Activating
Citizenship
A Social Inclusion Approach for Disability in South
Australia
Discussion Paper ~ July 2010
Table of Contents
A
Message from the Commissioner for Social Inclusion
A Social Inclusion
Approach for Disability in South Australia
1. Purpose of this
Discussion Paper
How to read this
Discussion Paper:
2. Applying the
Social Inclusion Approach to Disability in SA
Our approach to
the concept of disability
3. What do we want
to achieve?
3.1 Strengthening
Dignity, Rights and Protection
3.1.1
Building South Australia’s understanding of rights and responsibilities
3.1.2 Making
legislation meaningful
3.1.3 Building
protections in the delivery of services
3.2.1 Good health
and wellbeing
3.2.2 Positive
personal and family relationships
3.2.4 Innovative
and accessible education
3.2.5 Enhanced social,
civic and cultural participation
3.2.6 Accessible,
open and friendly space, infrastructure and technology
3.3 Shifting the
focus from bureaucracies to citizens
3.3.1
Understanding and addressing the needs of those with complex and additional
needs
3.3.2 Raising
awareness: promoting independence and aspiration across all agencies
3.3.3 Personalising
the approach to service delivery
3.3.4 Integrated
Services and Joined-Up systems: ensuring ease, efficiency and equity
The Premier of South Australia, the
Hon Mike Rann MP, has asked the Social Inclusion Board to develop a reform plan
– a ‘Blueprint’ - to set a future direction for the way people with disability,
their families and carers are supported in South Australia.
This is a tremendous opportunity for
us all. It is our chance to deliver a
reform plan that is about choice, dignity and the rights of citizens.
South Australia is more enriched
from the contributions of people with disability. It is from this basic premise
that our Blueprint for reform will develop.
We recognise that South Australians
with disability today are too often shut out from participating and sharing the
opportunities of our community. Barriers
such as discrimination, exclusion and ignorance mean that if you are a
South Australian with disability you are more likely to live in poverty, be
unemployed, not complete high school, not own your own home and be denied other
opportunities to achieve and participate in the community.
Our communities need to become
inclusive - shaped by the experiences, aspirations, needs and preferences of
people with disability. This means delivering the entitlements for people with
disability that should be a part of basic citizenship. Simply put, it means Activating Citizenship
for people with disability.
Just as important to our work are
the needs of families and carers - many of whom are currently experiencing desperation,
stress and fear about the future security of those they care for, as well as themselves.
Our work will review current
legislation, programs, policies and services.
It will also identify and explore best practices locally, nationally and
around the world. We will listen to the voices of people with disability,
families, carers and those who work or volunteer in the sector to seek a better
way forward. Drawing from all of this, the Social Inclusion Board will then
make a series of recommendations to the Government.
But our work will not end there. We
will closely monitor the implementation of our recommendations to the
Government, ensuring they achieve a better quality of life for people with
disability, their families and carers.
A key focus in our work will be the
transformation of service delivery. The Social Inclusion Board acknowledges
that many people in our community today are in need of urgent and critical
support. While many people are receiving valuable services and supports, we know
that these are not always adequate, affordable or timely.
We know that currently, there are
many valuable services being provided by community organisations. However,
these important services are also under stress given increasing demands,
limited resources, workforce pressures and unnecessary red tape.
The service system is increasingly
broken and in crisis. Too often, the
system is placed ahead of the person, despite the best efforts of staff working
within the system and increased funding from government. There are often not
enough appropriate services being delivered leaving some families in desperate
need. The result is that for many South Australians with disability – as well
as their families – dealing with the disability system can make everyday tasks
of ordinary life even more difficult.
It is clear that our current
approach is not sustainable – particularly considering the growing pressures of
an ageing population. But lasting change requires more than just injecting
additional funding into the system - which may provide temporary relief, but
does not fix what is broken. Instead, our vision encompasses long-term reform
that will support a better joined-up approach across government, as well as
promote parallel shifts in community practice and attitudes. In essence, it
will strengthen the rights of people with disability, make communities more
enabling, and shift the focus away from bureaucracies towards citizens.
This Paper marks the beginning of a
period of ‘actively listening’ to South Australians to help us develop our
Blueprint for reform. The Social
Inclusion Board acknowledges that over the past few years there have been
ongoing consultations with South Australians on the issue of disability reform
at both state and national levels. The Board itself conducted consultations
with South Australians in 2006 on ways to better connect young people with
disability with post school pathways. We will not be repeating these important
processes – we will build on them.
We encourage ideas, innovation and
solutions. We want to hear about the
issues faced by people living with disability. We also want to hear the
community’s vision for the future. Most importantly, we want to hear directly
from people with disability, their families and carers.
The timing is right and we now have
the opportunity to improve inclusion, participation and independence of South
Australians with disability. I encourage all South Australians to provide
feedback to the Board and build a consensus on future actions that will provide
a more inclusive community for people with disability.
Monsignor David Cappo AO
Commissioner for Social Inclusion SA
Chair, Social Inclusion Board
Section 1 outlines the purpose and
structure of this Discussion Paper.
Section 2 provides a short
description of our approach to engagement and how we understand the term
‘disability’ within the context of our work. It also briefly describes the
context in which we are seeking reform.
Section 3 outlines our broad vision
for reform, discusses the key pathways on what this might mean in practice and
poses a series of questions for your consideration and feedback.
Section 4 describes the further ways
in which you can help inform the Social Inclusion Board’s work in developing
the Blueprint for Disability Reform.
This paper outlines the Social Inclusion
Board’s broad vision of how reform for people with disability might look. It is
intended to provide South Australians with an opportunity to contribute their
knowledge, experiences and expertise. It is a way for people with disability,
their families and other carers, as well as stakeholders in community
organisations, to put forward their own ideas on ways in which we can support
transformational change in our community’s inclusion of people with
disability. This input will inform the
Social Inclusion Blueprint for Disability Reform – to be delivered mid-2011.
Key areas of inquiry for this reform
will be:
1. Strengthening
the dignity, independence, participation and rights of people with disability.
2. Accelerating
the development of integrated and joined-up services where the focus is on the
personal and long-term needs of people with disability.
3. Ensuring
the role of carers and families is more effectively recognised and supported.
In essence the Blueprint will:
• Develop
recommendations to the government on future policy commitments that support all
people with disability;
• Identify
the actions required by government to implement, monitor and measure progress
in meeting these commitments to ensure the Blueprint remains an active and living
document;
• Identify
new and existing measures to address issues around unmet need and pressures on
systems of care and support. These must consider the needs of people with
disability before those of the system and acknowledge the crucial support role
played by their families and community organisations;
• Identify
ways to improve the level of control people with disability have in the
purchase, delivery and design of services and support;
• Support
recommendations based on new and existing best practice service delivery and
community participation practices. Such
initiatives should enable people with disability to have choice over the
services and support they receive and to remove barriers to independent living
and community participation; and
• Identify
ways to ensure that the diversity of people with disability is recognised and
that the needs of our most vulnerable populations are understood and acted on,
including Aboriginal and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, as
well as those living in rural and remote regions.
The Blueprint will be developed in
partnership with people with disability and their families to ensure it
reflects their aspirations, knowledge and life experiences. This Discussion
Paper provides an important platform to incorporate the community’s input.
