Making the children suffer - the fickleness of the Government and NDIS
Extraordinary that the government invents a system to make money out of disabilities by turning it into a business for providers to grow and get profits – while forgetting you actually have to look after the vulnerable.
Now the new recommendations from a not independent source sound suspiciously like it is everything the government wanted to hear to get themselves out of the mess they go themselves into.
Now Mr Shorten says that access to the NDIS will no longer rely on diagnosis (how silly how will they know what the person has in disorder and other conditions?) – because there are too many with Autism to pay for everyone – so lets make it harder for autistic kids and they will no longer automatically go onto NDIS in fact no children will. Shorten wants the States to pick up the bill on this need for Autistic children to have their needs met and helped, and the schools too, and yet the states are always saying they do not have enough money even for the Commonwealth games!
Yet the government seems to have enough money to send overseas for more guns for those at war and to bring in the hordes of immigrants in to ‘further the economy so important’. Ah but with disabilities lets forget the children lets just do adults now. After scrapping all the other disability services and pushing everyone to join the NDIS if they want to be funded! Now they will rely on proving something again with assessments and reports – how is that any different?
“Australian would no longer have automatic access to the NDIS based on specified medical diagnoses, but would have to prove (once again) they had ‘Significant functional impairment’
Well gee those in wheelchairs had significant functional impairment were still denied funding for new wheelchairs and funding in general was low. They have made the new rules so vague so that it can let the government say no to so many more people. They don’t want children on NDIS how so? Don’t children need support? And when are the new services going to start for those who have disabilities and especially intellectual disabilities? Will they just start now or will the kids have to have nothing and not be allowed into NDIS? How cruel and callous the government has become toward the vulnerable meanwhile encouraging more overseas people to immigrate to Australia, but not looking after those Australians who need help right now.
So interesting that the local politicians in the mountains stand up and protest and back the pro Palestinians movements - those like Sue Templeman standing with the protests for overseas, but who never had the time to meet and talk about the abuse in disabilities and the need for cameras, also Trish Doyal you can never get an appointment with do not appear to care for the average or vulnerable Australian is a great disappointment.
The reason the NDIS blew out is because it kept raising the charges for all services and the providers charged like wounded bulls and kept charging and the NDIS kept paying them and making them rich meanwhile scolding parents for have funding for their disabilities children as if they had spent it on themselves yet they had to sort through all the providers to find one that was trustworthy even that is not guaranteed. How sad our government will not do the right things and deal with abuse in disabilities scared of the many providers who allow it so that the courts will be filled with litigations.
Now to top things off they are taking children off the NDIS – oh they say they were never meant to be on there. Then why did you put children on the NDIS in the first place? Do children not need services too when they have disabilities. They are vulnerable in the fact of being children and they need support should they have autism or developmental delays. Why cut them off the NDIS – the most needy struck off first. Oh but we will put in another system – system apparent what system? They haven’t even made it up yet. They want to save money so they cut off the children whose parents live under extreme stress trying to look after them – the NDIS gave and then it took away. They government then should not have made everyone switch to NDIS with their promises of choice and therapies – now they will fund the States a bit to do a new systems. No kids allowed. Its rather fickle of the Australian government to do this.
Look its Christmas could the government be more grinch than this ? Leaving parents to worry what will they do with no services for their disability child who may or may not have Autism as they start to apply to get help for their child.. Those who are already on NDIS wonder if they will be cut off next. How stressful for the families who have found out their child has a disability and now need to find services elsewhere. Are we in a Charles dickens novel? Boy for sale? Why don’t they cut off the casinos and all the money making capers the government runs, why is food so expensive when its Christmas- why is the government not regulating the supermarkets and their billion dollar profits?
I remember the shock and dread in my heart when I found out James had a disability at aged three wondering why he was not developing and then finding a diagnosis of Fragile X – he might be ok he might not. The therapists added to doubts almost tormenting me about his condition at early intervention. I wondered how we would survive how we could help him. I wondered how to make him eat better food since he rejected everything but vegemite toast and apples and I worried he might have malnutrition.
Parents live on the edge with special needs children. Without support they can go down into the pit of despair. I was married then divorced after 25 years – it would have been harder alone trying to help your child. Yet so many are since around 40 plus percent of marriages break regardless of having a special needs child. Our society needs to support those who have disability children we need to protect the children from abuse in disability services we need to help their parents raise them knowing they are not alone.
One person on my petition said parents cant be the only ones to be the voice of those disability vulnerable children, but all people in society need to be their voice. Another parent who was quite older with her non verbal disability son only a young man, I bumped into in a shop said to me ‘people don’t need to know what goes on in disability services – meaning the abuse that occurs secretly, we (the parents) know what goes on’ - but other people don’t I said. We have to let other people know – create public awareness. She was angry with me for talking about it , I couldn’t understand why. She didn’t want me to talk about it. Maybe the middle class thing of pretending everything is ok. That was the old days. This is now. Disability children have rights and the right to be heard. The right to live and the right
To stay silent is to deny a voice to those who are suffering, and those children who are having their rights squashed and taken from them - you are letting the abuse happen if you do not talk about it so that others know. Its not enough to say as long as my kid is ok that’s all that matters – if you help change things for other special needs children and adults the benefits will come back onto your own vulnerable child too. If we protect others our child is protected. If we ignore the things happening to children in these disability places and programs – our child may be harmed one day too it becomes a possibility they are living at high risk especially the non verbal.
Yes its Christmas, and baby Jesus was born… and when Jesus said “suffer little children” he did not mean let them suffer he meant let them come to me don’t stop them – they have needs too. This government got it wrong – to not care about the vulnerable children with disabilities properly to not provide what they need is wrong and an indictment against this government if they do not do the right thing and make sure they make a system that looks after special needs children just as they signed the United Nations and said they would give every child a chance they now need to put the money where their mouth is and not simply into their own pockets and profits – they were hoping to make by privatising disabilities how sad to try and make money out of the needy. The government itself is neglecting those who were meant to be helped by not allowing them any help from the NDIS. Its another kind of abuse.
All the best
Anndrea x
Sign my petition for cctv in disabilities to be made mandatory to stop the abuse happening in all places of care and make providers accountable:
change.org/disabilitycameras
#disabilitylivesmatteroz