Submissions, Consultations and Forums

DARU Update

2 August 2011

·  ON THE MOVE

·  IN THE NEWS

·  EVENTS

·  PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES

·  TRAINING

·  SUBMISSIONS, CONSULTATIONS AND FORUMS

·  FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

·  PAID AND VOLUNTARY POSITIONS

ON THE MOVE

AAA Moved to South Melbourne

The Arts Access Australia office is hosted by different member organisations at different times. They have moved into a new space with Arts Access Victoria at 222 Bank Street in South Melbourne. You can reach AAA on 03 8640 6014 (voice) or 0419 201 338 (voice / text), or by email at

DCV Changes

Christine Williams has retired from the position of Chairperson at DCV but will continue as a committee member. Their new Chairperson is Peter Thomson, with Jason Anderson elected as Vice Chair

Field has New Premises

As of Monday 25 July field's new address is Level 4, 99 Queen Street, Melbourne, 3000.

There will be no change to email addresses and mobile numbers.

For a full listing of updated landline phone contacts, visit:

http://www.field.org.au/about/contact.htm

IN THE NEWS

Government Overhauls Disability Pension

ABC News July 30, 2011

Early estimates suggest almost 40 per cent of people who currently qualify for the Disability Support Pension would be rendered ineligible for the payment under changes announced by the Federal Government. In the first review of the rules since 1993, new impairment tables have been created to judge who is eligible to claim the benefit.

A Centrelink test of the new tables found four out of every 10 people who qualified for the benefit earlier this year would not qualify under the new regime. Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin says the new impairment tables will only apply to people who are eligible for the disability pension from January 1, 2012.

"This will start on the first of January for people that are eligible from the first of January, not for people that are currently on the disability pension," she told ABC News 24."People have been assessed under the existing impairment tables and of course they've gone through the proper process. "But what we've done over the last two years is we've got new advice... to change the impairment tables to better reflect what people can do.

"The problem is they haven't been assessed since 1993 and of course a lot of things have improved in that time. We need to make sure that the impairment tables keep up with medical practice."

Ms Macklin says the tougher rules are aimed at helping more people benefit from employment. "We know how important it is to provide support for people with disabilities who want to work and we will give them the support to get that employment," she said. She says the current rules have inconsistencies that need to be cleared up. "Making sure that when a hearing impairment is assessed that you assess the person with their hearing aid on," she said. "That hasn't been a requirement in the past even though a person with a sight impairment was assessed wearing their glasses."

The changes include the introduction of guidelines for people with episodic mental health conditions, while people who are obese or have chronic pain will be judged on their capacity to work.

"It's like moving from a medical model of disability to what's called a social model, which many of us have been advocating for, for many years." Mental Health Council of Australia CEO Frank Quinlan says an overhaul is long overdue.

"It looks much more at what people are able to do successfully in society, or in their day-to-day life, rather than looking at simply listing particular medical diagnoses," he said.

But the Australian Council of Social Service says it is worried the Federal Government's plans to get disabled people into the workforce will instead force them onto unemployment benefits. The council's CEO, Dr Cassandra Goldie, says if the plan is going to work employers need to be encouraged to take on workers with disabilities.

"If this reform is going to work, then it's absolutely critical that both government as a major employer - and their track record is not great - and business more generally really steps up and makes a commitment to offer the kinds of jobs people with a disability would love to have the opportunity to take," she said.

To read the full story, visit:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-30/government-announce-disability-pension-change/2817162

$6bn Scheme for the Disabled

Peter Martin, The Age, August 1, 2011

Victoria has been chosen to test a $6 billion national disability insurance scheme that its backers claim will be the biggest social reform since Medicare. The scheme, which is among recommendations from the Productivity Commission to be delivered to the government today, will provide high-quality long-term support to anyone who acquires a significant disability, regardless of whether it was related to work and regardless of the state in which it took place.

The recommendations to be delivered to Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten today are understood to set out a timetable for the trial and name Victoria as the host state.