Further ways in which the public can inform this process are outlined in
Section 4.
This paper outlines the Social
Inclusion Board’s vision for reform. It is intended to assist you to prepare a
submission on this vision.
Throughout the paper, there are a
range of questions which ask you to respond based on your own experiences,
knowledge and opinions. This may be as a person with disability, a family
member, a carer or a
worker within a community organisation delivering services.
The space beneath the questions is
for you to take your own notes (as you work through the paper). We do not
expect you to return the paper as your submission.
Important note: If you wish for your
submission to be confidential, please indicate this clearly on your submission.
You do not need to respond to all of
the questions, just those which interest you. These questions simply serve as a
guide for you to write your submission. You may answer the questions as briefly
or extensively as you wish, using your own experiences to give examples of
where change might be needed, as well as where things are already being done
well.
We are interested in your views and
ideas on what long-term changes could look like and what the Government needs
to consider in order to sustainably and successfully respond to the needs of
people with disability, their families and carers.
In reading this Discussion Paper,
you may identify others whom you believe would also benefit from preparing a
submission. You are encouraged to share and distribute copies of this Paper,
which can be downloaded from the Social Inclusion website: www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au
There is further information about
making your submission in Section 4.
South Australia is recognised around
the world for its social innovation and, in particular, its history and
tradition of championing citizenship rights and entitlements. We see this in the fact that South Australia
was the first place in the world to allow women to stand as a member of
parliament and one of the first to allow women to vote. We also see this in the
delivery of land rights for Aboriginal people.
In the area of disability, we see
this tradition continuing with the enactment of South Australia’s Carer’s
Recognition Act (2005), which, for the first time, enshrined the rights and
roles of people who care for people with disability.
The Social Inclusion Board believes
that the time is right for South Australia to strengthen its reputation as a
national and international leader by furthering rights, opportunities,
inclusion and dignity for our citizens living with disability.
Since 2002, the South Australia’s
Social Inclusion Initiative has delivered better outcomes to the most
marginalised people through a range of innovative policy and joined-up
government responses. The Initiative has a direct reporting relationship to the
Premier as the Minister for Social Inclusion and operates with his mandate.
The Social Inclusion Board, led by
the Commissioner for Social Inclusion, Monsignor David Cappo AO, has
responsibility for developing independent policy advice on a range of complex
social issues. South Australia’s approach to social inclusion has so far been
effective on issues such as reducing homelessness; delivering mental health
reform; increasing school retention rates, and; improving Aboriginal health and
wellbeing through sports, recreation and the arts.
The Social Inclusion Initiative has
developed and honed a distinct method of applying its approach to complex
social problems. The Social Inclusion Method takes the usual steps of policy
development, but applies them in a way that is more relevant to the task of
delivering immediate benefit for people, especially the most vulnerable people
in our community. This is a five-phase process:
In the first half of 2010,
significant and extensive research of policy frameworks, academic literature
and best practice has informed the Scoping phase of the Blueprint. This initial
work has identified a number of key themes and ideas which are presented in
this Discussion Paper.
The formal Active Listening phase
begins with the release of this Discussion Paper and will conclude late 2010.
This phase will feature state-wide engagement with South Australians to inform
the final Blueprint for Disability reform. The Board will engage with South
Australians through a series of mechanisms including:
• An
online survey based on the themes and questions highlighted in this paper
• A
state-wide phone in
• Community
meetings
• Focus
groups targeted at specific sections of the community
The information gained from the
Scoping and Active Listening phases will then be analysed, cross–referenced and
tested to determine the overall direction for the reform. This represents the
Advice Development stage and will conclude when the Social Inclusion Board delivers
its final recommendations to government.
The Blueprint will be used to inform
an Action Plan. This promotes agencies across government sharing ownership of
implementing recommendations in a joined-up approach. In order to bring about results
quickly, clear targets and timeframes will be monitored carefully and
regularly.
As Implementation of the Action Plan
progresses, the Commissioner for Social Inclusion will continue to ensure
government agencies remain on track in implementing the disability reforms to
ensure the changes are effective and sustainable.
As Australians have become more
informed and connected to the experiences of people living with disability, the
way disability is defined and understood has changed.
The definition of ‘disability’ in
the South Australian Disability Services Act (1993) relies on medical
definitions where the “expert voice” predominates. These definitions see
disability foremost as a limitation or barrier to activity and participation.
There is now increasing recognition that attitudinal and environmental barriers
impact on the lives of individuals with disability.
In 2008, Australia ratified the
United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability. The
Convention emphasises that environmental and attitudinal barriers are just as
important in defining disability as an individual’s physical or intellectual
impairment.
The principles of the Convention
enforce the rights and entitlements of people with disability. By signing the Convention and its Optional
Protocol, Australia is committed to ensuring these entitlements are being
received by Australians living with disability.
Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with a Disability:
Persons with disabilities include
those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments
which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with others.
The Social Inclusion Board adopts a
broad and holistic understanding of disability. It recognises disability is the
product of impairment, functionality or potential and, significantly,
environment. The community places social, economic and cultural barriers
limiting a person with disability’s capacity to participate and be included.
These barriers compound and further define the experience of disability and the
problems which need to be overcome.
The Board also recognises that
people with disability differ, not only in relation to the degree and nature of
their impairment, but more importantly in relation to their individual
circumstances, capacities and skills. People with disability are not an homogenous group and do not have the same needs. Treating
them as such only adds additional barriers and contributes to exclusion.
A number of key disability reforms
and developments are occurring at the state and national level. The Social
Inclusion Board is factoring in these reforms and aligning its work where
relevant.
At the national level these include:
• A
National Disability Agreement (NDA), signed by all jurisdictions in 2009, which
aims to improve the delivery of specialist disability services in Australia.
• A
National Disability Strategy (NDS), due for release in 2010, focusing on:
rights protection; accessible communities; improving economic security;
development of whole of life skills; improving health and well being; and furthering independence.
• The
Commonwealth Government has asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a
feasibility study into a National Disability Insurance Scheme. This would
transform the way governments fund services and supports for people with
disability and their families and carers.
• New
disability standards for access to buildings will come into effect from May
2011. These new standards ensure that all newly designed or constructed
buildings will be accessible for people with disability and comply with
anti-discrimination legislation. Consultation and information sessions on these
new standards will be occurring in South Australia soon.
• The
Australian Government recently completed the South Australian consultation
regarding the development of new Quality Service Standards for organisations
delivering services to people with disability. It is anticipated that the new
standards will address gaps and improve the overall quality of services.
At the state level these include:
The Department for Families and
Communities is undertaking
consultation on service and structural improvements across its
disability and ageing services known as the Ageing Disability Service
Improvement Project.
The Department of Education and
Children’s Services have convened a taskforce to inform the development of a 10
year plan for education reform in government preschools and schools for
children with disability.
The Minister’s Disability Advisory
Council has been asked to provide advice on appropriate options for ensuring
the safety of vulnerable people.
The Government of South Australia
has begun a process of reviewing its Promoting Independence Strategy so that it
reflects the new National Disability Agreement and the future National
Disability Strategy.
The Social Inclusion Initiative
recognises the goal of Activating Citizenship as central to disability reform
in South Australia. Activating Citizenship means that we move forward from
exclusion and discrimination of people with disability to a fully inclusive and
mutually supportive community that recognises individual talents, knowledge and
skills. Activating Citizenship mean that people with
disability can fully participate in community life on their own terms.
