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Post by itsmylife08 on Dec 15, 2021 20:07:02 GMT 7
There is many forms of abuse in the industry, physical and mental abuse being the most common, I have some insight into this as I worked in this area for a number of years. I would say providers are responsible for the most part, poorly trained staff or staff that simply aren't qualified to do the job at all. Patient neglect is another area of concern, by this I mean proper patient monitoring. A lot of patients in homes are bed ridden and need to be turned to a different position on a regular basis otherwise they develop bed sores and skin tears when the job isn't done properly. Inadequate staffing is a major problem also, some providers try to minimize costs by cutting down on the number of staff for each shift thereby putting lives at risk. Medication error is rife by unqualified staff being allowed to dispense medication. Patient safety is another area of concern that family's are totally unaware of security is for the most part non existent, patients will wander and in the process will have a bad fall and sometimes die, in most cases the truth is never revealed. Trust me I've seen this happen!!! Cheers Itsa
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Post by nomadic on Dec 15, 2021 20:33:00 GMT 7
While agreeing with your above sentiments nomadic, did anyone really envisage the depths of depravity, abuse and denial by providers that would come to light. I certainly did not. This is Australia and it is the 21st century afterall; though the transcripts of the R.C. read like a work of fiction depicting the horrors of the middle ages. In context I now think your views on Centrelink "abuse" is more akin to bullying because they can, and an overreach of bureaucratic power; almost a non issue all things considered. Cheers bear Yes, i guess there is just bad and badder. Defies all belief unless you are involved in it.
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Post by bear on Mar 30, 2022 10:05:47 GMT 7
Reporting sexual assault felt like ‘talking to a wall’, deaf woman tells disability inquiry
Catherine Dunn tells disability royal commission the absence of an Auslan interpreter meant she was forced to speak
When Catherine Dunn went to tell a university wellbeing officer she had been sexually assaulted, a lack of appropriate services left her feeling like she was “talking to a wall”.Dunn, who is deaf, was assaulted as a teenager at a party and at a university, where she was a resident. She told the royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability, which is holding hearings in Hobart this week, of the barriers faced by deaf women when reporting sexual abuse. Woman with cerebral palsy was raped and beaten by carer, royal commission hears “I felt like I was just talking to a wall when I went to access services,” she said of her university experience. “I also didn’t have an interpreter there, so I was forced to speak. “The wellbeing officer that I spoke with had no understanding of my cultural history of being a deaf woman and it really wasn’t worth pursuing.” Dunn told the commission she didn’t report her assault as a teenager to police. She was living away from her family’s country Victoria home and was attending a school in Melbourne. “When the assault occurred I thought: ‘Where can I go? Who can I tell?’ My parents live very far away from me. I use Auslan to communicate’,” she said. “At the time I also didn’t have the words or the language to describe what occurred and who I was as a person. For me, wellbeing just wasn’t supported or acknowledged. “And the support at school was not enough.” The royal commission, which will this week hear from female survivors of abuse, has previously been told almost half of all women with disability will experience physical violence during their lives. About 48% will experience physical violence, compared with 27% for women without disability. Dunn, who works in an advocacy role with Deaf Victoria, has called for greater support for deaf people in mainstream services. “As a deaf person, a deaf woman, there’s always layers of disadvantage. I want to call a support service but I have to make sure that I can access them with SMS,” she said. “Have they worked with interpreters before? Will be I persecuted by the community that I live and breathe in?” She said she had limited sex education as a child and was signing at a seven-year-old standard compared with her 15-year-old deaf peers. “The experiences of sexual assault occurring amongst my peers was prevalent,” she said. “And there was no way to really detail what was going on and what was happening.” www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/29/reporting-sexual-assault-felt-like-talking-to-a-wall-deaf-woman-tells-disability-inquiry
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Post by bear on Apr 11, 2022 20:11:36 GMT 7
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Post by bear on Jul 15, 2022 18:03:14 GMT 7
Two-year wait for a wheelchair: inquiry hears of difficulty accessing NDIS for remote Indigenous communities
Royal commission told NDIA services and communications need to be tailored to meet the needs of First Nations people
