A newsletter for
people interested in issues relevant to people from a
NESB with disability and their families and carers.
Produced by the Multicultural Disability Advocacy
Association of NSW (MDAA).
If you have any queries,
questions, comments or any other contributions please
contact us by email (mdaa@mdaa.org.au)
or phone (02) 9891 6400.
NEW at
MDAA
Building
Cultural Competence Capacity of NSW Disability Services
Sector
In mid 2006 MDAA received funding
from DADHC until June 2008 to provide support to the
disability services sector in developing its cultural
competence. We have been working to put together a range
of approaches and we are now ready to introduce
them.
Cultural
Competence Training in rural and regional NSW
We will deliver one day training
sessions in rural and remote NSW during 2007 for services
working with people with disability. The towns we will
deliver the training in are: Queanbeyan, Griffith,
Albury, Dubbo, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Lismore, Tamworth
and Coffs Harbour.
Cultural
Competence Training for Community Participation
Providers
In 2007 we will deliver 2 training
sessions for CP Providers based on the CP guidelines. The
training will be delivered in Parramatta and
Sutherland.
Making
Links
We will be working with three
disability services over 18 months to demonstrate through
a range of projects how reciprocal relationships between
disability services and ethnic community organisations
can be established and maintained. The aim is for
disability services to enhance their expertise in
cultural competence over time and for the ethnic
community organisations to increase their skills and
knowledge in disability to be able to filter that through
to their communities.
Building Cultural
Competence Capacity in Early Intervention and Respite
Services
Throughout 2007 and 2008 we will be
working with two groups of people from the two service
types (early intervention and respite) to identify how
these services can operate more culturally competently,
develop a range of standards and resources and plans for
further action.
Creating
Culturally Competent Leadership
Towards the end of 2007 and the
beginning of 2008 we would like to work with a group of
senior managers from disability services in a leadership
program to effect cultural change within disability
services towards creating opportunities for cultural
competence to grow. This leadership program will be
offered to 10 people in Sydney and 10 people in
Wollongong on an application basis.
Evaluation and
Research
In the light of little evaluative
research about the impact of cultural competence
interventions, as part of this work we are conducting
research into and evaluation of the efficacy of current
cultural competence initiatives conducted by us and other
agencies in the human services sector.
More information on all of these
projects will be available soon. Please keep an eye
out.
NSW Election
2007
On 24 March there will be an election in NSW
(just in case anyone could have missed it). Over the past
four years MDAA has been working with consumers, members
and others and some of the central issues that appear not
to have been addressed in any systemic way are:
- Mental health and people from NESB
- Education and people from NESB
- Housing/ Supported accommodation and people from
NESB
We have developed an election flier outlining the main
issues, which will be sent to all MDAA members, consumers
and the main candidates in all electorates. 
130MB NSW Election
2007
The three areas we identified are:
Mental Health:
Anyone who needs a mental health service in NSW gets a
good service
Issues
- People from NESB with
disability don’t use mental health services
because the services are not designed for
them
- People only use mental health
services when they are in crisis
- People don’t have enough
information about and can’t get access to mental
health services
- Mental health service staff are
not trained to work effectively with people from NESB
with disability
- A lot of mental health
information is not accessible to people from NESB with
disability
- Women from NESB have even more
difficulties accessing mental health services
Action Needed
The NSW Government needs to fund,
implement and evaluate a state-wide multicultural mental
health plan which includes:
- Developing new services and
approaches for people from NESB with
disability
- An information campaign
targeting ethnic communities, especially about
prevention and early intervention services
- Staff training and development
to work better with people from NESB with
disability
- An independent agency that
represents consumer voices effectively
Education: Every
kid gets a good education
Issues
- Kids from NESB with disability
don’t get the education they need
- Families from NESB can’t
make an informed choice from all the options because
they don’t know about them
- Many teachers don’t have
the skills to teach kids from NESB with disability
effectively
- Girls from NESB with disability
have a hard time staying at school until they are 18
years old
Action Needed
The NSW Government needs to do
better for kids from NESB with disability by:
- Building the capacity of
teachers to support all students and to assist
families from NESB in finding out what options are
available
- Funding a skilled, experienced
specialist teacher in every school to provide direct
support to students with disability, including
students from NESB
- Funding a pilot program to
support girls with disability from NESB to stay at
school until they are 18 years old
- Funding at least 100 new
‘English as a second language’
positions
Accommodation
& Housing: Anyone who needs accommodation has access
to affordable, accessible, secure housing in the
community with the support they need
Issues
- People from NESB with
disability in NSW don’t have enough affordable,
accessible, secure housing
- People from NESB with
disability don’t get the support they need to
live in the community
- People from NESB with
disability have a lower chance of getting into
supported accommodation programs for people with
disability and people with mental illness
- Many more people from NESB with
disability will need supported accommodation in the
next 10 years because their parents are getting too
old
- It’s too hard for people
from NESB with disability to find out what’s
available and how to get it
Action Needed
The NSW Government needs to:
- Close all institutions and
relocate everyone who needs ongoing support into
community-based supported accommodation
- Develop, implement and evaluate
innovative housing and supported accommodation options
that will work for people from NESB with
disability
- Spend more money on housing
that works for people from NESB with disability
Attached to this newsletter is a
pdf version of the flier. For more background information
check out our website from next week onwards and if you
want a hard copy of the flier please contact Judith or
Luis at MDAA on 9891 6400
MDAA welcomes new
staff
We are please to inform you that we
have been able to fill the position of Assistant Director
at MDAA. We are happy to welcome Diana Qian who is
currently Executive Officer of the National Ethnic
Disability Alliance. Diana is known to many and brings a
vast range of experiences, skills and knowledge. Diana
will start at MDAA mid April.