Finally, Activating Citizenship means human rights are protected as a
fundamental cornerstone of government disability policy and practice.
At a practical level, the Social
Inclusion Board believes Activating Citizenship can be achieved through three
independent but interrelated pathways:
Strengthening Dignity, Rights and
Protection: This requires that stigma,
discrimination and exclusion have no place in our community. It means that
South Australians with disability are treated with care and respect and are
protected from abuse and neglect. It means the wider South Australian community
must be well informed about the rights of people with disability and understand
their responsibility to promote participation and inclusion. It means that
legislation is strong and meaningful. Finally, it means that services for
people with disability contain protections that are independent and effective.
Creating Enabling
Communities: This requires that our
communities enable people with disability, their families and carers to achieve
positive outcomes across all spheres of their life over a lifetime. It
means that communities must be accessible in design, welcoming in attitude and
enabling in approach. We must do better in promoting and supporting the
inclusion of people with disability in our community.
Shifting the focus
from Bureaucracy to Citizen: This requires that disability services put people
at the centre of the system and that this system promotes choice, control and
supported independence for people with disability. It
means developing a service system that moves away from providing welfare and
dependence, towards a care and support model that allows people to live
autonomously with the supports they require.
Each of these areas aligns with
national and international best practice and supports a framework to promote
the goal of Activating Citizenship.
Across each of these areas, the
issue of funding needs to be considered. It is essential that South Australia
develop mechanisms to identify where new funding is required, in addition to
focusing on how we can better utilise existing funding to improve the
existence, efficiency and effectiveness of services for people with disability
and their families.
People with disability experience
stigma, discrimination and exclusion on a daily basis. It is the role of the
community to build safeguards to ensure that these sorts of experiences do not
occur, but if they do, they are addressed in a timely and effective way.
Strengthening the dignity, rights
and protection of people with disability is of particular importance because of
the vulnerability that disability imposes. Many people with disability are
reliant on others to support their day to day living and goals. Many people with
disability also need support and advocacy to address breaches of their
individual freedoms, choices and rights. This reliance on others makes it
critical that our community has effective laws and a range of safeguards in
place to protect the dignity and rights of people with disability.
A strong legislative foundation is
important. Legislation reflects the values, views, expectations and standards
of the community. South Australia recognises that people with disability have
human rights through the Disability Services Act (1993) and the Equal
Opportunity Act (1984) and in Commonwealth legislation including the Disability
Services Act (1986) and the Disability Discrimination Act (1992). More
recently, this has been evident through Australia’s ratification of the United
Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disability.
Activating Citizenship means that
people with disability have access to the rights described in legislation and
conventions, but just as importantly that these rights are upheld. It is only
then that they will become meaningful.
Safeguards serve as the checks and
balances within our community to protect the rights of people with disability.
It is in all our interests to ensure that protective mechanisms are working and
meeting the needs of people with disability. The Board’s task is to ensure that
the safeguards we have are of high quality, transparent, effective and
accountable to people with disability.
Strengthening dignity, rights and
protections for people with disability means that citizens have
responsibilities to ensure people with disability are respected, valued and
supported. Communities have a role in ensuring that people with disability are
being treated with care and respect. Communities also have the responsibility
to act on concerns if a person with disability is placed at risk. For this to
work, information about enforcing rights should be available.
Strengthening dignity, rights and protections
for people with disability also requires that people with disability have
access and recourse to advocacy. Disability advocacy enables and supports
people with disability to safeguard their rights and overcome barriers that
impact on their ability to participate in the community. It also allows them to
actively participate in the decision-making processes that safeguard and
advance their human rights, wellbeing and interests.
Under legislation, advocacy support
services must be provided by both Commonwealth and South Australian
governments. However, we know that people with disability and their families
are often required to volunteer their own time to provide these services.
Possible approaches include:
• Promoting
greater understanding across the community about the rights of people with
disability;
• Building
the community’s capacity to monitor the safety of people with disability;
• Providing
information about advocacy services to people with disability and the wider
community;
• Developing
new and improving existing strategies to ensure people with disability are safe
and protected from violence, exploitation and neglect.
Questions to consider:
What do you think the government
should do to ensure the rights of people with disability are enforced?
How can the community play a role in
protecting the rights of people with disability?
You do not have to answer all of
these questions - just those that interest you.
Legislation is important because it
reflects the values of the community. Strong laws can provide a foundation to
enable people with disability to be supported to live independently in the
community.
Current South Australian legislation
recognises that people with disability have rights that are equal with the rest
of the community and are entitled to the same services, dignity and respect as
everyone else. It is important however, that this is enforced in all areas of
life.
The new Victorian Disability Act (2006)
provides an example of how a whole-of-government framework for laws can be
strengthened. It includes a monitoring, review and accountability role for
government, and has been crucial in ensuring that information is available to
the community about enforcing and protecting the rights of people with
disability. The Act has introduced the Office of the Senior Practitioner which
is responsible for enforcing the rights of people with disability relating to
the delivery of their care and support. It also reinforces what is and isn’t
appropriate in relation to human rights for people with disability when being
cared for and supported.
South Australia does not currently
have a single entity that assumes responsibility for enforcing the rights of
people with disability. Many different agencies including the Department for
Families and Communities, the Public Advocate, the South Australian Equal
Opportunity Commission and Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, all play a role in performing this function. Even with the efforts
of all of these agencies, there remain gaps in enforcement of protection for
many people with disability.
We must strengthen the ways in which
our community and government can deliver the outcomes articulated in our legislation.
As such, we must ensure that the current legislation is reviewed so that it is
better able to enforce the rights of people with disability.
Possible approaches include:
• Reviewing
current legislation in order to identify strengths and gaps in relation to
protection and rights enforcement for people with disability;
• Investigating
a simple “one-stop” option for ensuring that the rights of people with
disability are enforced;
• Providing
clearer understanding for communities of what is acceptable and what is not in
relation to the rights of people with disability.
Questions to consider:
In what areas should laws be
strengthened to improve the protections for people with disability?
Independent bodies such as the
Office of the Public Advocate and the Health and Community Services Complaints
Commission have highlighted that South Australia could strengthen protections
for people with disability. It has also been observed that the government can
better manage serious complaints in the system. The Social Inclusion Board
views building stronger and more transparent protections in the delivery of
services to people with disability as a critical area of focus.
Building protections within all
services is important in order to keep people with disability safe from
possible harm within service environments. It promotes safer and more secure
institutional and community based accommodation environments.
In order to build protections that
are independent, effective and accountable, several mechanisms must be in
place. These include:
• a way of addressing issues of restrictive practices;
• independent mechanisms to monitor and respond to complaints;
and
• ways to minimise the reliance of people with disability on
any one organisation.
While there are many existing
practices in South Australia that are delivering good protections, the Board
invites the community to think about new and innovative ways to strengthen
protections for people with disability within service settings. It also
welcomes feedback on the three areas noted above and described below.
Where an individual may cause harm
to themselves or others, service delivery staff may need to resort to “restrictive
practices” with the intention of protection. These, according to the Victorian
Officer of the Senior Practitioner, can include chemical restraint, mechanical
restraint or seclusion. Given the impact on people’s rights, freedoms, and
mental and physical health, these should be seen as an option of last resort.