An Indigenous person living with disability in a remote Northern Territory community had to wait two years for a wheelchair, a royal commission has been told.A report into National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) performance at Ngukurr, 635km from Darwin, found mainstream models of delivery were not working, and would not work in other remote areas. More than 80% of NDIS participants from Ngukurr didn’t know who their support coordinator was, and only three of 24 participants interviewed knew about the NDIS. First Nations people in remote areas miss out on disability services due to lack of support, inquiry hears The disability royal commission has this week examined service barriers faced by First Nations people in remote and very remote communities. “Some of the stories told in the Ngukurr report suggest ... somebody having to wait two years for a wheelchair,” counsel assisting the inquiry, Patrick Griffin SC, said on Friday. Scott McNaughton, delivery manager at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which implements the scheme, said the wait time was not good enough. McNaughton said there has been a “lot of work” since the report and the process for acquiring wheelchairs has been streamlined. He acknowledged the report concluded the mainstream NDIS delivery model was not working at Ngukurr and would not work in other remote areas. McNaughton said an ongoing review of remote and very remote strategies had found communications need to be tailored to meet the needs of First Nations people. “There’s a lot more work to be done,” he said. “Sometimes our policies and guidelines and practices seem to fit Sydney or Melbourne but may not fit Nhulunbuy or Galiwinku. “We need to spend more time communicating and listening to communities.” All six support coordinators for Ngukurr live in either Darwin or Katherine, 321km away, the inquiry was told. McNaughton said it was difficult to get NDIS planners to live in remote areas, citing high rental prices in Broome and a two-year recruiting struggle to fill a role in the Fitzroy River region. “Ideally we would like to have a much better national presence across multiple locations,” he said. He said the NDIA was now taking a whole-of-community service approach in Ngukurr, which has a population of about 1,000. The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability was established in 2019 and will deliver a final report to the federal government by September 2023. Hearings in Alice Springs this week have been told the NDIS has failed Indigenous people in remote areas and support was better under earlier models. www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/15/two-year-wait-for-a-wheelchair-inquiry-hears-of-difficulty-accessing-ndis-for-remote-indigenous-communities?fbclid=IwAR3Hh9Ui5j2AZu0BzfA3Mqfeey47uQOmDsKvW1_4XA60XJk48HHJmcjKJ2A
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Post by bear on Aug 29, 2022 20:25:01 GMT 7
‘I’ve got nothing’: inquiry hears of lack of suitable housing for people with disabilities after flood
Pensioner tells royal commission he had to go weeks without shower in unsuitable accommodation after NSW emergency
A Lismore disability pensioner who relies on a wheelchair remains homeless months after the devastating floods, the disability royal commission has been told.The royal commission on Monday commenced a five-day hearing examining the experiences of people with disability who are homeless or at risk at homelessness, including those sleeping rough, couch surfing or living in marginal accommodation. Flood victim Colin*, 58, told the inquiry he was currently in “limbo” as he was being bounced around different short-stay hotels. The disability support pensioner was staying at his sister’s home when the floods hit in February this year and he described the dramatic moment when he was rescued by two locals in a “tinnie”. NSW’s rejection of basic accessible home standards ‘salt in the wound’ for disabled people He said the weeks after the flood had been a “blur” and he’d finally been provided emergency accommodation after exchanging a few choice words with the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, when he had been visiting the area. Since then he has stayed in motels and caravan parks in Tweed Heads and Ballina, among other places, usually for a few weeks at most. He is currently in temporary accommodation at Lennox Head. Colin, who has lived in Lismore his entire life, said being housed in other towns meant he was isolated from family support. And he said the motels offered by the NSW state government lacked cooking facilities and were not accessible for him. Sometimes it meant “14 days without a shower”, Colin said. “I‘ve got no support, I’ve got nothing. I’ve got no way of cooking food, there is no fridge … [The] bathroom I can’t use,” he said. In her opening remarks, senior counsel assisting, Kate Eastman, said the evidence was likely to identify a number of systemic issues including “a lack of affordable, suitable and accessible housing for people with disability and an over-reliance on crisis and temporary accommodation”. New figures presented on Monday showed that in 2021-22 there were 6,306 NDIS participants were either homeless or at risk of homelessness. That included 1,594 who were confirmed as homeless, the data showed. There