A system that does do enough to protect or support the ones it was created for - lack of funding given, lack of CCTV protection, and lack of empathetic trained educated workers to help those who most need it...
A boy with cognitive and physical impairments died at Perth train station recently (ABC news Cason Ho, 20 June 2023) after an alleged altercation with transport staff in an underground station – he was detained with handcuffs and then suffered a medical episode and became unresponsive while being detained by guards, dying a short time later.
His parents said that he needed a support worker with him and had applied for funding for independent living in the months before this and Samantha Connor said that the family believes this tragedy could have been prevented if their application had not been denied and Josh had a support worker. Josh had a heart condition as well as physical and cognitive impairments and died following this altercation and being detained.
The article notes Samantha Connor’s comment that Josh didn’t have enough support, went to a train station, got into an altercation and died on the platform at Perth. “We’ve let this young person down” Ms Connor said.
Refusing to support someone who has disabilities and needs the funding is a sad indictment against the NDIS with the federal government planning to limit NDIS spending over the next 10 years and insisting it can save $74 billion over that time while ‘improving the participant experience’ seems a ludicrous claim considering how participants are not getting enough funding supports already or have to battle endless red tape to do so.
Now we see the push for ADHD kids to also have funding under NDIS yet Bill Shorten keeps saying he is cutting back the NDIS funds but will still give participants a great experience, what does that mean? It seems the NDIS gives with one hand and takes with the other so that the words of the minister are not ringing true. We also know with the recent robo-debt Royal Commission that the previous Mp for the NDIS, Stuart Robert is now in trouble along with Scott Morrison for designing this despicable program of accusing vulnerable people of owing debts that did not exist, and so these people seem to take delight in playing with the lives of those who are vulnerable in order to make more filthy lucre using whatever it takes including deceit.
Stuart Robert was always dubious as the minister for the NDIS a business man, who was a soldier originally, and nothing to with disabilities, he was hard callous and uncaring in his running of the NDIS and difficult to really trust or believe. I hope Bill Shorten will not be the same in running the NDIS, making statements of care while having goals of money as the main focus. His latest articles (did he write them?) loaded with a caring persona of sympathy for parents, and yet he still has done little in practical reality to protect those in disabilities from harm or abuse.
The transport minister noted of the incident of Josh’s death at the train station “there was live CCTV of the incident…it is all covered by CCTV, so its something that will be very clear for police investigators” (ABC News)
At least they have CCTV in the transport system because it is not in the NDIS disabilities system, so that preventable abuse or deaths are not being properly investigated for the vulnerable, and they need to be - since the providers make so much money and profits from our vulnerable children - the least they can do is provide protection and safety for these precious ones who cannot protect themselves. Support should be supplied to the vulnerable and many in disabilities are vulnerable everywhere, out in public and in schools and disabilities programs and respites or stays in care - I will not let my son go anywhere without a support worker. He would not survive without a one on one worker, and when he has been in disability programs he is at the mercy of the wolves he will not look after him properly - I got sick of the physical attacks made on him by workers who would lose tempers due to their own stress, high client ratio, and lack of support by their organizations. If he is alone he is at risk, even in disability programs, and with a worker he is safer, but only the right worker. Parents have to police and check workers themselves all the time, as the providers do not care who they give you. The NDIS is not making it safe for our vulnerable children at this present time. Without cameras the police are not willing to investigate any assaults or attacks that occur and that is not fair to deny our children police investigations or justice is completely unjust. The government owes it to the vulnerable to support and protect them and they signed the UN agreements saying they would but are failing to do so properly.
Parents are left living on the edge trying to get the right support for their disability children and trying to protect them from the wolves. The government should be regulating and checking all disabilities places and programs in person (not just online in real time we are dealing with human lives it is a mandate on the government do right by these vulnerable ones and not merely say they will while cutting off the funding to do so is hypocrisy.
We need to support each other to get the funding support from a Disability system that makes it hard as possible for parents to obtain the funding needed if at all. The rates of the NDIS charges keep lifting for the providers to charge the max to disabilities people they can yet the funding is not keeping at the same level or lifting enough to cover these. Bill Shorten in the same breath says the NDiS is costing too much but the government is making it cost too much by charging extreme rates through the providers and having so much administration while neglecting the actual human beings on the NDIS system. Humans need to check humans in the programs and respite or residential care regulating and keeping providers accountable, and CCTV is a must to catch abuse and crime everywhere else in public places even the police carry cameras for themselves why not the most vulnerable?
Maddeningly, even now it still is happening - when I see ads for disability workers they often boast “no experience needed” or “ No qualifications needed”! That’s right put unqualified inexperienced or untrained support workers with the most vulnerable and needy in society – how can that be right? Its criminal to do that to those who need to be looked after properly and often have complex physical, or cognitive needs, emotional needs who are frightened of the world – autistic children have a bigger amygdala in their brain than others where the flight fight response comes from and I suspect the same for Fragile-x children and adults the anxiety and fear can be high. Yet we give them support workers who are people straight out of Macdonalds restaurants and the like with no understanding or teaching on disabilities. These workers can actually put our children at risk instead of supporting or protecting them especially if they have no teaching, training or heart for the vulnerable.
This is gross injustice to those who need decent intelligent, empathetic care – even childcare workers must do two years at University or tafe to know about child development before they can be a childcare worker.
WE should do the same with disabilities even doing university or tafe while they are working – give the vulnerable in disabilities especially the non verbal - workers who care who have empathy and who have a brain that wants to learn more about disabilities, give them workers who have at least completed year 12 and can read properly and follow instructions and think about what they are doing. A person’s brain is not completely developed until 25 years old, up until then they can have all the knowledge but lack ability for making quick judgements which is why police are always checking on p-platers.
Why are young people made into support workers in disabilities who often lack the abilities to fulfil that role? At the least they should have an adult trained educated person supervising and training them in this role with the most vulnerable. There should be nurses also involved in disabilities who know the protocols. Throwing our precious children with workers who don’t know what they are doing or have no supports from their organisations is putting our children at risk and adult children at risk and setting everyone up to fail. No wonder there is so much abuse and coverup in disabilities that we have to resort to cameras for the truth. We need CCTV to catch abuse and neglect - but we also need decent compassionate professional people working in disabilities and not these business people who are in it for a quick business buck making money out of the vulnerable and hiring the wrong kinds of workers who cannot take the pressure and lack ability to work in this specialized field. Sign my petition: change.org/disabilitycameras
All the best
Anndrea x
SAID (stop abuse in disabilities)
#saidstopabuseindisabilities

#disabilitylivesmatteroz            #cctvcameras4disabilities