The South Australian branch of the
Australasian Society for the Study for People with Intellectual Disability
(ASSID) has noted that there is limited regulation to identify or monitor restrictive
practices in this state. While many organisations have procedures to minimise
the use of these practices, as a community there are no formal agreed uniform
standards regarding when, or how, this practice is used.
One possible response is to build
more transparency into services to ensure there is information as to when, why
and how service providers use restrictive practices. A system of services and supports with strong
accountability mechanisms contains opportunities for people with disability to
have greater decision making and control in the delivery of the care they
receive. It also provides clear frameworks and guidelines for service providers
to perform their work safely and effectively.
South Australia needs to strengthen
and standardise monitoring mechanisms so that they are consistent across
government and non government sectors. A
strong protective system should contain opportunities for people with
disability to have access to people outside of organisations with whom they can
discuss their concerns and who can act as advocates.
For example, “circles of support”
could be used to assist people with disability to build relationships with
others in their day to day lives and provide opportunities to share problems. In addition, schemes such as the Victorian
Community Visitors Scheme for people with disability gives volunteers the power
to inspect community based residential facilities in relation to the quality of
care being provided. In South Australia, a community visitor scheme is in place
for people who are receiving treatment in psychiatric wards (under the Mental
Health Act 2009). This does not exist for people with physical or intellectual
disability.
It is important that people with
disability are not solely reliant on any or only one organisation to meet their
basic needs. Put simply, if a person is unhappy with the service they are
receiving, they should have the choice to go elsewhere.
For example, in South Australia we
have begun a process of separating the delivery of tenancy and support
functions in our supported accommodation. This means that one organisation does
not take on the role of landlord and support provider; it does not control all
decisions. These kinds of processes could be applied to people living in
supported accommodation facilities and group homes.
Possible approaches include:
• Building
greater choice and decision-making control for people with disability about the
services they are receiving;
• Providing
more training and development opportunities for staff and volunteers around the
rights and protection of people with disability;
• Ensuring
complaints mechanisms are standardised, easy to use and effective;
• Developing
common standards around the definition and use of restrictive practices;
• Promoting
the reporting of serious complaint by people with disability;
• Introducing
options such as circles of support and visitor schemes to monitor services.
Questions to consider:
How can we build better protections
into services for people with disability?
What sort of information should be
made available about service providers’ use of restrictive practices?
How can we monitor service providers
to ensure that they are delivering a high quality of care?
How can better protections be built
into government and community organisations?
How can we ensure that people with
disability are not solely reliant on any one organisation in meeting all of
their needs?
“The people who participated (in the
Shut Out Consultations) are just like…. all other
Australian citizens…. the consistent message….is the desire to have the same
opportunities as everyone else for a fulfilling and productive life. Many said
….they do not want special treatment – they just want
the barriers removed so they can get on with living.” Australian Government (2009) “Shut Out – The
Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia,
National People with Disabilities and Carers Council” p. iv.
Accessible and enabling communities
allow us all to contribute and achieve our individual potential with minimal
restrictions. They allow anonymity - to be “ordinary” as we go about our day to
day tasks.
People with disability are entitled
to the same things as everyone else. Activating Citizenship means as children,
people with disability are entitled to enjoy stress free family environments
and the chance to play, learn and thrive. Young people with disability are entitled
to get a job, leave home and develop friendships and intimate relationships
with others. As adults, people with disability are entitled to seek satisfying
and sustainable work opportunities, innovative educational opportunities,
secure and affordable housing and accommodation, successful personal
relationships, family life and a healthy and leisurely retirement.
Across all stages of life, people
with disability - just like all South Australians - are entitled to the supports
and opportunities to make the most of life. An enabling community actively
promotes better outcomes for people with disability and their families across a
range of areas through emphasising the principles of access, ease and equity.
People with disability are more
likely than others to have poor physical and mental health, and higher rates of
smoking and obesity.
An enabling community should ensure
that people with disability have choice and control over their health needs and
can independently manage their own long-term conditions with the right supports
in place. An enabling community should promote better links between
organisations that deliver disability services and hospitals, general
practitioners, medical specialists, allied health professionals and other
health bodies.
An enabling community should
acknowledge that Aboriginal people are restricted in their access to mainstream
health services and culturally and linguistically diverse communities can experience
similar barriers. An enabling community
should support a health workforce that understands the needs specific to people
with disability, with a focus on addressing barriers specific to more
vulnerable groups.
It should focus on ensuring that public
awareness campaigns around issues such as obesity, smoking, mental health and
vaccinations are relevant and accessible to all people with disability. It
should also support the development of accessible and innovative early
intervention options, particularly for children with disability,
that empower families to manage their lives and make choices that
support positive outcomes.
Possible approaches include:
• Training
our health workforce to incorporate issues and needs specific to people with
disability;
• Designing
new health services (mental health, drug and alcohol, primary health care) and
refining existing ones to promote linkages and collaboration with the
disability sector;
• Redesign
existing health services to ensure that they are accessible to more vulnerable
populations with disability; This may entail
strategies such as cultural training for staff and development or increasing
outreach facilities;
• Placing
a greater emphasis across health issues on early intervention and prevention initiatives
for people with disability.
Questions to consider:
What could health services do
differently to better support people with disability?
What new services or programs could
be made available to achieve better health outcomes for people with disability?
How can our broader community enable
people with disability to be healthy, active and strong?
Social isolation is an daily reality for many people with disability. The Australian
Bureau of Statistics estimates that of people aged 15 to 59, 15 per cent of
people with disabilities live alone, compared with 6.8 per cent of people
without disability.
An enabling community designs its
services and supports in a way that recognises that people with disability –
like all South Australians - have lifestyle choices about relationships,
sexuality and reproductive potential. An enabling community ensures that policy
and practice designed to tackle social challenges such as child poverty, drug
and alcohol abuse and domestic violence, also acknowledges and addresses the
personal needs and circumstances of families affected by disability.
An enabling community promotes
initiatives aimed at eliminating the barriers that lead to social isolation,
low self esteem and family breakdown. It encourages initiatives that help
people with disability enjoy positive personal and family relationships. An
enabling community recognises that families and carers of people with
disability are also impacted by disability through the unpaid care and
assistance they provide. Accordingly, an
enabling community provides supports and respite for family members and other
carers to enjoy life outside of their caring responsibilities.
Possible approaches include:
• Ensuring
that information around lifestyle choices is accessible to people with
disability;
• Establishing
better links between disability services and relationship counselling,
parenting and peer support;
• Promoting
initiatives targeted at people with disability that also recognise the needs of
their families and carers;
• Establishing
respite services for families and carers that are tailored to meet an
individual’s needs and circumstances;
• Promoting
positive family relationships amongst people with disability.
Questions to consider:
Are you aware of any best practice
programs or services that support people with disability and their families to
enjoy active and positive social lives?
What barriers do people with
disability face in meeting people who share similar personal interests? What
can be done to provide greater opportunities?
What do families – where one or more
members have disability - need to sustain positive and strong relationships?
What should ideal respite look like?
Who should enjoy respite? Who should provide respite?