are about 500,000 NDIS participants in Australia. First Nations people in remote areas miss out on disability services due to lack of support, inquiry hears Separately, an estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggested about 10,200 people with severe or profound disability had experienced some form of homelessness in 2016. The royal commission chair, Ronald Sackville, said the figures revealed “a significant social problem that demands attention”. “Of course, NDIS participants are not the only people with disability who experience homelessness or are at risk of homelessness,” he said. “Additional data will be presented during this hearing to provide a more complete picture of people with disability who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.” Eastman said the people with severe or profound disability were also over-represented among certain forms of marginal housing. These included boarding houses, which were a focus of the evidence of another witness, Charlotte*, who told how she had stayed in boarding houses in the 1980s and 90s. Indigenous boy featured in NDIS promotional material placed in state care after funding cut Charlotte, who lives with a number of disabilities including schizophrenia, said she had experienced violence and abuse from the owner and other residents at the boarding houses. In a statement to the royal commission, Charlotte detailed shocking abuse in the facilities, which are regularly criticised by advocates as unsafe and exploitative. “I was hit and raped while I was living there,” she said. “One time I got hit so hard on the back of the head that it bled. I still get scared sometimes if people touch my head or brush my hair because it reminds me of being assaulted there.” Dawn*, 78, told the inquiry she lives in a Marrickville boarding house. She said she had previously slept rough, including when residents in past boarding houses had made her feel unsafe. “You learn to be quiet so they can’t hear you,” she said. *Names are pseudonyms given by the royal commission. www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/29/ive-got-nothing-inquiry-hears-of-lack-of-suitable-housing-for-people-with-disabilities-after-flood
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Post by nomadic on Aug 29, 2022 20:37:09 GMT 7
I thought I was reading about Niger or the Central African Republic for a while. Imagine how bad it must be in those poor countries for their disabled. Then I realised Australia is no different in real terms.
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Post by bear on Sept 3, 2022 6:43:07 GMT 7
Disability royal commission hears of abuse, neglect and fraud in supported residential system
Victorian facility did not breach legislation for failing to afford woman dignity by declaring she was no longer technically a resident because she had died
A Victorian regulator elected not to punish a disability home for failing to afford a 65-year-old woman dignity because her death meant she was “no longer” legally a “resident”, an inquiry has been told.The disability royal commission, which is examining housing and homelessness issues this week, has spent the past two days investigating the troubled supported residential services (SRS) system. About 30% of SRS residents are also national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) participants, but the sector is regulated by state authorities that have been criticised as “reactive”. Georgia Wilson told the royal commission her mother died at a Melbourne SRS facility on 13 April 2020, only a few months after moving in. Kaye Wilson had a mental health condition and was living with 27 other people in the facility, which was not named in the hearing. Georgia Wilson told the inquiry that when she entered the facility to formally identify her mother, she was lying on concrete outside the dining room in a communal area, covered by a tarpaulin. Wilson said she had been told by police that paramedics had moved her mother from a couch to the floor to revive her, and when CPR failed they determined she had died of natural causes. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Paramedic reports obtained by Wilson months later contradicted some of that version of events, the inquiry heard. These reports “stated that my mother was sitting on the ground, not on the couch [and she was] deceased for two and a half hours before they arrived,” Wilson said. “And her [cause of] death could not be determined because of the amount of time she was lying there, so she needed to go to a coroner. I was told she didn’t [need to be referred to the coroner].” Under questioning, director of the human services regulator at Victoria’s department of health and human services, Anthony Kolmus, said investigators wanted to issue a compliance notice to the SRS for the way it treated Kaye Wilson upon her death. But they determined the SRS facility had not breached the legislation. The chair of the disability royal commission, Ronald Sackville, noted the relevant law included the “right to … dignity and respect” for residents. “The view we formed was that the fact that the person was deceased technically meant they were no longer a resident,” Kolmus said. Sackville noted there might be some dispute over that interpretation