Australians with disabilities need some positive help

[donnashuggy]

Seems like they are being punished instead and life is going to be made harder for them.

[bella_again]

Well actually I found our conversation interesting Crikey. It's good to see things from both sides of the fence and try and gain some understanding I think. But you've made me think to.  So thanks for that 🙂

[bella_again]

Thanks for sharing that aritcle it is very well written Boris.  Going by the comments and the experiences in the UK I suspect you are very right.  The doctors are paid thousands to meet 'targets' the criteria is lessened and people expected to work with higher levels of disability except they can't and as a result are left in hopeless situations.

The NDIS is a joke, they allowed 35,000 according to the audit but in reality packages range from 12,000 to 16,000 on average with only those needing a high level of support reaching the 16,000.  It does little to assist the disabled toward work and does little to support families. A lot of packages are as low as 5,000 a year and are still very hard to access. In Victoria they plan on rolling over the existing ISP packages with DHS over to NDIS so it wouldn't cost any more anyway. But the fact remains that this is a disaster and does little to support the disabled and their families into the future.

[fourandsixpants]

People With a Disability Australia president Craig Wallace said there must be a focus on creating jobs.

And he has questioned how the Government can be considering changes before it has released a broader review of the welfare system by Patrick McClure.

"We haven't even seen the interim report of the McClure review, which is meant to provide a methodical and evidence-based approach," he said. (not due to be released for 6 months re. my research)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-10/people-on-disability-support-pension-ability-to-work-reassesse...

......The Treasurer's office has confirmed thousands of people under the age of 35 will be assessed by independent doctors appointed by the Government.

Why this select age?

What was the definitive reason for '35' ? .....have noticed that defence force recruitment ads are full on

......."The selection procedure carried out on the ramps was as follows: families were divided after leaving the train cars and all the people were lined up in two columns. The men and older boys were in one column, and the women and children of both sexes in the other. Next, the people were led to the camp doctors and other camp functionaries conducting selection. They judged the people standing before them on sight and, sometimes eliciting a brief declaration as to their age and occupation, decided whether they would live or die. 

Age was one of the principal criteria for selection. As a rule, all children below 16 years of age (from 1944, below 14) and the elderly were sent to die. As a statistical average, about 20% of the people in transports were chosen for labor. They were led into the camp, registered as prisoners, and assigned the next numbers in the various series. Of the approximately 1.1 million Jews deported to Auschwitz, about 200 thousand were chosen in this way. The remainder, about 900 thousand people, were killed in the gas chambers....."

http://en.auschwitz.org/h/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=32&limit=1&limitstart=...

[cutegrlcat · Accepted solution]

My son is 21 and has severe Autism and is unable to speak or co-ordinate his hands to do what he wants when he wants.  For example cannot use a keyboard or type or write on his own.  It is cruel to put the severely disabled through going to an indepenedent doctor to tell them the obvious.   OF COURSE HE CANNOT WORK, and its cruel to put us through this thoughtless medical reassessment.  What a load of rubbish...just rub his disability in his face again 😞

[fourandsixpants]

I hear you cutegricat. I am in a similar situation. No-one would understand unless they were in our boat and had seen and lived with what we have.

Can't see this Mob understanding the word 'kindness' at all. They seem to be on a mission which involves collecting money from the most vulnerable for the 'pot' so that in a few years the Treasurer and the Finance Minister can buy more cigars and puff away on a verandah somewhere at Parliament House whilst jovially patting each other on the back and congratulating themselves for a good job well done and a great big fat pot of money....

.....seen both happily puffing away.........

[polksaladallie]

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@paintsew007 wrote:

.....seen both happily puffing away.........

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They will have to use sign language when they lose their tongues to Ca.

[bella_again]

Cutegirl & Paints hopefully they won't bother with reassessing those who have been manifestially approved by centrelink and have significant disabilities.  I can relate also I have two girls in a similar situaiton, one higher functioning than the other but both need significant support.

It's difficult to say who will be targeted at this point but there was a figure of around 10,000 I'm guessing if they have any commonsense they will be reassessing those with some capacity to work you would hope. We hopefully will hear more budget night and get some clarity over what to expect.  Remember too they still have to get it through the senate so nothing is done and dusted yet!!

[fourandsixpants]

Your words are much appreciated thank you bella.

[cutegrlcat]

The stress placed on parents and carers of severely disabled children is enormous.  Imagine lying awake at night worrying about what would happen if you were to die suddenly, who would loook after your son or daughter?  I am an insomniac for this reason as the pressure to outlive my son and always be there for him is so stressful.  I have no delusions about the NDIS under the LNP being nothing but a watered down version of what it was proposed to be.  In all likelihood families will be WORSE off than they were before...and thats really saying something because it is pretty bad at the moment...where parents have to beg disability services for respite services, they have to beg govt for post-school services.  When I say BEG, I really mean it.  When my son left school at 18 I was offered a pittance for a post school support package.  Disability services belittled me constantly trying to make me go away!  See they bank on carers being too tired and too depressed to fight the system and so most of them don't, they've got no energy left after caring for their severely disabled loved ones.  Yes, this is how the govt has treated the disabled and their carers to date.  It took me 2 years of constantly harassing them and being the squeaky wheel to get my son the funding he deserved.   Recently a friend from my disability support group took her own life.  She had TWO severely Autistic sons and had had a nervous breakdown.  She begged them to give her respite for 2 days, JUST 2 LOUSY DAYS, and they refused.   Now those 2 young men are in state care at an enormous cost to the govt every year...and they have my friend's blood on there hands.   SHAME Australia and SHAME to Abbott for what I suspect he is about to do to the disabled by making things harder for them, while making it look on the surface like he is helping them.  Words fail me...

[bella_again]

Cutesgirl, I am so sorry to hear about your friend, my heart goes out to her and her family at this time.  I agree the services out there are so woefully inadequate.   I am also so sorry you've had to battle constantly in order to obtain the much needed funding for your boy, its just so crazy 😞  I've had similar issues with my girls post school, there's nothing there for them either.  I've had to push to get them into appropriate adult education that's over an hour away and means I have to hang around for five hours while caring for my other special needs daughter otherwise its four hours of driving which is crazy.

I too have often laid awake at night worrying about their future and whether they will have a hope of surviving in this crazy system. But their needs are not as complex as your son's sounds like.  Please try to really take care of yourself, I understand its hard and so stressful having to deal with the bureaucracy  and other stresses you face daily.  I hope that you have a good support network around you and with funding are able to access much needed services.

Take care x