People with disability have some of
the poorest economic outcomes in Australia. In June 2008, over 64,700 South
Australians were on the Disability Support Pension (DSP). According to the
Pension Review Report (2009), the DSP does not provide financial security or
adequately cover costs incurred by people living alone.
In South Australia, it is critical
that people with disability and their families are able to access the opportunities
and share in the benefits arising from our State’s economic growth. An enabling
community must create new and innovative employment opportunities arising from
high growth sectors - for example, mining and defence.
Participation in the labour force
and employment is critical to reducing economic disadvantage amongst people
with disability and their families.
Employment is also important for overall wellbeing as it provides
opportunities for self development, community participation, financial
independence, increased self esteem and building relationships.
An enabling community acknowledges
that people with disability are often uncertain about how employment may affect
their support payments and sometimes unsure about whether they can meet the
demands and pressures of the workplace. In this context, an enabling community
ensures that people with disability are helped into employment and are
supported so that employment is suitable and sustainable.
An enabling community promotes
avenues for people with disability to acquire education and training
opportunities that will increase their skills and move into employment. Such
opportunities must be flexible and tailored to individual needs and goals. They
must also be controlled by people with disability. Information about education,
training and career options must be easy to access. Put simply, an enabling
community provides the incentives, mechanisms and policies that allow people
with disability to find, access and sustain good jobs,
if that is their choice.
An enabling community is one where
stigma and discrimination have no place in the workforce. It recognises that employers sometimes
require additional information, ideas and resources about how to open their
workplaces to people with disability. An enabling community must support
flexible employment arrangements both for people with disability and carers.
Possible approaches include:
• Providing
supports within the workplace – such as the presence of a carer or support
worker, flexible working times, assistive technologies and extra payments for
additional costs such as clothing and transport that will enable people with
disability to do their job;
• Developing
targeted campaigns aimed at raising awareness amongst employers about the
potential and capabilities of people with disability;
• Developing
public awareness campaigns designed to promote the benefits of employing people
with disability;
• Encourage
innovative approaches to employment of people with disability in areas of economic
growth in South Australia;
• Promoting
the appointment of people with disability in leadership positions in the
workforce.
Questions to consider:
What are some of the barriers that currently
prevent people with disability from finding a good job? What barriers prevent
people from keeping their jobs?
What is needed to ensure that
employees with disability are doing their job effectively and enjoying the workplace ?
How can we promote access and equity
in the workplace for people with disability? Do you know of any best practice
employers who are doing this?
What do employers need to employ
people with disability?
Some children are still being denied
access to schools – mainstream or specialist - because of their
disability. Educational settings –
schools, TAFEs and universities - are not always
accessible or inclusive for people with disability. For many young people, the
transition from school to employment or post-school education is problematic. A
disproportionate number of people with disability are not completing
higher-level qualifications.
An enabling community values and
respects students and teachers with disability at all levels, ranging from
pre-school to tertiary education. An enabling community promotes initiatives
and supports good teaching practices that maximise the learning potential of
students with disability and encourage high standards in learning outcomes.
An enabling community ensures that
buildings, playgrounds, canteens, libraries and all other features of the
structural learning environment are not just accessible, but easy to navigate
and user-friendly. An enabling community promotes the use of technology, aids
and equipment to support student’s independence within the classroom, and
requires that educational material is accessible in a range of formats for both
students and teachers with disability.
At a pre-school level, an enabling
community provides opportunities for young children to explore their learning
potential and be provided with early intervention responses to support future
independence.
At primary school and high school
levels, an enabling community promotes educational practices and learning
programs that are flexible and tailored to meet individual learning needs and
styles. It facilitates learning cultures that accept and support
diversity. It supports a teaching
workforce that has the knowledge, skills and resources to meet students’ needs
and support their aspirations.
In the post-school environment, an
enabling community encourages mechanisms that allow students with disability
and their families to develop plans and pathways to meet their future learning
needs and promote their future aspirations.
An enabling community also acknowledges that financial support to study
is essential if we are to improve educational opportunities.
Possible approaches include:
• Improving
availability of information for people with disability about vocational
training and further education;
• Ensuring
that all learning institutions are accessible for people with disability;
• Training
education providers to cater for people with disability to participate in educational
programs from early childhood and through adulthood;
• Promoting
and resourcing innovative learning strategies and supports for students with
disability;
• Promoting
an education workforce that understands the complexities associated with disability
and caring;
• Providing
better assistance and protection for students with disability who have complex
needs;
• Strengthening
the focus and support for work experience placements for students with
disability;
• Encouraging
government partnerships with universities and TAFEs
to promote improved access and opportunity for students with disability.
Questions to consider:
How can the current education system
better help a student with disability or carer to achieve their study/education
goals?
Can you provide examples of where a
school or other learning institution has been successful in helping students
with disability achieve positive outcomes? What made it successful?
What factors need to be considered
when designing curriculum that is relevant for people with disability and their
carers?
Questions to consider:
What can be done to make buildings,
playgrounds and other facilities within educational settings more accessible?
What do our teachers and education staff need to work more successfully with students with
disability and carers?
How can we improve the education
environment for teachers with disability?
56% of submissions to the Commonwealth
Government’s National Disability Strategy cited “social inclusion and community
participation as the main barriers experienced by people with disability”. The
Shut Out Report (2009) observed that “Where once they
were physically segregated, many Australians with disabilities now find
themselves socially, culturally and politically isolated.”
An enabling community ensures that
people with disability are included in community life on their own terms, equal
opportunities are guaranteed and choices are available. In an enabling
community, it should not be unusual to see people with disability as players or
spectators on sporting fields, as volunteers in homeless shelters or nature
reserves, as travellers or tourists, or as actors or the audience in a theatre
performance.
An enabling community provides
support to social, arts and cultural initiatives run by and for people with
disability. It provides opportunities for people with disability to create, perform and develop their own art and access the
thriving South Australian arts community. It fosters participation and
leadership by people with disability in political and civic spheres. It
guarantees that people with disability have access and support to participate
independently in electoral processes at all levels of government and provides
opportunities to be actively involved in the conduct of public affairs through
boards, committees, governments and other organisations.
An enabling community must be
supported by state and local government, community organisations, businesses
and the wider community to ensure that discrimination is eliminated and
barriers – both physical and attitudinal - are removed.
Possible approaches include:
• Developing
state-based anti-discrimination programmes that focus on the participation of
everyone;
• Designing
campaigns that recognise and honour the achievements of people with disability;
• Promoting
the community benefits of having people with disability participating as active
community members;
• Ensuring
churches, mosques, temples, theatres, airports, bus stations, courts, libraries
and other public spaces include ramps, lift access, hearing loops and other
accessibility features;
• Ensuring
local governments become more actively involved in providing access and supports to people with disability to
participate in all areas of the local community;
• Promoting
stronger partnerships between the disability sector and arts and cultural organisations ;
• Supporting
initiatives that develop and celebrate the creative and artistic aspirations of
people with disability in South Australia;
• Ensuring
that South Australia is a key collaborator in the development of the National
Framework for Inclusive Sport and Active Recreation which aims at increasing
opportunities for all Australians with disability in sport and active
recreation.
Questions to consider:
What do people with disability need
to enjoy more leisure and entertainment opportunities, including sports and arts?
What should a disability friendly
church, theatre, sporting ground or swimming pool look like?
