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
A website about people with
disability –
- living in their own homes
- making choices about their life
- getting support to live the way
they want to.
Check it out. www.supportedliving.org.au
This website is supported by: NSW
Council for Intellectual Disability, Family Advocacy,
MDAA, NSW Council of Social Services and the Physical
Disability Council of NSW
MDAA AGM – 21
November
It’s that time of the year
again. Annual General Meetings are being held everywhere.
The NSW Minister for Disability Services, the Hon
Kristine Keneally, has now informed us that something
urgent has come up. In her place, David Borger, the
member for Parramatta has kindly agreed to attend. So
what’s different about the MDAA AGM? Well if you
have been before you know and if you have never
been… you’d better find out.
When: 21 November 2007 10ish
to later on (after some food and song and dance??!!)
Where: MDAA office, 40 Albion St, Harris Park.
RSVP Now. Call Judith on 9891 6400 or email her:
judith.goddard@mdaa.org.au
Responses to
Cultural Competence in Early Childhood Intervention
Services survey
Thank you to all of you 94 people
who responded from 48 survey outlets. Most of you were
from a rural area and 27 of you were managers. We will
analyse the data (and present it to the Early Childhood
Intervention Conference next week) and then a report will
be developed with a whole lot of recommendations and some
suggestions about a way forward.
Diversity
Management Leadership Program
After receiving many applications
from leaders and change agents MDAA is pleased to
announce that this innovative capacity building project
is about to commence. We will update readers regularly
and will also encourage participants to share with NESB
and Disability News readers.
Contact Details
for SEA: New advocacy service in Bega
South Eastern Advocacy, a new
advocacy agency serving Bega Valley has commenced work.
We have finalised our accommodation and the new address
and contact details are:
South East Advocacy (for people
with disability, their families and carers)
Danielle Neves - Individual Advocate
Community Living Support Centre
101-103 Bega Street Bega NSW 2550, (Cnr Auckland and Bega
Sts, Bega)
Afghan, Sudanese
and Iraqi communities - Information Kit and DVD about
children with disability and their families
MDAA, ICE and MHCS are working
together with people from the Afghan, Sudanese and Iraqi
communities to make an Information Kit and DVD about
children with disability and their families and the
services available.
There are several ways you could
assist us:
You may know children with
disability and their families from those communities who
may be interested in getting involved, telling their
stories, acting, voice-overs, etc.
You may have worked with children
with disability and their families from those communities
and can share some of your learning, insights,
understandings, etc.
You may have some knowledge you
acquired elsewhere that you could share with us.
How to assist us: Please email
theresa.clark@mdaa.org.au
or call her on 9891 6400.
Cultural
Competence Training in the Hunter
We will deliver a one day workshop
for NGO services working with people with disability. The
training will be delivered in Newcastle on 6 December
2007
The aim of the workshop is to
enhance the cultural competence of people who work with
people with disability, with the expected outcome of
higher quality service delivery to people from
non-English speaking backgrounds with disability and
their carers.
COST: Free & Lunch is
provided
For more information and to register
please go to http://www.mdaa.org.au/service/industry/country.html
and follow the links.
mdaa cultural
abilities delivers cultural diversity training in
Queensland
Working
Cross Culturally: Work effectively with culturally
diverse clients and co-workers - CHCCS 405
MDAA delivered the first of four rounds of training in
Queensland in October. This nationally recognised one day
training workshop is for people working with people with
disability across Queensland.
The training is funded by Disability Services
Queensland and supported by Amparo Advocacy Inc; CRU,
Family Resource Unit and the Ethnic Communities Council
of Queensland.
This DSQ funded project is for people wanting to work
more effectively with people from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds with disability and
their families.
The training course is designed to give you the
cultural awareness you need to communicate and cooperate
effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
By the end of the training you will be able to:
- Demonstrate respect for culturally diverse people
in all your work practices
- Demonstrate effective communication with people
from culturally diverse backgrounds
- Use effective strategies to eliminate
discrimination and bias in the workplace
- Recognise cultural diversity as a fact of
life
- Identify and recognise how your own culture
impacts on your practices, beliefs and
experiences
The dates and
locations for training are:
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Longreach - Mon 18 Feb
2008
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Maroochydore - Tues 7 Oct
2008
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Townsville - Wed 20 Feb
2008
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Carboolture - Thurs 9 Oct
2008
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Ingham - Fri 22 Feb 2008
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Brisbane - Fri 10 Oct 2008
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Toowoomba - Mon 25 Feb
2008
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Cairns - Mon 13 Oct 2008
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Logan - Tues 26 Feb 2008
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Innisfail - Tues 14 Oct
2008
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Gold Coast - Wed 27 Feb
2008
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Mareeba - Wed 15 Oct 2008
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Brisbane - Thurs 28 Feb
2008
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Gold Coast - Fri 17 Oct
2008
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Roma - Mon 7 July 2008
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Townsville - Mon 11 May
2009
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Ipswich - Wed 9 July 2008
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Mackay - Wed 13 May 2009
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Gold Coast - Thurs 10 July
2008
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Brisbane - Thurs 14 May
2009
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Logan - Fri 11 July 2008
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Toowoomba - Fri 15 May
2009
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Gympie - Mon 6 Oct 2008
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Commonwealth News
Election
2007
For the most comprehensive
information about the real issues for all candidates in
this election and what you can do to ensure a fair go for
all Australians go to the Australia Fair website and type
in your postcode. www.australiafair.org.au
The symbol for Australia Fair is a
pair of thongs. Almost everyone has a pair, and they are
typically Australian. So dig out your thongs and wear
them during the election. If you don’t want to wear
your thongs on your feet you can hang them around your
neck or get an Australia Fair thong badge and wear it
with pride.
