With the ongoing roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, I though it was timely to share my own reflections and concerns about the scheme – for what it’s worth.
Firstly, it is not that I object to the NDIS. There will never be too much money to support people living with disabilities. Even if we could give them every piece of equipment and every carer they could possibly use, there would always be a bottomless pit that could be poured into research and technological development.
My real concern is that the NDIS may blind us all to the ongoing need for community support. In Australia we have a tendency to ignore charities targeting problems that we think the Government already has in hand.
The problem with any Government body is that it is necessarily limited by the essential but cumbersome bureaucracy that accompanies it. Bureaucracies are poorly equipped to deal with people when they are at their most vulnerable.
I once had a quadriplegic client who was threatened with eviction from her housing commission home, already fully altered to accommodate her disability, because she had fallen in arrears on the repayments. I tried to help her keep the home by pointing out to the housing commission that, if she were evicted, she would be entitled to Government funded housing which would be more expensive since further alterations would be necessary. However, that was a problem for a different Department. She was therefore evicted and rehoused with a great deal of personal and physical distress and discomfort.
Further, disabilities are so diverse. There is no way that any one organisation, however well resourced, could have specific understanding of each individual cause of disability. The needs of an elderly person with Alzheimers are completely different to those of a young person with a spinal injury. Even within each area of disability are individuals whose needs and wishes should be understood when addressing funding and support.
These needs can only be met at a community level.
By all means, support the NDIS, but please do not neglect the community groups who continue to perform a vital role.