Housing and
support for people with disability: conference 31
May
Shelter NSW and MDAA are co-hosting
a 1-day conference on housing and support for people with
disability, on 31 May in Sydney. Confirmed speakers
include Chris Glennen, Eddie Bartnick, Trudy Van Dam,
Belinda Epstein-Frisch, Simone Finch, and Joseph
Connellan. The focus is on good news stories and new
directions. Planning is well advanced so for details see
the webpage for this event on the Shelter NSW website.
http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly07sem-about.html
Accessing and
Providing Information to People from NESB with
Disability
A focus group of 15 people from a
whole range of different arenas developed a draft action
plan last week. There will be lots of opportunities to
participate in making information more accessible to
people from NESB with disability. We will keep you
informed.
mdaa cultural
abilities news
Working
X-culturally (CHCC405A)
Date
and Time
12 April 2007,
9.00-17.00
Venue
Western Sydney
Community Forum
Outline
In this one day course
participants will come to understand culture as
something that is all around us. It cannot be
avoided but understanding cultural diversity can be
harnessed to provide better services and practice.
Learning
Outcomes
Participants will be
able to demonstrate:
- Respect for and inclusion
of culturally diverse people in all work
practices
- Effective communication
with culturally diverse persons
- Use of effective
strategies to eliminate discrimination and bias
in the workplace
Target
group
People who want to work
more effectively with consumers and co-workers from
a non-English speaking background (NESB).
Assessment
Participants wanting to
obtain a Statement of Attainment for "CHCC405A Work
effectively with culturally diverse clients and
co-workers" must complete all assessments. Some
assessments will take place during the training
course. In addition, participants must undertake a
further assessment, to be completed within 2 weeks
of the training.
Pre-requisite
None
Costs
NGO: $110 (+ $50
for Assessment)
Government: $220
(+$100 for Assessment)
NSW News
NSW
Opposition makes commitment to People with Disability
In a recent press release the NSW
Shadow Minister for Disability Services, the Honorable
Andrew Constance, announced that a NSW Liberal/Nationals
Government will deliver beyond the committed funding for
the Stronger Together program. “The NSW
Liberal/Nationals will deliver the announced Stronger
Together funding in full and inside five years,” Mr
Constance said.
In addition Andrew Constance
announced “a NSW Liberal/Nationals Government will
not only deliver the $1.338 billion funding package, but
we are also committed to additional funding for the
formation of a NSW Aged Carers Network, introduction of a
companion card for NSW carers and additional funding for
the Program of Appliances for Disabled
People,”.
NSW Government
first Progress report on Stronger
Together
The NSW Minister for Disability
Services, the Honorable John Della Bosca, released the
first progress report on Stronger Together, the
NSW Government’s 10 year plan for people with
disability in January 2007. In this report the Government
says that it has delivered over 1,000 new respite places,
funded 600 new therapy places, helped 1500 families with
the new family assistance initiatives and provided 3000
young people with higher quality post school programs
including more days and increased funding. Other
achievements were also made in in-home support,
specialist accommodation support for people leaving care
and those in contact with or at risk of contact with the
criminal justice system, young people at risk of entering
nursing homes, creating the Office of the Senior
Practitioner and some service improvement and
sustainability issues.