MDAA responds
to FACSIA Disability Supported Accommodation Discussion
Paper
MDAA responded to this recent
discussion paper and we raised several concerns. The two
main concerns were:
1. MDAA strongly recommends that
any discussion about models needs to start from and be
anchored in the diverse experiences, needs and
aspirations of people with disability. Irrespective of
people’s disability support needs they share the
same range of needs as everyone else in the community
including the need to belong, to feel included, to be
safe and to contribute. These are crucial considerations
in making choices about living arrangements. Ultimately
models that don’t work for people will be
unsuccessful in the long run and will not be cost
effective. The aim of any supported accommodation ought
to be to meet the needs of an individual or at most a
small number of individuals for a particular time in
their lives. All of our lives change all the time and so
do our circumstances, our needs and wishes, our age, etc.
The ways in which we all organise our lives and supports
change all the time. To enable individuals to live in the
community, the way the support is provided needs to
change to reflect changing needs.
The range of options provide by the
DSAP should reflect the choices and expectations of
people without disability. People without disability are
not expected to share their homes with strangers so why
should people with disability? It is a major concern for
MDAA that the list of initiatives where the Commonwealth
is keen to show leadership closely resembles
institutional care models. We understand that many ageing
carers are desperate for some certainty about the long
term accommodation arrangements for their family member
with disability. We also understand why family members
would argue for or accept congregate care facilities,
because of desperation, unavailability of alternatives
and lack of knowledge of what else could be possible.
What we don’t understand is the Commonwealth’s
apparent failure to take leadership in implementing
models and programs that are in the best interest of
people with disability.
2. We have grave concerns that the
Commonwealth intends to set up a separate accommodation
program outside the Commonwealth State and Territory
Disability Agreement (CSTDA), without negotiating or
collaborating with the states and territories. We believe
this will add further complexity to a disability service
system that is already too complex and confusing to
navigate for people from NESB with disability and their
families. In our view the rollout of the funds could be
far more effective and while we think the current CSTDA
negotiations and agreements somewhat dysfunctional and
certainly not providing best outcomes for people with
disability, at least they provide some coordination and
an overall framework.
NSW News
Abuse in
DADHC accommodation facilities
This week the Government confirmed
81 claims of assault and neglect were made in the past
financial year. Of those, 51 claims were substantiated by
the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care
(DADHC) and seven workers were sacked or resigned. The
NSW Minister for Disability Services, the Hon Ms
Keneally, said that when an allegation is made, workers
no longer have direct contact with disabled people while
an investigation is conducted. Opposition disability
spokesman Andrew Constance said, "The Government's
obviously got a significant problem in relation to the
way in which staff are being monitored and also staff
training is occurring."
The advocacy agency PWD Australia
said in their press release that they are pleased that
the Minister has made public the details of abuse and
neglect in supported accommodation services operated by
DADHC and ‘We need to assist people with disability
to be more resilient to abuse and neglect by increasing
their knowledge of their human, legal and service user
rights, and their confidence and ability to exercise
these rights. We also need to recognise that there is
less opportunity for abuse and neglect when support is
provided in an individualised manner rather than in
congregate or group home environments.’ PWD also
calls on the government to work collaboratively with
people with disability and their representative
organisations to begin the reform process
effectively.
Disability
Advisory Council - CALL FOR MEMBERSHIP
The NSW Attorney General’s
Department’s Disability Advisory Council has several
vacancies and would like you to consider applying for
membership if you are interested in the Justice System
and can represent one of the following
communities:
- People who are Aboriginal with
disabilities
- People with an acquired brain
injury
- People with an intellectual
disability
- People with a physical
disability
- People with a psychiatric
disability
- People with disabilities from
cultural and linguistically diverse communities.
The application deadline is 14
November 2007 at 5.00pm
Contact Diversity Services for the
Terms of Reference, which includes the selection
criteria, or to discuss your application. Phone: 02 9228
7013 TTY: 02 9228 7733 Fax: 02 9228 7829
diversity_services@agd.nsw.gov.au
or www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/diversityservices
News from across the
World: Uganda
UTODA
asked for disability policy - Tuesday 23rd October
2007
By Chris Kiwawulo
THE Uganda Taxi Operators and
Drivers Association (UTODA) has 14 days to produce its
report about the violation of disabled persons’
rights in the public transport sector. In August, UTODA
met with the National Union of Disabled Persons in Uganda
to forge a way forward regarding the rights of the
disabled persons. Before the meeting, UTODA promised to
furnish the Uganda Human Rights Commission with the
details of their findings after the
discussion.
“The purpose of this letter is
to require you to update us on your findings as you
promised,” commissioner Ida Nakiganda wrote to UTODA
on October 18. The rights commission also asked UTODA to
update them on the steps taken to address Fred
Mugerwa’s complaint.
Mugerwa, a student at the Law
Development Centre, complained that a taxi driver and his
conductor denied him access to a Kampala-bound taxi at
Wandegeya.
He reported the matter to the
Police, who arrested the driver, Hussein Kabuye and the
conductor, Dominic Mukiibi. The duo was later released on
Police bond.
source: www.newvision.co.ug
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