of the law. Kolmus said the regulator could have “done better” in dealing with Wilson’s complaint and he understood her “level of distress”. He also conceded the department was “less proactive” than he’d like but felt it was still effective as regulator. The department has not issued an infringement notice against a provider since at least 2019, and possibly since 2010, the inquiry heard. It heard claims of abuse, neglect and fraud in SRS homes and the potential of confusion between state watchdogs and the NDIS commission, which oversees NDIS providers. There was no requirement for SRS providers to be registered, meaning they did not necessarily need to report serious incidents to the NDIS commission. It was also alleged some facilities had been “double-dipping” – claiming residents’ NDIS funding and charging for the same service from fees taken from their disability pension. Wilson said her mother was charged $490 a week – her entire disability pension – and that the SRS manager had also asked for the details of her NDIS plan. Her mother was a vegetarian and was regularly served only an egg on toast for dinner. It was in contrast to the picture painted by the manager when her mother moved in, the inquiry heard. Wilson said she had been told her mother would have all her daily needs catered for, including “medical care, appointments with the GP who would visit the SRS twice a week and assistance with self-care”. Wilson later learned from the funeral home that her mother’s body had been physically dirty, with tattered clothes, two socks on one foot, a hole in the bottom of her shoe and wet feet. And she was told by a doctor that her mother had stopped taking her medication, contradicting the manager of the SRS. Wilson said her mother had been treated “as a number and a pay cheque”. The department of health and human services finalised its investigation into the SRS one year after Kaye Wilson’s death. Wilson said she had not received an apology and the department did not respond to her requests for further meetings. The inquiry continues. www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/02/disability-royal-commission-hears-of-abuse-neglect-and-in-supported-residential-system
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Post by bear on Oct 10, 2022 12:50:53 GMT 7
Abuse of people with disability in public places at the centre of this week's DRC hearing — a topic many Australians know all too well.
Last week I was standing on the corner of a crowded intersection waiting to cross the road.
The type of thing many of us do, day in, day out.Nothing extraordinary here, I know. That was until I noticed a man staring, unashamedly, at my prosthetic leg. In that moment, I wished that I could've shrunk away into the crowd around me. He glanced up and gave an awkward smile, I frowned back, too scared and embarrassed to tell him to stop. When the pedestrian signal went green, he continued to stare as I hurried across the road, desperate to get out of his line of vision. To many people, it may not seem like a big deal. But when you are subjected to constant staring, or other forms of harassment — it really starts to wear you down. Elizabeth Wright said as a person living with disability you learn to be vigilant and modify your behaviour.(ABC News: Brendan Esposito) For me, it might not happen for weeks. Then, it can happen three times in one day — with people staring or asking intrusive questions about my limb difference. This week we'll hear from dozens of people across Australia who have encountered this type of abuse — and likely far worse — at the disability royal commission (DRC). The witnesses will describe incidents of harassment, verbal abuse, physical assault and threatening behaviour across a range of settings, including on the street, on public transport, and online platforms. Someone who has experienced abuse in public is 28-year-old Laura Pettenuzzo. Ms Pettenuzzo lives with cerebral palsy and is an ambulatory wheelchair user, meaning she only uses her wheelchair when necessary. It means getting on and off public transport like a tram isn't the easiest thing for her. Just like me, Ms Pettenuzzo goes up and down stairs one leg at a time, and frequently requires a rest. Laura Pettenuzzo says she avoided catching public transport after what happened. (ABC News: Patrick Stone) During a recent, short tram ride in Melbourne, she took a moment to rest on one of the stairs as she boarded. The driver yelled at her. "I tried to say I'm so sorry, I have a disability," she said. "He just gestured with his arms as if to say, 'what are you doing? I don't care.'" Living with limb differenceAyelet Marha was born with a form of hand difference called symbrachydactyly. She shares photos of her "nubbins" on her travel Instagram account, instead of selfies. Once Ms Pettenuzzo was on the tram, she started to worry about what would happen once she got to her stop. "If it was that difficult for me to get onto the tram, how am I going to get off? What if he yelled at me again," she said. She hasn't used public transport since. "The thought of getting on a tram now just makes me feel really uncomfortable." Abuse of people of short stature While the hearing, starting today in Brisbane, will look at the broader experience of