Funded out of Commonwealth revenue at an estimated cost of $6.3 billion per year, the scheme would provide support services to about 360,000 Australians under strict guidelines.

Whereas Medicare is funded by a levy paid by all taxpayers, the Productivity Commission has made no such recommendation on the disability insurance scheme, saying that the government should fund the scheme out of general revenue.

The trial would begin in 2014 and the scheme would go national in 2015, gradually expanding in scope. The scheme would be managed by an independent National Disability Insurance Agency, whose board would be appointed by state,

To read the full story, visit:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/6bn-scheme-for-the-disabled-20110731-1i6k5.html#ixzz1Tj2hR4Ue

Disabled Umpire Abused by Spectators

Aaron Langmaid, Herald Sun, August 01, 2011

An intellectually disabled umpire attacked in an ugly case of spectator abuse says he was so hurt by the incident he almost walked away from the game for good.

David Frazer, 27, was stunned and angry after he was singled out by a footy fan after the last quarter of a Geelong and District Football League match between North Geelong and Thomson last month.

It is alleged the man yelled: "Get off the field you Down syndrome c---." The abuse was considered so aggressive that incensed umpiring colleagues filed a formal complaint.

Mr Frazer, who lives with a mild learning disability, said it took a while for the full impact of the derogatory remarks to sink in.

"I was dumbfounded, I couldn't believe somebody would say that," Mr Frazer said. "I live my life like any other person, but it wasn't until I was driving home that I realised just how it had upset me."

Umpiring director Steve Keating said the latest incident was an indictment on small-minded supporters. "This was an example of human behaviour at its lowest ebb," Mr Keating said.

But he stressed the North Geelong Football Club had since apologised on behalf of the spectator involved.

To read the full story, visit:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/footys-field-of-dreams-defiled-by-spectators-gibe/story-e6frf7l6-1226105708905

When the Visitors Call

Michelle Griffin, The Age, 27 July 2011

The knock on the door can come at any time. On one recent Saturday night, community visitors Jenny Perry and Dawn Richardson arrived at a private home for people with an intellectual disability to discover that dinner was two-minute noodles.

''As we were writing that down, the proprietor came up and said, 'I've added chicken and ham now, you have to write that down,' '' remembers Richardson, 67, a retiree who has been inspecting disability services for 10 years. ''It was that loaf stuff, like Spam. It insulted the noodles more.''

When Victoria's first public advocate, Ben Bodna, was appointed 25 years ago to protect the rights of the state's most vulnerable people - those living with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses and/or dementia - he established a volunteer taskforce to inspect the residences in which these people lived.

Since the first group of community visitors was recruited in December 1987, they have exposed systemic abuse in institutions such as Kew Cottages, Aradale Psychiatric Hospital and Janefield, a Burwood training institute for the intellectually disabled.

In January, the current Public Advocate, Colleen Pearce, revealed volunteers had lodged 86 reports of violence against people with cognitive impairments or mental illness over the past four years.

In March, the dogged persistence of a community visitor prompted the Ombudsman to investigate a departmental cover-up of the assault of a disabled man by his carers in a Clayton facility.

It was the community visitor who discovered the profoundly handicapped man, who cannot speak, had been dragged 16 metres down a hallway on his back and forced on to a bus. His severe carpet burns were not discovered or treated for 24 hours, and the community visitor was fobbed off by the department with reassurances that were ultimately proved false.

But the community visitor scheme is in crisis. The number of people under guardianship orders, meant to be issued as a last resort, ballooned from 1088 in 2005 to 1574 in 2010, mainly due to the rising numbers of frail elderly unable to make decisions for themselves.

Meanwhile, more than 1300 disabled adults are waiting for places in residential services as their parents grow old or die. The complexity of each case the office oversees is matched by the complexity of the paperwork involved. At a time when many organisations are struggling to recruit volunteers, the number of community volunteers is decreasing.