Commonwealth
News
The Senate Community Affairs
Committee report on its inquiry into the funding and
operation of the Commonwealth State Territory Disability
Agreement (CSTDA) unanimously suggested the need for
substantial additional funding as part of the next CSTDA,
to address identified unmet need for disability services,
particularly for accommodation services. With that report
and the CSTDA Mark 3 expiring at the end of June 2007 and
a federal election around the corner, the Commonwealth
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs said that the Commonwealth Government would not
increase its funding unless the States and Territories
could demonstrate improvements in transparency and
accountability, unmet need, quality assurance and
indigenous access. In a letter to National Disability
Peaks the Minister said that if the States and
Territories could demonstrate improvements in these
areas, the Commonwealth was willing to offer an
additional $400 million. It appears, however, that the
$400 million was previously committed as indexation and
that withholding those funds is in effect a
reduction.
In NSW, the Minister responsible
responded by saying that this would reduce the
Commonwealth contribution to only 8% down from about 20%.
Worldview
Disability:
TAKING THE RIGHT APPROACH TO DISABILITY
Exciting, innovative
moves afoot
The more than 10 percent
of Pacific Islanders with disabilities rarely enjoy human
rights comparable to their peers. Although their numbers
are large, estimated at 915,500, they are invisible to
most of the community, denied equal access to education,
often unable to secure employment, disqualified from
enjoying certain property rights and even deprived of
basic health care. As a result they are the group most
likely to be living in poverty in the Pacific. They are
likely to be hidden away by families or institutions, the
object of pity and never even aware of their rights to
participate. There are, however, exciting moves afoot to
turn this around. The Pacific Regional Rights Resource
Team (RRRT) is developing an innovative new training
programme to place highly skilled human rights advocates
in Pacific Islands countries. Most of these advocates
will be people with disabilities.
On 25 August last year
many people with disabilities around the world celebrated
the finalisation of the text of the Convention on the
Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of
Persons with Disabilities. It is the first human rights
convention of the century and the first to benefit from
such thorough civil society involvement. After five years
of negotiations the convention is expected to come into
force after it was passed by the UN General Assembly last
month. In essence the new Convention for the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities enshrines for them rights which
many Pacific Islanders already enjoy without a second
thought. It includes rights such as liberty and security,
legal due process, freedom of assembly, expression,
access to information, religion, property and,
importantly, the right to live free of discrimination.
Other key rights which will now be set out in the
Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
include the right to work and related conditions,
mainstream standard of education and training, health,
social security, adequate standard of living, housing,
transport, social integration and cultural participation.
These rights too are often taken for granted by people
all over the Pacific.
The August 2005 regional
workshop on Disability organised by the Pacific Islands
Forum Secretariat in Nadi, Fiji, called for RRRT to
develop human rights training for disability advocates.
The team's skills in the area of human rights and
experience working with organisations like the Fiji
Disabled Persons Association made RRRT the ideal choice
for such crucial work at this important time. RRRT
disability rights training will give disability advocates
around the Pacific the professional skills they need to
promote social and policy change in their countries.
People with disabilities will take on human rights
related skills and knowledge usually only exhibited by
lawyers. They will be able to fully understand and
explain the various UN human rights conventions including
those against discrimination of women (CEDAW) and for the
rights of children (CRC). The rights of these groups will
be particularly important given that women with
disabilities are often doubly disadvantaged and children
with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to human
rights abuses. The three-year training course will be
best practice training for people with disabilities. RRRT
is discussing a partnership arrangement with the new
Pacific Disability Forum (PDF - the regional peak body
for disability) to ensure that the training and advocacy
is well targeted and appropriately delivered.
Arrangements are currently being made to provide for deaf
sign interpretation, Braille course materials and fully
physically accessible training venues.
The hope is that after
skilled advocacy and promotion of the rights of people
with disabilities, society in general, and governments in
particular, will learn to accept people with disabilities
as active and vital members of our community - people
most willing and able to contribute to the economic and
social benefit of their countries, and the region as a
whole.
by Daniel Stubbs who
is a consultant on social policy and organisation
development. He is currently working with the Pacific
Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) on its human rights
training for disability advocates programme. A project of
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), RRRT
provides training, technical support, policy and advocacy
advice in human rights to promote social justice and good
governance throughout the Pacific region
Source
www.islandsbusiness.com
_______________________________________
Barbel Winter
Executive Director
Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW
PO BOX 9381
Harris Park, NSW 2150
Australia
ph: + 61 (0)2 9891 6400
www.mdaa.org.au
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