| Big win for disabled Victorians - ABC's 7.30 Report |
3 May 2010
Big win for disabled Victorians
Disabled Australians in Victoria will soon receive funding from
the government in a recent policy shift addressing the way disabled
people are treated in Australia. A flexible and individualised funding
package approach will see disabled Australians and their families spend
their government entitlements however they choose.
Transcript
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: With the Federal Government claiming a
historic victory in its battle with the states over healthcare funding,
there's still uncertainty about how the compromise deal will work in
practice. But one agreement that is in place, at least in principle, is
for a fundamental policy shift in the way the disabled are treated.
Apart from severe cases, there's a move away from institutions in favour
of more flexible care services and individualised funding packages so
the disabled and their families can spend government entitlements
however they see fit. Victoria is about to give direct funding access to
thousands of the disabled and their families after a successful trial
the Commonwealth hopes will be adopted by all states. Heather Ewart
reports.
HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: Warren O'Brien has
always wanted to be a man in blue. He's 35 years old and has cerebral
palsy and a moderate intellectual disability.
Now, his
dream has come true. Once a week he volunteers to clean and do other odd
jobs at Melbourne's Police Museum, where he feels part of the
community.
WARREN O'BRIEN: Yeah, I like doing it. Yeah,
it's good fun.
HEATHER EWART: Do you like the police?
WARREN O'BRIEN: Yeah.
HEATHER EWART: Would you
love to be a policeman?
WARREN O'BRIEN: Yeah, one day.
HEATHER EWART: This is Delia Fisher, who became a quadriplegic
35 years ago after surgery for a tumour of the spinal cord. She and
Warren have one thing in common: both are disabled and want the freedom
to live their lives as they choose, just like everyone else.
DELIA
FISHER: People with disables are just the same as everybody else. We
have equal rights. We're equal citizens and we should be able to do what
we want when we want.
HEATHER EWART: For most of her
adult life, Delia Fisher has been confined to a wheelchair, living at
home with her mother who has heart problems. Delia has had to follow the
strict rules of government appointed service providers offering her 35
hours of care a week.
DELIA FISHER: You have guidelines,
times to get up, times to go to bed. Not much you can do during the
day.
SARAH GERST, MOTHER: We didn't know if a carer was
gonna turn up or if a carer wasn't gonna turn up, if she was going to go
to bed. It was the most terrible time.
HEATHER EWART:
The turning point came when Delia Fisher's son, her only child, decided
to get married back in 2000. She was very excited and rang her service
provider to pass on the news.
DELIA FISHER: I wanted to
be hostess at my son's wedding and they said, "That works out
(inaudible), but you have to be home at 10 o'clock at night." And I
said, "But I'm hostess. I only have one son. I only have one big wedding
to go. Can I come home at 12 when the guests have left?" "No, you can't
come home at 12. That's too late for the carer."
HEATHER
EWART: After several pleading phone calls to one agency after another,
Delia Fisher got her way, but it left a very sour taste.
DELIA
FISHER: I was told what to do even for my one - only child's wedding
and that was just too much.
HEATHER EWART: Delia Fisher
was galvanised into action and instigated an overnight mobile attendance
service in Melbourne, known as Nightlife, with the help of a group
called Personalised Lifestyle Assistance, PLA. It's a partly State
Government funded body that advises the disabled and their families on
alternatives to traditional forms of care. Now, staying out after 10 pm,
is an option.
DEB ROUGET, MANAGER, PLA: I have heard
people say it was like, you know, after many years of standard
institutional care like having a bite of the forbidden fruit.
DELIA
FISHER: Last year was the first year I celebrated New Year's Eve in 35
years.
HEATHER EWART: For Warren O'Brien and his family,
life has also taken a turn for the better, after years of frustration
with the system that promoted institutionalised programs.
DEB
ROUGET: Before we met Warren, his life was very segregated from the
community. He lived in a group home and all of his time was spent in a
day service for people with disabilities.
HEATHER EWART:
Warren now shares a flat with a local chef. He's a volunteer, not just
at the Police Museum, but also at St Vincent's Private Hospital and the
Salvation Army, after PLA helped his parents to look at alternatives and
discover what Warren's interests were.
ANITA O'BRIEN,
MOTHER: He's learning what doing a job is. He's never had a job - like,
up until he was 30, he didn't have a job. These are volunteer jobs, but
we're moving - going to move towards trying to get him a paid job. So,
it's confidence and happiness. So, everyday happiness.
HEATHER
EWART: It's cases like this that have prompted the federal and state
governments to change their approach. They're moving away from
institutions and offering the disabled individual funding packages they
hope will lead to more flexible services, instead of one size fits all.
BILL SHORTEN, PARL. SECRETARY FOR THE DISABLED: What we've
gotta do is put the person in the centre of the disability system and
say, "How do we let you have an ordinary life like the other 20 million
Australians?"
LISA NEVILLE, VIC, MINISTER FOR COMMUNITY
SERVICES: We had very loud voices from people with a disability that we
needed to do things differently.
BILL SHORTEN: The thing
about individualised funding is it says that a person with disabilities
and their family are the best person to control how their money gets
spent.
HEATHER EWART: In Victoria, the State Government
has just completed a successful trial that means thousands of disabled
citizens will soon be able to access direct payments.
LISA
NEVILLE: So instead of us telling people with disability what supports
and services they need, they will have control over their own funding
allocation and be able to make those choices.
HEATHER
EWART: The aim is not just to give the disabled freedom of choice, but
also to encourage greater involvement in the community. That means a
sharp rethink in the way government appointed service providers do
business. Putting the policy into practice is not so straightforward.
DEB ROUGET: At the coal face, people are struggling with those
principles. We've got many services that operate on providing group
activities for people with a disability and we need to undo that and we
need to be able to work with each person, one person at a time.
DELIA
FISHER: I think they're trying, but I don't see them getting anywhere
just yet.
LISA NEVILLE: There is cultural change that
needs to happen and we're working with our organisations to achieve
that. And that change we're starting to see, but we've still got a
little bit further to go.
HEATHER EWART: The Victorian
Government holds up personalised lifestyle assistance - PLA - as a
glowing example of the new direction organisations should take to help
the disabled achieve their aspirations. Yet PLA is not sure if it can
rely on ongoing government funding.
DEB ROUGET: We're
continually told that PLA doesn't fit into any of the funding that's
coming out from Treasury.
LISA NEVILLE: Look, at the
moment, we are working with PLA, the department is working with them to
see how we can support the work that they're doing.
HEATHER
EWART: The wider problem for the Commonwealth is to get all the states
on board with its policy shift. Though there's in-principle agreement,
some are lagging behind.
BILL SHORTEN: I think different
states disability services are at different states of readiness for
individualised funding.
HEATHER EWART: For many of the
disabled and their families, the bottom line is this:
ANITA
O'BRIEN: You have to dream for your son or daughter with a disability,
just the way you do for your other children. We should be allowed to do
that.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Heather Ewart with that report. |
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Maree Ireland blogs about Nightlife
02-Jan-12
Maree Ireland works at field as Project co-ordinator. Maree writes blogs on various topics such as social; inclusion; occupational health and safety and other topics.
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