How can natural environments –
parks, beaches, camping spots and nature reserves – promote better access to
people with disability?
Are you aware of any good examples
of where people with disability have been able to fully enjoy social and
cultural experiences?
Our society is built in a way that
assumes we can all see signs, read directions, hear announcements, reach
buttons, have the strength to open heavy doors, walk up steps, catch the train and so on. While South Australia has
standards and legislative requirements for accessibility, facilities such as
schools, workplaces, supermarkets and houses are, for the most part, designed
and built by people without a disability for people without a disability.
Simply changing attitudes towards
disability is not enough to promote a community that is inclusive of all. This must be accompanied by buildings and
transport that are accessible, as well as telecommunications that are designed
to increase the contribution of people with disability to the economy as
customers and users of technology.
An enabling community is designed
for people with disability to live as independently as they can within the
setting of their choice. It consults with, and thinks about the needs of,
people with disability when designing all community spaces and facilities. It
is geared towards enhancing personal mobility, independence and enjoyment,
taking into consideration the specific barriers that people with disability
face.
An enabling community must contain a
choice of settings to live; accessible and affordable public transport;
buildings that take on principles of universal design; outdoor spaces that are
easy to navigate; and up to date infrastructure – including road signage and
lighting. Urban and regional planning must incorporate the development of
accessible routes to connect buildings, public spaces and transport
systems.
Transport systems must be accessible
and reliable in order to support people with disability to get to work, to
visit friends and family, to play sport.
This may entail improving the regulation and supply of accessible taxis;
increasing transport options for people living in non-metropolitan areas and
enhancing consistency in transportation design.
In rural and remote areas,
particular attention must be focused on the barriers that people with
disability face on a daily basis. Initiatives
that facilitate the use of technology – i.e. banking, telecommunications and
e-health services, all have a role in addressing issues of distance. Such technologies also play a key role in
enabling all people with disability to live independently in their own
community setting.
Possible approaches include:
• Promoting
the adoption of minimum accessibility standards for all public transport and
incorporating universal design principles for all buildings and indoor facilities
including housing, shopping centres and sporting arenas;
• Promoting
representation from the disability sector on government and community steering
committees around design, building and space;
• Supporting access for people with disability and their
families to the National Broadband Network as a way of facilitating access to a
range of government services and broader
life-enhancing opportunities in areas such as health, employment and education;
• Providing
appropriate assistive technology in the areas of core communication, mobility,
respiratory function and self-care;
• Establishing
initiatives which provide people with a permanent or long-term disability with
subsidised assistive technology and home and vehicle modifications;
• Ensuring
that people with disability are provided with essential equipment and
technology to support their independent functioning at home.
Questions to consider:
What should architects and designers
consider when thinking about disability?
How can we better represent the
views and expertise of people with disability in the planning stages of
development?
What should a good bus, train or
taxi service deliver for people with disability?
How can we promote greater mobility
for people with disability?
How can we ensure people with
disability and their families have access to technologies that help them live
independently?
Can you identify some examples of
existing places that are friendly to people with disability? What features make them easy to use?
We are increasingly hearing the
experiences of people in relation to their specific needs not being met and of
a system that is struggling to meet demands and is complex to navigate. These
are issues being experienced by people with disability in all states and
territories.
In South Australia, unmet need for
people eligible for specialist services, as reported by the Department for
Families and Communities, has increased from 2,189 individuals in December 2008
to 2,698 in March 2010, an increase of 23.3%. The number of individuals in
Category 1 - i.e. those who are highly vulnerable and at extreme risk - has
increased by 63% over the same period.
In reality, these statistics translate into fear, desperation and
(increasingly) crisis for individuals and families who are not getting what
they need from the system.
The Department for Families and
Communities has also acted to improve flexibility and responsiveness through
trialling a self managed funding approach; person-centred active support model;
centralised access to accommodation allocation and; prioritising need for
respite and support. Despite these efforts and increased funding to address
these challenges, funding alone will not improve the overall responsiveness and
flexibility of services.
Activating Citizenship will require
transformation in our approach so that people with disability, families and
carers have a voice in determining what services are needed and how they should
be provided. Giving people with disability greater choice and control over the
support they need is critical, not just in relation to specialist services, but
also across mainstream services such as housing, transport, health, employment,
education and training.
Shifting the focus back to the
individual means ensuring all our services are resourced, not just adequately,
but effectively. In order to understand what people with disability and
families need, we must have an understanding, not just of where funding is
insufficient, but also how it could be spent in ways that will better benefit
service users, rather than the service system.
Activating Citizenship requires a
shift from a complex and rigid system to the provision of flexible and
accessible services. Our service system is currently difficult to navigate,
fragmented and driven by outcomes that are often not about the needs or
aspirations of the people that they intend to serve.
Activating Citizenship requires a
shift in focus from bureaucracies to placing citizens at the centre of the
system. There must be more emphasis on service integration and simplification.
Activating Citizenship also demands that our disability services must strive to
be economically sustainable and geared towards continuous improvement. The
objectives identified by the Social inclusion Board are threefold. They are to
ensure that people with disability:
• have
their individual needs acknowledged and addressed when receiving services
related to housing, transport, health, employment and education and training
opportunities;
• have
choice and control over the specialist support, assistance, aids and equipment
they need to go about daily life;
• are
treated within the service system as equal citizens with care and respect.
It is only when these objectives are
achieved that we will have a system that is geared towards achieving greater
inclusion and participation for people with disability in all aspects of
community.
Disability impacts on some people
more than others. Nationally, across all age groups in 2006, Aboriginal people
were 1.8 times as likely to need assistance with core
activities than non-Aboriginal people. In 2003, South Australian carers
represented 15.2% of all South Australians who earned a wage compared to 84.8%
of the population who did not have caring responsibilities. In metropolitan
Adelaide, people living in the most disadvantaged geographic locations were 2.6
times as likely to have severe disability (4.0%) than people living in the
least disadvantaged areas (1.5%).
The Social Inclusion approach
recognises that not all people with disability are alike. As well as having particular
needs, priorities and perspectives, they experience different personal
circumstances relating to sex, age, sexuality, ethnic or cultural background,
Aboriginality, level of education and locational disadvantage. These factors
are interrelated and some compound the barriers that people with disability
face.
For Aboriginal people, a disability
is an added layer of disadvantage. It creates barriers that compounds other
problems including stigma and discrimination, acute poverty, increased
incidence of poor mental health and chronic health problems and higher levels
of unemployment and incarceration.
In South Australia, many of the most
disadvantaged households are in South Australia’s remote Aboriginal
communities. Access to supporting aids and equipment for people with disability
is more difficult or non-existent in remote and rural areas. This can be
compounded for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote
communities as service provision is often not culturally appropriate and access
to services is limited.
People with disability from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds can also experience acute
poverty and exclusion. For example, to
qualify for the Disability Support Pension, an individual must be an Australian
citizen or must meet the 10-year permanent residence requirement (unless
specific circumstances apply, e.g. they arrived as a refugee).
Migrants with disability often face
additional barriers to entering the labour force, difficulty obtaining support
services and additional discrimination related to their race, ethnicity or
religion. They are also more likely to experience a lack of culturally
sensitive mainstream and specialist services, a shortage of interpreters to
communicate their needs and prevalence of myths, misconceptions and negative
stereotypes about disability and ethnicity.
