Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2019 6:57:10 GMT 7
'This is my last option': Why Melissa turned to crowdfunding to help her daughter
Melissa Brooke doesn't want to have to ask for help. But as a single mother to a daughter whose disabilities require a wheelchair, special braces and numerous appointments with specialists she felt she had no other choice.
"This is my last option," she said.
Currently, Ms Brooke has to lift her 12-year-old daughter Grace into her Ford Territory, and then physically manoeuvrer the heavy wheelchair into the back. She said the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will fund modifications to a vehicle that will make her life much easier, but only if the vehicle is less than five years old.
Ms Brooke, who relies on Centrelink, said she launched a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise the funds to purchase a vehicle the NDIS can modify because she simply would not be able to afford it otherwise.
A survey by advocacy group People With Disabilities Australia from August found61 per cent of respondents did not have access to the support services they needed, and 60 per cent said they could not afford the support the required.
The group's chief executive Jeff Smith said cost was a significant factor, particularly for the 90 per cent of people with disability who are not eligible for the NDIS.
"People with disability should not have to rely on fundraising to ensure they have what they need to be fully included in our community," he said.
Mr Smith said many people with disability also live in poverty, and only 53 per cent are employed.
A shadow report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilites said 11.2 per cent of people with disabilities experience deep and persistent disadvantage, more than twice the national rate. It also found the median gross weekly personal income for people with disability was half that of people without disability.
Increasingly, people with disabilities and their families have been turning to crowdfunding to breach the gap between services and out-of-pocket costs, according to recent data.
Ms Brooke's GoFundMe campaign is one of 487 set up to fundraise for disability costs so far this year, a 22 per cent increase on the whole of 2018, data from GoFundMe showed.
GoFundMe regional manager Nicola Britton said wheelchairs, as well as home and vehicle modifications, were high on the lists of needs appearing on the website.
Ms Britton said it was part of a broader trend of people turning to crowdfunding for support for things that "fall outside of traditional government or charity support".
A Department of Social Services spokeswoman said: "The NDIS is not designed to provide funding for things that you would expect people without disability to purchase through ordinary income, including income support (such as the Age Pension or Disability Support Pension).
"For instance, the NDIS does not provide funding for a person to purchase a car, as all other Australians purchase a car through their income. However, the NDIS does provide funding to allow that car to be modified to support the individual needs of the participant as a result of their disability."
Ms Brooke said her experiences with the NDIS this year had been good, but she launched the GoFundMe page because there was no way she could afford a vehicle new enough to fit their specifications without assistance. And a modified vehicle, with the ability to electronically lift Grace's wheelchair in and out, would be "life changing".
"I've been trying to do this for many years but it's just come to the point where I can't lift 40 kilos into the Territory, it's just too hard for me," the Perth mother said.
"By the time I get her into the vehicle, put the wheelchair in and then get her out, I'm exhausted.
"I just feel that we'd be able to go out more and enjoy things - she loves going out, but at the moment we're really a bit loss.
www.smh.com.au/national/this-is-my-last-option-why-melissa-turned-to-crowdfunding-to-help-her-daughter-20191025-p52y91.html
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2496981973905155&id=1415019052101458
Melissa Brooke doesn't want to have to ask for help. But as a single mother to a daughter whose disabilities require a wheelchair, special braces and numerous appointments with specialists she felt she had no other choice.
"This is my last option," she said.
Currently, Ms Brooke has to lift her 12-year-old daughter Grace into her Ford Territory, and then physically manoeuvrer the heavy wheelchair into the back. She said the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will fund modifications to a vehicle that will make her life much easier, but only if the vehicle is less than five years old.
Ms Brooke, who relies on Centrelink, said she launched a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise the funds to purchase a vehicle the NDIS can modify because she simply would not be able to afford it otherwise.
A survey by advocacy group People With Disabilities Australia from August found61 per cent of respondents did not have access to the support services they needed, and 60 per cent said they could not afford the support the required.
The group's chief executive Jeff Smith said cost was a significant factor, particularly for the 90 per cent of people with disability who are not eligible for the NDIS.
"People with disability should not have to rely on fundraising to ensure they have what they need to be fully included in our community," he said.
Mr Smith said many people with disability also live in poverty, and only 53 per cent are employed.
A shadow report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilites said 11.2 per cent of people with disabilities experience deep and persistent disadvantage, more than twice the national rate. It also found the median gross weekly personal income for people with disability was half that of people without disability.
Increasingly, people with disabilities and their families have been turning to crowdfunding to breach the gap between services and out-of-pocket costs, according to recent data.
Ms Brooke's GoFundMe campaign is one of 487 set up to fundraise for disability costs so far this year, a 22 per cent increase on the whole of 2018, data from GoFundMe showed.
GoFundMe regional manager Nicola Britton said wheelchairs, as well as home and vehicle modifications, were high on the lists of needs appearing on the website.
Ms Britton said it was part of a broader trend of people turning to crowdfunding for support for things that "fall outside of traditional government or charity support".
A Department of Social Services spokeswoman said: "The NDIS is not designed to provide funding for things that you would expect people without disability to purchase through ordinary income, including income support (such as the Age Pension or Disability Support Pension).
"For instance, the NDIS does not provide funding for a person to purchase a car, as all other Australians purchase a car through their income. However, the NDIS does provide funding to allow that car to be modified to support the individual needs of the participant as a result of their disability."
Ms Brooke said her experiences with the NDIS this year had been good, but she launched the GoFundMe page because there was no way she could afford a vehicle new enough to fit their specifications without assistance. And a modified vehicle, with the ability to electronically lift Grace's wheelchair in and out, would be "life changing".
"I've been trying to do this for many years but it's just come to the point where I can't lift 40 kilos into the Territory, it's just too hard for me," the Perth mother said.
"By the time I get her into the vehicle, put the wheelchair in and then get her out, I'm exhausted.
"I just feel that we'd be able to go out more and enjoy things - she loves going out, but at the moment we're really a bit loss.
www.smh.com.au/national/this-is-my-last-option-why-melissa-turned-to-crowdfunding-to-help-her-daughter-20191025-p52y91.html
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2496981973905155&id=1415019052101458