people with disability, the first two days will focus more on the abuse and violence against people of short stature. Sam Millard is the national president of Short Statured People of Australia. Sam Millard said the abuse of short statured people put them in unsafe situations. (ABC News: Patrick Stone) He believed the abuse against people of short stature in public places was a significant issue. "It's just as simple as words, people taking photos and sharing them through social media, or physical acts of either aggression or what is seemed to be at the time in good jest humour," he said. "But it puts people in significantly unsafe situations." Mr Millard said people of short stature were often viewed through the inaccurate stereotype created in pop culture. "Whether it's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, whether it's Lord of the Rings, all those kinds of things, I think to some extent that influences the public perception of people with dwarfism," he said. "Those kinds of things really have a flow on effect to the public." Catherine McAlpine, the chief executive of Inclusion Australia, the national peak body for intellectual disability, said this general lack of respect lead to exclusion from the community. "When you feel like you're always on display, you just feel like there's this whole lack of privacy, you know, you never get to just be another face in the crowd," she said. "These things that happen as microaggressions and they are accumulative,." It is these microaggressions that create a burden for many people with disability, including myself and Ms Pettenuzzo. Ms Pettenuzzo has been subjected to "an ongoing pattern of systemic violence" in her life — and it has taken me a long time to realise I have as well. In my experience it is not just staring -- there's the intrusive questions, inappropriate sexual comments and requests from people wanting to touch my body and prosthetic leg. As a person with disability, you learn to be vigilant and modify your behaviour and where you go in public, just to feel safe. "Other times, I guess I just get exhausted and I just get sad and I just cry because it feels like things aren't going to change," Ms Pettenuzzo said. I get exhausted too, and I feel sad and frustrated that it feels like nothing will ever change. But, like Ms Pettenuzzo too, I realise that for change to happen, you have to keep hope. "I'm hopeful because I know that I'm not alone and I am part of the disability community," she said. "I know that there are allies out there who can and will support us and push for the changes that we need." amp.abc.net.au/article/101513590
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Post by bear on Oct 13, 2022 5:08:29 GMT 7
Woman of short stature tells inquiry how men yelling abuse triggered ‘trauma reaction’
Insults caused woman to lose control when walking on roadway, she says, while another witness says public harassment is common
A woman of short stature has told how she has been spat on, sexually harassed, followed and was even hassled by strangers the night before she appeared at a royal commission.In the second day of a five-day hearing, the disability royal commission on Tuesday received more disturbing evidence of people with disability being abused and harassed in public places. Fiona Strahan, who works as project officer with Disability Voices Tasmania, said her legs were “shaking” as she recounted the time she was harassed by a group of men in Hobart. Strahan had been walking on the street when men in two cars started yelling abuse at her. “It first started off as jokes like, ‘Here mate, here is your girlfriend,’ you know; ‘here is your new wife’ or something like that,” Strahan said. ‘They yell at you’: woman with dwarfism reveals ‘deeply offensive’ abuse received in publicShe was so fearful of being face-to-face with the men when the cars stopped at an upcoming set of traffic lights that a “trauma” response kicked in and she immediately started jaywalking in front of traffic in another direction, she said. “The second car didn’t see me and screeched to a halt,” she said. “Then the third car saw me and I got to the other roadside of the road and by that time I was so completely in the middle of a very deep kind of trauma reaction … I had lost control of what I was doing.” In another incident, Strahan said three men had blocked her path and demanded to take her picture. “I had my hand out the entire time of the conversation … and they kind of got closer and they said, ‘Come on, come on, you’re really cute,’” she said. “Then it’s like, ‘Well, what about a cuddle and a kiss?’ And it’s like, ‘No.’ And this is in the middle of the goddamn day.” Strahan said she had also been spat on in the past. On Monday night, she said, she had been with some colleagues who were also of short stature when a group of young men followed them and started talking loudly about “how many of us they had seen”. She said many of these experiences were examples of “hate” that were similar to those of people who faced racism or homophobia. Strahan has also been photographed without her consent, echoing evidence given by artist and academic Dr Debra Keenahan, who is also of short stature, during Monday’s hearing. Jenni, a pseudonym given to another witness who gave evidence on Tuesday, recounted an incident where a large family of people demanded to take photos of her husband and baby daughter. Jenni and her husband are of short stature, while their daughter, who is now nine, is not. She said she had been at the chemist when she received a distressed phone call from her husband. “They wanted to high-five him and all that comical stuff because it’s so much fun to meet a person of short stature,” Jenni said sarcastically. “The group of people were just harassing him, wanting to take a photo and then realising he’s got our baby with him. They said: ‘We want a photo of you and your baby.’” The strangers had taken their photos without their consent, despite her husband’s repeated refusals. Jenni said the experience was common. “From that moment on, every time we took [our daughter] out it was just constant harassment of ‘Can we take a photo of you?’” she said. “You say no. But they still take a photo.” Her daughter was now at the age where she was trying to defend her parents, which Jenni said was unfair. She didn’t post photos of the family on social media and avoided public places, such as the Melbourne show or large festivals, as a result. The inquiry heard on Monday that only Tasmania and the ACT had laws prohibiting the vilification of people based on their disability. The hearings continue. amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/11/woman-of-short-stature-tells-inquiry-how-men-yelling-abuse-at-her-triggered-trauma-reaction
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Post by bear on Oct 30, 2022 3:20:58 GMT 7
People from migrant and non-English backgrounds tell royal commission of challenges accessing disability services
Anaab Rooble was excited to have the opportunity to tell the disability royal commission about the lifetime of challenges she had faced, but even getting to the hearing proved a "nightmare".
Key points:The disability royal commission hearing has been focusing this past week on people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds Witnesses have told the hearing how cultural barriers add to difficulties they experience living with disability Language barriers were raised as a problem that many participants face when navigating the NDIS The irony was not lost on Ms Rooble that, on her way to the inquiry, the lift at Melbourne's Southern Cross station was out of order and she almost didn't make it. Speaking to the ABC, the 43-year-old — who wears a brace and walks with a limp — said that finding accessible routes across the city was always a challenge. "I'm not disabled because of my disability," she said. "I'm disabled because of the infrastructure." Ms Rooble was a witness at this week's disability royal commission hearing that is looking into the barriers faced by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people with disability. When she was 17, Ms Rooble arrived in Australia from Somalia as a refugee. "I was told: 'You can never get married. You can never get a job'," Ms Rooble said. Anaab Rooble says inaccessible workplaces have impacted her career progression. "I have faced many obstacles, but belonging to a society that has no respect for disabled people is the hardest." When Ms Rooble was a toddler, a medical mishap impaired her right leg. Unable to access prosthetics or orthotics in Somalia, she crawled until she was 7 years of age. Ms Rooble told the inquiry that, even in Australia, every single day refugees with disabilities faced barriers in accessing education, healthcare and employment. "In general, women need to break the glass ceiling but when you add other diverse layers, such as refugees, migrants, persons of colour, and disability, the glass gets thicker," Ms Rooble said. With a bachelor of accounting and a masters in human resources management, Ms Rooble has worked for almost 20 years in the public service. She's also the treasurer and a board director of Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV). Ms Rooble said that, along with convincing someone she could do the job, she always had to work out whether she could actually get there. "It was not my disability that held me back in progressing my career, the barrier was inaccessible workplaces, which substantially impacted my career progression." Language barriersUnlike at other hearings, many witnesses during this part of the royal commission gave evidence through language or Auslan interpreters. They spoke about the challenges people from non-English backgrounds experienced when navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Advocate Esther Simbi told the hearing that there were also cultural barriers to accessing the scheme, including "stigma and shame". "Some people fear being rejected by [their] community and that's why they are not applying for the NDIS," Ms Simbi said. Advocate Esther Simbi told the disability royal commission in Melbourne that cultural barriers to accessing the NDIS include "stigma and shame". Ms Simbi came to Australia in 2005 after 19 years in refugee camps in Uganda. Originally from Sudan, she acquired a physical disability after contracting polio as a child. Ms Simbi said that, in some African cultures, it was hard for people with disability to have choice and autonomy. She said that "gatekeepers" — who