Families and carers of people with
disability are also impacted by disability through the unpaid care and
assistance they provide to people with disability. Carers of people with disability experience
poorer outcomes in a number of areas than people who don’t have significant
caring responsibilities. It is imperative that services support them in their
role as carers, but also help them fulfil other life roles and objectives.
When a person with disability comes
into contact with the justice system, it is important that their needs are
understood and addressed.
Supporting the inclusion of people
with disability who have complex needs requires organisations to acknowledge
their particular vulnerabilities. It requires that targeted specialist services
are delivered in a way which reflects a competency to work with people with
more complex needs or diverse cultural backgrounds. It requires that disability support workers
are provided with the resources, knowledge and training that enable them to
develop skills to meet these demands.
Possible approaches include:
• Conducting
more accurate assessments of the prevalence and incidence of disability within
disadvantaged communities and within particular institutions such as
correctional settings;
• Promoting
support and service delivery by locally owned, managed and staffed providers,
in particular for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• Fostering
a specialist service workforce that delivers culturally sensitive services.
This may include strategies such as increasing the number of Aboriginal and
culturally and linguistically diverse people in the disability workforce;
• Developing
integrated service models to support people with disability who have other
complex needs (e.g. mental health; drug and alcohol abuse);
• Promoting
service delivery initiatives that take an assertive outreach approach, that is
encouraging the establishment of services that go to the community – rather
than having individuals come to them;
• Providing
targeted approaches for people with disability living in areas of disadvantage,
especially in rural or remote areas.
Questions to consider:
What barriers do Aboriginal communities
face in accessing specialist disability services? What is needed to overcome these barriers?
How can we ensure that people with
disability who experience other complex problems and circumstances are able to
access specialist disability services?
What are some specific needs of
migrant communities affected by disability? What barriers do these groups face
in receiving the services they need?
Who should be delivering specialist
disability services to populations with additional and complex needs?
Can you tell us about any
initiatives – programs, services or activities – that are demonstrating
positive outcomes for people with disability who have additional and complex
needs?
Australia’s Initial Report, under
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities notes that
“Australia’s approach to addressing the needs of persons with disabilities in
the provision of services aims to help persons with disabilities develop
maximum independence in activities of daily living.”
A Government funding model for
community organisations must promote the best outcomes for the client.
Reform of disability services can
build a shared accountability in meeting the life long goals of people with
disability. These goals can be reflected as outcomes in funding and service
agreements between government and community organisations. Organisations and
agencies delivering services across all areas – e.g. health, transport,
employment and education - should work from the same basic premise that people
with disability
require services and support to promote the goal of independence.
Specialist services have critical roles in advocacy and linking broader
community services and supports for people with disability.
On this basis, any reform should
focus on ensuring that organisations delivering services to people with
disability, across all sectors and at all levels of government, view and engage
people with disability as partners in policy making - encouraging people with
disability to take part in decision-making and to take on leadership roles.
Possible approaches include:
• Fostering
an aware and responsive public service through mechanisms such as appropriate training
courses, education and capacity building;
• Establishing
leadership, development and mentoring programs for people with disability which
include a focus on advocacy;
• Ensuring
that positive outcomes for people with disability across the whole of their
life are built into service delivery and design;
• Developing
performance indicators for all services and programs relating to people’s
aspirations and life-long goals as well as their needs;
• Assisting
self-help initiatives, service provision and advocacy organisations run by
people with disability for people with disability.
Questions to consider:
Are you aware of any organisations
or agencies (government or non government) that do well in promoting a person’s
long-term goals?
How can organisations that deliver
specialist services be encouraged to acknowledge the aspirations and long-term
goals of people with disability?
Too often, additional needs for
assistance or equipment have been addressed in ways which do not give people
with disability choice and control. Instead, others decide on behalf of people
with disability how assistance should be provided. Consequently, many services
can and do encourage self-reliance but can lead towards dependency. Activating
Citizenship requires that people with disability have greater choice and
control about what services they receive, who provides
these and how they are received.
While we must work towards a system
where eligibility for and allocation of resources is consistent and equitable,
it is also important to ensure that individual needs are treated flexibly.
People with disability experience a diverse range of circumstances. Services
must be flexible to respond appropriately to each individual, and deliver a
level of control to the individual.
Shifting the focus from
bureaucracies to citizens means delivering specialist services to promote
supported independence, choice and inclusion for people with disability. A
personalised approach to service delivery is based on the premise that services
should not be highly regulated by professionals or dictated by ‘system
experts’. Instead, services should be determined and delivered by people with
disability and their families in partnership with service providers. Put simply, services should foster
independence, autonomy and control over one’s own life.
A personalised model of care is
characterised by several features:
• It
delivers care and support that reflects the individual’s unique needs, skills,
capacities and opportunities;
• It
promotes decision-making control by the individual and their family in
determining what services and supports are provided and choice in who delivers
those services;
• It
promotes and encourages training, mentoring or other activities so that an
individual can develop the skills, capacity and confidence to be more active in
the decision-making processes related to their care and support;
• It
enables flexibility and control to vary services and supports as needs change
over time;
• It
provides effective safeguard mechanisms to support people in identifying and
managing risk and increasingly provides control to the individual around funding
to purchase services.
A personalised approach to service
delivery recognises and responds to the fact that people with disability are
experts on their own experience and must be in control of their own decisions
and life course.
Individual funding and direct
payments are one example of personalising support. Individual funding can be
defined as a package of funds allocated for a particular person that enables
them to control how they purchase both specialist and mainstream services. It
is based on the important premise that people with disability have the capacity
to successfully choose and administer their own support arrangements, either by
themselves or through a nominated organisation or individual.
Individualised funding models can
come with risks, including: potential extra administrative burdens and
responsibilities in managing the direct payments; lack of appropriate support
for people with additional vulnerabilities or restricted capacity; and the
requirement of accountability of spending.
Despite this, individualised funding
models have delivered significant benefits to people with disability, enabling
greater flexibility and choice in services. They have also been a means to
ensure that the service system is more responsive to the outcomes for
individuals and that people with disability are not excluded from services
through cumbersome assessment processes and restrictive service criteria. An
individualised funding model recognises that the best assessor of what a person
with disability needs, is often the person themselves.
South Australia is also currently
testing a form of individualised funding with a small group of consumers. However, this approach is not well advanced
in South Australia compared to some other states.
Personalised approaches
to services is not new to South Australia. For example,
the Community Living Project (established in 1985) and Community Support
Incorporated (established in 1991) are two distinct models developed by people
with disability and their families to maximise independent community living and
participation for people with disability.
Possible approaches may include:
• Reviewing
the role of government as funder, regulator and service provider;
• Expanding
individualised funding to enable all people with disability greater choice in
purchasing the services they need and want;
• Exploring
individualised funding models that are premised on simplicity and ease;
• Simplifying
eligibility and assessment processes so they are understood and accessible for
people with disabilities and their families, as consumers of services rather
than recipients;
• Localising
the coordination of services;
• Promoting
a strategic shift towards investment in early intervention and preventative
approaches;
• Fostering
the establishment and growth of user-led organisations;
• Providing
access to better information, advocacy and support so that people are able to
navigate health and social care systems.
