Job Vacancy -
Individual Advocate
City and Inner West Disability Advocacy, auspiced by
the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW
(MDAA) is seeking applications for a part time (22.5
hours) Individual Advocate for people with disability and
their families living in the City of Sydney and Inner
West.
Essential Criteria: Understanding of and
commitment to people with disability and their families;
knowledge and experience of disability and diversity;
demonstrated advocacy skills; demonstrated capacity to
manage complex issues and people in crisis; knowledge of
relevant legislation and services; good written and oral
communication skills; ability to work as part of a team;
computer and records management skills.
Salary: SACS Award Grade 3 (depending on
skills). Generous salary packaging available.
City and Inner West Disability Advocacy: is a service
auspiced by MDAA, co-located with the NSW Council for
Intellectual Disability at Surry Hills. The positions
are permanent depending on recurrent funding. MDAA is an
equal opportunity employer with an affirmative action
policy for people from non-English speaking backgrounds
with disability.
For an information package call Judith; and for
further details call Susan on (02) 9891 6400.
Send applications to: MDAA, PO Box 9381, Harris
Park, NSW 2150; or fax to (02) 9635 5355; or email to
mdaa@mdaa.org.au.
Applicants must address all essential criteria.
Applications close: Friday 18 July 2008.
NEDA and MDAA
submission to Standing Committee on Family, Community,
Housing and Youth Inquiry into Better Support for
Carers
This joint submission provides a summary of non
English Speaking Background (NESB) carer issues, based on
the work of the National Ethnic Disability Alliance
(NEDA) and the Multicultural Advocacy Association of NSW
(MDAA).
NEDA and MDAA acknowledge that NESB carers make an
active and valued contribution to Australia, providing
valuable support to people with disability to participate
in their families, communities and broad social and
economic life. NEDA and MDAA estimate that there are at
least 640,000 carers from NESB in Australia.
NEDA and MDAA express two main concerns in this
submission:
a. There has been a failure to adequately
acknowledge the relationship between the needs of
carers and those being cared for in policy and program
responses by governments. NEDA and MDAA strongly argue
that addressing the needs of people with disability -
by taking into consideration culture, community and
family - necessarily entails addressing the needs of
carers.
b. Carers from NESB are often unrecognised - by
service providers, by statisticians and by governments
- and face specific barriers to participation,
including attitudes, inappropriate services and
information, poverty and isolation.
NEDA and MDAA provide four simple recommendations,
which if implemented will assist in improving the health
and wellbeing of NESB carers in Australia. The
recommendations aim to improve our understanding, provide
better information and better support to NESB carers:
Recommendation 1
That the Australian Government develop a framework
for meeting the needs of carers that also recognises the
interdependence of the needs of people with disability,
families, culture, community and the services system.
Recommendation 2
That the Australian Government improve the quality of
data on NESB Carers and their needs in Australia.
Recommendation 3
That the Australian Government address language
barriers by improving the availability and targeting of
information to NESB carers on entitlements, support and
services.
Recommendation 4
That the Australian Government improve the cultural
competence of disability and carer services, to ensure
services meet the needs of both people from NESB with
disability and NESB carers, including ageing and young
carers.
Please see MDAA website for the full submission.
National Mental
Health and Disability Employment Strategy
MDAA provided a submission supporting the introduction
of a National Mental Health and Disability Employment
Strategy. We argued, however that this strategy not only
makes concerted efforts in addressing the real barriers
faced by people from NESB with disability but also
includes people from NESB with disability and mental
illness in the developing, delivery and reviewing of this
strategy.
It is MDAA's view that for any national employment
strategy to be effective it must address the experiences
of people from NESB with disability. Whilst the various
reports and data available suggest that this group are
under - represented in employment participation, a
comprehensive strategy must identify and address the real
reasons for their low participation rates, if we seek to
increase participation in employment. Please see MDAA
website for the full submission.
Lessons from the Field:
Practical approaches to working with diversity - a huge
success!
On Friday 13th June 2008, MDAA in partnership with:
Flintwood Disability Services, Interaction Disability
Services, Sunnyfield, Northcott and The Spastic Centre
held a one-day forum: Lessons from the Field: Practical
approaches to working with diversity.
The Forum was an outcome of MDAA's Cumberland Prospect
Region NESB Access Project (RAP) funded by DADHC. The
RAP was established in mid 2003 and it works with
Cumberland Prospect disability service providers to build
their capacity to provide culturally competent services
and programs to people from non-English speaking
backgrounds (NESB) with disability.
The Forum focused on sharing the knowledge, learning
and skills of some of the organisations who have been
supported by the RAP to work more culturally competently
and effectively with the cultural and linguistic
diversity of their communities.
The forum attracted over 80 participants. The forum
provided participants with an overview of the RAP.
Speakers also addressed the opportunities and constraints
in creating culturally competent organisations.
A number of workshops were also held. These
addressed:
- Strategies for progressing cultural competency at
an organisational level.
- Successful tender writing encompassing cultural
and linguistic diversity.
- Collecting and using demographics and other data
to inform planning processes.
- Practical strategies for developing and sustaining
ongoing relationships with local/regional ethnic
communities and organisations.
- Practical approaches to recruiting disability
support workers from
- CALD communities.
- Using reflective practice to build cultural
competency.
Overall the day was very well received. Keep an eye
on MDAA's website over the next few weeks for copies of
the papers/workshops presented.
If you would like more information about the RAP,
including how it can support your service, please contact
Maria Katrivesis on 0421 046566.