were often other family members — made decisions on their behalf. Under questioning, the representative of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Sarah Johnson, agreed there was a lack of clear information about the NDIS in different languages and the application process was confusing and frustrating. Ms Johnson said the NDIA was reviewing its CALD strategy and its findings would be published in April next year. Support services confusingA woman, originally from Iraq, told the inquiry about her difficulties using an interpreter to get support and services from the NDIS while living in regional Victoria. Known to the royal commission as ZA, the woman spoke about her 14-year-old daughter who was born in Australia and lives with the genetic disorder DiGeorge syndrome. ZA said it was two years before her daughter's support coordinator with a service provider made them aware that they were eligible for formula and nappies from the NDIS. When ZA confronted him, he offered her money and he said that, even if her daughter had access to "supports and services for 100 years, she would not learn". Anaab Rooble lives with a physical disability and has to plan her trips to make sure she can access public transport and her intended destination. Ms Rooble — who is married with three children — told the ABC she did not want anyone to feel sorry for her. "I take pride in my disability and see it as a blessing not a burden." She was recently appointed to the Victorian African Communities Committee, which provides advice to the state government. "I am a woman who wears a hijab, as I belong to the Muslim faith, a refugee, an African migrant, a person with disability and a woman of colour," Ms Rooble said. "It is part of my intersectional identity and I would not trade it for the world." amp.abc.net.au/article/101585014
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Post by bear on Nov 20, 2022 14:36:06 GMT 7
Australians living under state control are testifying at the Disability Royal Commission. But gag laws mean you won't see their faces
Long-silenced Australians — no doubt with a pseudonym — will this week give their accounts of life under state control to the Disability Royal Commission.
"When people with a disability approach me as a lawyer, they express a sincere and genuine fear of 'the government', as they call it, which is the Public Guardian and Public Trustee, coming to make decisions for them."That's what lawyer Natalie Wade told Four Corners earlier this year, as part of our program, State Control — a year-long investigation into the secretive guardianship and administration system which controls the lives of 50,000 Australians. The "decisions" this system makes are fundamental to these people’s human rights, including where someone lives, what medical treatment they have, how much of their own money they are allocated and what they can spend it on. Pop icon Britney Spears was placed under similar orders in the US for 14 years. In that case, her father was given authority over her. In Australia, "state control" is supposed to be a last resort, with families and friends supposedly preferred to assist a loved one. However, in some states, family are often rejected in favour of public guardians and trustees. Public guardians and trustees across the country argue that they're stepping in to ensure vulnerable people aren't neglected or exploited. That's because these people have been deemed to be lacking capacity due to cognitive disabilities like stroke, dementia, a mental illness or an intellectual disability. Unlike the Britney Spears case, the issue is relatively unknown here because virtually every government in Australia makes it a criminal offence for the media to identify anyone "under orders". Gag laws mean publishing a story — even after someone has died — is against the law in most of the country, with penalties ranging from hefty fines to a jail sentence for journalists. That’s why the ABC went to the Supreme Courts in Western Australia and Queensland to fight to identify some of those people. We won, and were able to expose extraordinary fees and legal costs charged unknowingly to clients with cognitive disabilities. Hearings of heartacheThis week some of these long-silenced people will be giving their accounts of life under state control to the disability royal commission. If any of their stories are like the emails we received following our Four Corners, there will be plenty of heartache on display. Chris is one of the few people to escape the Public Trustee system. The ordeal cost him $1 million A Four Corners investigation reveals how people are virtually abducted and silenced under a system designed to protect Australia's vulnerable. People tell us they have barely enough to live on and have to beg for extra money for Christmas and holidays. Families says their relatives with intellectual disabilities are placed in group homes against their will. Those who try to escape the system find the process overwhelming and are often denied their own funds to hire a lawyer to assist. Even if they do find the funds to hire a solicitor, they need to apply for "special leave" to attend the hearing. Meanwhile, the Public Guardian and Public Trustee have in-house legal experts who are well versed in the