The Public Advocate may soon have powers to also investigate reported abuses of the disabled or the elderly in private homes, if changes to the 1986 Guardianship Act proposed by the Victorian Law Reform Commission are approved by the state government later this year.

To read the full story, visit:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/when-the-visitors-call-20110726-1hyop.html#ixzz1TH0xaHBS

MP Kelly Vincent Seeks Legislation to Give Disabled People Voice in Court

Police Reporter Doug Robertson, Adelaide Now, 26 July 2011

Charges against a man who allegedly abused disabled children were dropped on the basis that the child's evidence was unreliable.

Dignity for Disability MP Kelly Vincent has called for police to establish a dedicated branch of officers specifically trained in dealing with victims of crime who have a serious intellectual disability and do not communicate in orthodox ways.

Ms Vincent's pleas came after prosecutors in Christies Beach Magistrates Court yesterday dropped four child sex charges against a man, 56, as alleged victims could not give evidence. He was alleged to have assaulted two boys with communication disabilities.

The Advertiser last month revealed Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner Leena Sudano and Public Advocate John Brayley met senior police to discuss cases of rape and serious sexual assault against the disabled that had not been investigated.

About 50 protesters, many wearing T-shirts inscribed with "I am my son's voice", heckled the man outside court yesterday. "If the Government needed further evidence that the system is failing to protect people with disabilities then this child's horrendous story provides that," Ms Vincent said.

"The Education Minister Jay Weatherill, Minister for Police Kevin Foley and Attorney-General John Rau should immediately start making changes in their departments to address this child protection black hole.

"We need to train specific police units dedicated to people with communication disabilities or people whose disabilities are going to make giving evidence very difficult."

A police spokesman said "specific and specialist training" was provided to officers investigating allegations of sexual assault, including those interviewing vulnerable victims.

Vanessa, the mum of a disabled boy, said carers who worked with people with communication difficulties should be able to speak in court for those who could not.

"If you speak a different language you have an interpreter. If you're blind you have someone helping you with braille," she said.

"Where is (the justice) for our children?"

To read the full article, visit:

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/court-case-renews-call-for-action/story-e6frea83-1226102219777

United Nations Economic and Social Council Ministerial Declaration on Education

Adopted 8 July 2011

The United Nations Economic and Social Council - ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review on internationally agreed commitments on education took place in Geneva from 4-8 July 2011. The outcome ministerial declaration refers to the rights of persons with disabilities, and to the need for improving data collection on education:

"22. We stress the importance of ensuring that persons with disabilities, in particular children and youth, have equal opportunities to participate fully in education and in community life, including through the removal of barriers that impede the realization of their rights, and of fostering, at all levels of the educational system, including among all children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities.

40. We recognize the need to enhance national capacity for strategic planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of qualitative and quantitative targets, as appropriate, in order to achieve the education-related goals.

IDA drafted a position paper on the right to education and made an oral statement during the session. Advocacy was conducted on the declaration. IDA's position paper can be viewed at:

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.un.org%2Fdisabilities%2Fdocuments%2FCOP%2FIDA%2520CRPD%2520paper.doc&rct=j&q=IDA%20position%20paper%20rights%20to%20education&ei=myYyTuPFMMLKrAf2hITZCw&usg=AFQjCNGdCGqMuPe0TpueiStRQVXGufKk_g

The ministerial declaration can be viewed at:

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2011/L.28

For more information, visit:

http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/newfunct/amr2011.shtml

EVENTS

Opportunities for Advocacy under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010

When: / Wednesday 10 August, 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Where: / Lionel Murphy Centre, 360 Queen Street, Melbourne
Register: / RSVP to (03) 9269 0353 or email .

This seminar is presented by The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and Victoria Legal Aid.

The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 comes into force on 1 August 2011. The final seminar in the anti-discrimination law seminar series will explore opportunities for advocacy resulting from some of the more significant changes in the new Act.

Rob Daly, Manager of Victoria Legal Aid’s Social Inclusion and Equality Program, will discuss these opportunities and ways in which the Act may allow for a departure from existing jurisprudence.