Page 816 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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If accessing and negotiating ways through the NDIS are difficult for people for whom English is a first and often only language and who have family support and family members with strong negotiating, advocacy and fluent English expression skills, then what hope have people who often have limited mobility, limited English and in many cases also limited formal Australian education?
What is a glaring and probably unintended omission in disability advocacy service delivery is dedicated support for people from a multicultural background with a disability. In fact, the ACT is one of the few jurisdictions not to have one. Yes, we have a range of very active, very effective multicultural community groups, and I have already mentioned a number of the disability advocacy groups that are doing a great job in our city. But neither of these sectors is appropriately resourced to provide appropriate and adequate support for the detailed, specialist needs of someone from a CALD background with a disability.
In talking with numerous disability organisations, each have acknowledged that more can and should be done for CALD people living with a disability. This is not to say that both multicultural organisations and disability groups within the ACT are not doing their best to ensure that the CALD community has access to disability advocacy services and information, but each of them says they wish they were able to do more.
Due to finite resources they lack the appropriate skill set in understanding both the disability sector and the cultural awareness and training to appropriately and effectively deal with people from myriad cultural backgrounds. Without additional support, these groups are limited in what they can do, and without the specialised resources I am calling for today, my concern is that there will be more people who fall through the cracks.
I am not advocating for a new organisation to be set up. Our size probably does not warrant an entirely separate group. What I am proposing is that the government commit to providing a dedicated packet of money for providing this specialist service within an existing group. People with Disabilities applied for a grant under the participation (multicultural) grants program in 2018-19 to develop and promulgate a policy statement addressing the issues for people with disabilities who come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. They were not successful, and perhaps their lack of success might be because there was not sufficient cross-sector understanding between health, disability and multicultural sectors or the recognition of this gap and an acknowledgement that this gap needs to be addressed.
The grant program I am calling for in my motion would allow a disability advocacy group to establish a specialised cultural advocate or officer within their organisation to provide both culturally appropriate and sensitive advice and advocacy for CALD people living with disability.
As I said earlier, it is difficult enough for people whose first language is English and whose only home has been Australia to work their way through the NDIS bureaucracy or the disability service sector. For those who are more recent arrivals, the pathway is a very dark alley.
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