process. This imbalance is one reason why the vast majority of people under orders remain so for their entire lives. The public trustees are largely self-funded, only surviving by charging fees from their incapacitated "customers", as they are called, which total millions of dollars every year. In Queensland, someone can be paying more than a third of their disability pension in fees. Then there's the conflicts of interest. The Office of the Public Trustee in Queensland in particular has been criticised for putting people's money in their own investment funds — for which it earns management fees — and taking a slice of earnings. Despite an independent report by the Public Advocate labelling this a breach of the agency's fiduciary duties, the Queensland government has ignored those findings. Like other states and territories, it's in the Queensland government's interests to keep the Public Trustee an independent, self-funded entity rather than a department requiring funding from state coffers. It's not peanuts we're talking about here. State trustees across the country manage assets worth more than $13 billion, yet there is no transparency into their investment practices. NDIS providers moving inAnd there's another worrying new trend. Anybody can make an application to state tribunals to have the Public Guardian and Trustee installed — including aged care and NDIS providers. Families have contacted us about NDIS providers trying to wrest control of their loved ones with intellectual disabilities by going to state tribunals with allegations which they say are unfounded. They say this sometimes happens when families make complaints or are about to sack providers, meaning the company is about to lose a contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the provider is successful, it means the family loses control over their loved one who is then moved into a group home -- often against their will -- and the provider gets an even larger taxpayer funded package and this time with no financial oversight. Public Trustee office faces questions over feesQueensland's Public Trustee office faces accusations of excessive charges and fees for no service, while others say its business model contains an inherent conflict of interest. Our Four Corners program in March calculated that one man was $1 million worse off after his time with the Public Trustee, prompting the Queensland government to announce two inquiries. Eight months later, the findings are yet to be released. In the wake of our story, Queensland's Public Advocate recommended the gag laws in that state be lifted. The Public Guardian, Public Trustee and the Attorney General, Shannon Fentiman, have all indicated their opposition to this, saying it puts vulnerable people at risk of exploitation if it becomes publicly known that they are under the Guardian and Trustee. When the hearings at the Disability Royal Commission start tomorrow, journalists won't be able to identify any witnesses who are under the Public Guardian and Trustee. Instead, they’ll be given pseudonyms. That means media coverage will likely be limited, because journalists can’t illustrate their story with photos and give a human face to their real life problems. And without publicity, a system which is fundamental to people’s human rights remains hidden when what is desperately required is some sunlight on this social policy. Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman and Ali Russell won the Gold Walkley this week, as well as the award for Public Service Journalism, for their investigation, State Control. Related StoriesChris is one of the few people to escape the Public Trustee system. The ordeal cost him $1 million Chris Pearson expressing relief after four years in a nursing home Expert says the way the Public Trustee office managed Luka's inheritance was 'unforgivable' A young woman sits by a body of water, looking serious. We could be jailed for publishing Sarah's face or name, but there are calls for that to change amp.abc.net.au/article/101670046
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Post by nomadic on Sept 15, 2023 18:56:55 GMT 7
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Post by bear on Sept 15, 2023 21:18:54 GMT 7
So nothing new here then, as there always seems to be lots of looking at RC recommendations, with very very few of them ever fully implemented to benefit the aggrieved.
Other than exposing further just how despicable our alleged 'democracy' is and employing favoured silks on big public salaries, exactly what is the point of any RC? Cheers 🐻
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Post by itsmylife08 on Sept 16, 2023 15:51:31 GMT 7
So nothing new here then, as there always seems to be lots of looking at RC recommendations, with very very few of them ever fully implemented to benefit the aggrieved. Other than exposing further just how despicable our alleged 'democracy' is and employing favoured silks on big public salaries, exactly what is the point of any RC? Cheers 🐻 Exactly bear what is the point in any Royal Commission, when all we've got is a different Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? The more things seem to change, the more they remain the same!!! Cheers Itsa
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