Disability can create barriers to the everyday things we need to survive, like accommodation, food, health care, education, income and transport. Thankfully, there are programs and services in the community to help people with disability to access supports in all areas of life.
“A package of supports that lets you choose where and how you live in the way that best suits you.” That’s how the National Disability Insurance Agency refers to Individualised Living Options (ILO), a new type of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding that allows people to explore different ways to live (with friends, family, or a host) and design a support package to help them to live the way they choose.
Whether it’s motorised mobility aids, Apple’s accessibility features, eye-gaze technology or even more simple things like kettle tippers, grab-sticks or flashing doorbells, there’s no doubt that technology can make life easier, and increase your independence, if you have a disability. But what about other aspects of life?
Have you thought about how you can best support the social and emotional wellbeing of children with disability? National not for profit organisation, Emerging Minds, has a suite of free online courses and resources designed to help foster positive mental health for children aged up to 12 years.
Since its inception, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has provided funding for people with disability who qualify for an NDIS plan. However, in order for supports to be funded by your plan, they must be a type that can, by law, be funded or provided, and they have to meet the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria.
Voting – it’s how you have your say about who you want to represent you in local, state/territory or federal politics. You have the right to vote and your vote counts, so it’s important you’re prepared well before election day. It’s compulsory that everyone who’s eligible enrols to vote and votes on election day (or through another means). It’s also important to be enrolled well before an election so you’re eligible to vote when the time comes.
In this edition of Choice, we’re giving a shout out to another disability influencer who’s doing great things – 2022 Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott OAM! Dylan, an athlete, philanthropist, media commentator and disability advocate, is perhaps best known for winning four Paralympic gold medals (three in wheelchair tennis, and one in wheelchair basketball). Importantly, he has also founded several organisations supporting and championing people with disability.
In theory, being connected to the internet gives you access to virtually unlimited information (credible and not so credible), products from all over the world, services, courses, videos and much much more. But often websites are developed without considering that many members of our community live with disability and have different needs when it comes to accessing digital sources.
We might not have the hoverboard from Back to the Future and the flying cars from The Jetsons have yet to zoom in, but technology is opening up access in ways we wouldn’t have dreamed of in previous generations. In Apple products alone, there are tonnes of accessibility options designed to support people with disability, from vision impairment, hearing loss and deafness, through to mobility limitations and cognitive impairment.
