services even darker.
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