Questions to consider:
Who should deliver specialist
services for people with disability?
How can personalised services be
promoted for people with disability in South Australia?
Do you think a personalisation
approach activates citizenship for people with disability? Are there other
approaches that should be considered?
How can people with disability and
their families have greater input into the design and delivery of services?
Do you support self-managed funding?
What would be the benefits and risks? How could these risks be managed?
Many people with disability, their
families and carers find it frustrating to navigate the different services that
government provides. Quite often, departments do not share information with
each other and services become fragmented.
The Social Inclusion Board has
identified that services can be poorly integrated and fragmented and that these
pose consequences for people with disability and their families. For example, the involvement of different
government departments in the delivery of services often creates confusion
amongst people with disability and their families about what services are
available and how to access those services. Growing demand on services and
limited resources have forced many agencies to prioritise their “core business”
on an increasingly narrow range of activities. As a result, clients are often
subject to numerous assessments in order to receive a service, or “get
referred” to other services rather than receiving a continuous uninterrupted
service.
Shifting the focus from
bureaucracies to citizens requires a whole-of-life and joined-up approach to
the coordination of services for people with disability. The integration of
services and a whole-of-community approach has been a consistent focus of the
Social Inclusion Initiative, simply because gaps and unnecessary complexities
in the system equate to people missing out on getting a service or being
provided with an inadequate or inappropriate service.
Integrated services must be geared
towards enabling all people with disability to secure essential needs for their
future and achieve their goals. Services
must be provided equitably and promote equality. Integrated services means that
people have a high degree of certainty on what their entitlements to services
are across all areas for the whole of their life. It requires coordinated and
comprehensive planning across all portfolios and between all levels of
government.
Across this long-term objective, it
is critical that South Australian government departments and agencies establish
mechanisms that ensure all policy and legislation is consistent with the
objectives of the future National Disability Strategy. In conjunction with
this, public sector training must be modified to ensure that service
development and service delivery are also consistent with achieving the
outcomes of the National Disability Strategy.
Possible approaches include:
• Promoting
joined-up initiatives that provide people with disability choice and control
over the support they receive and services they access;
• Promoting
the concept of entitlement to service for people with disability as good practice
across all government agencies;
• Reviewing
the Government’s Promoting Independence Strategy to strengthen principles and
outcomes related to integrated services for people with disability.
Questions to consider:
Where have government departments
failed to communicate with each other, causing frustration for you?
What are the key services or areas
of service which need to be integrated for people with disability?
What should the government do to
ensure it communicates more effectively across departments and community
organisations?
How can community organisations
implement joined-up approaches?
Are you aware of any examples of
joined-up and integrated approaches to service delivery that you believe have
worked well?
This Discussion Paper is a way for
South Australians to contribute their opinions and ideas on a new system of
support for South Australians with disability, their families and carers might
look. Your responses will be used to
inform the Social Inclusion Blueprint for Disability Reform. The Social
Inclusion Blueprint for Disability Reform is expected to be released in mid
2011.
To view the discussion paper online,
please visit the Social Inclusion Unit website:
www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au
There are several ways for you to
contribute your opinions and ideas on the Discussion paper OR anything else
about disability that we may not have raised:
Online Survey
Email or Postal Submissions
Community Meetings
Phone Submissions
The closing date for submissions is
5:00pm Monday 27 September 2010.
The online survey is based on the
questions in this Discussion Paper. You can answer as many or as few questions
as you wish.
Please visit www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au
to complete the survey.
It is not necessary to have read the
Discussion paper before completing the online survey. If you have not read the
discussion paper, you may wish to complete the easy-version survey which is
also the website.
To request the survey in languages
other than English, visit the Social Inclusion website.
It is possible to provide your
submission via email or post. This is a great way for you to provide us with any
additional information that has not been covered in the discussions paper or
online survey, but that you think is important.
For those who would prefer to make a
written submission via email or post, please use the following:
Email: socialinclusion@saugov.sa.gov.au
Postal address: GPO Box 2343,
Adelaide SA 5001
There will be community meetings
across South Australia for people to provide direct feedback, identify
important issues, and generate ideas and possible strategies. A schedule of
community meetings is available on page 50..
Please note that phone submissions
are primarily available for those who cannot provide a written submission or
attend a community meeting. Phone
submissions will be based on the questions in the Discussion Paper.
Calls can be taken by the Disability
Information Resource Centre (DIRC) during; Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 5.00
pm.
You can answer as many questions as
you would like. If the lines are busy please leave your details and DIRC will
call you back. The numbers to call to
make a submission over the phone are:
Metropolitan callers (08) 8236 0555
Regional callers 1300 305 558
TTY users 133 677 - then ask for -
1300 305 558
Speak and Listen (speech-to-speech)
1300 555 727 - then ask for 1300 305 558
For languages other than English,
Disability Information Resource Centre can arrange interpreter and translation
services.
Phone (08) 8236 0555
Fax (08) 8236 0566
To obtain copies of this Discussion Paper
in Braille, contact the Disability Information Resource Centre on:
Phone (08) 8236 0555
Fax (08) 8236 0566
If you have a hearing or
speech-language impairment, contact us via the following:
TTY users 133 677 - then ask for -
(08) 8226 0916
Speak and Listen 1300 555 727 - then
ask for (08) 8226 0916
Internet relay users visit the
National Relay Service website at
www.relayservice.com.au and ask
for (08) 8226 0916
For any other queries please contact
the Social Inclusion Unit at (08) 8226 1840
To provide direct feedback to the
Social Inclusion Board, community meetings will take place at the following
locations and times.
|
Elizabeth |
Playford Civic
Centre |
Tuesday 17 August |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Wynn Vale |
Jubilee Community
Centre |
Thursday 19
August |
2:00pm to 4:00pm |
|
Port Adelaide |
Mansfield Park
Community Hall |
Monday 23 August |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Victor Harbor |
Recreation Centre
Hall |
Wednesday 25
August |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Noarlunga |
Seaford Moana Neighbourhood
Centre, Beechwood Grove, Seaford |
Thursday 26
August |
2:30pm to 4:30pm |
|
Mount Barker |
Mount Barker Town
Hall |
Monday 30 August |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Adelaide CBD |
Pilgrim Centre,
Flinders Street |
Monday 30 August |
7:00pm to 9:00pm |
|
Ceduna |
Ceduna TAFE |
Thursday 2
September |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Coober Pedy |
Coober Pedy
Council Chambers |
Monday 6
September |
2:30pm to 4:30pm |
|
Mount Gambier |
Mount Gambier
TAFE |
Thursday 9
September |
11:00am to 1:00pm |
|
Port Pirie |
Port Pirie TAFE |
Monday 13 September |
1:00pm to 3:00pm |
|
Port Augusta |
Port Augusta TAFE |
Tuesday 14
September |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Port Lincoln |
Civic Centre |
Thursday 16
September |
10:30am to
12:30pm |
|
Berri |
Senior Citizens
Hall |
Monday 20
September |
10:30am to 12:30pm |
|
Murray Bridge |
Murray Bridge
TAFE |
Wednesday 22
September |
11:00am to 1:00pm |
RSVP is preferred. Contact the
Social Inclusion Unit for further details;
(08) 8226 1840 or email socialinclusion@saugov.sa.gov.au