QDN e-News Video Update - May 2022 Week 3

QDN’s election platform

QDN, in consultation with members has developed our 2022 Federal Election Policy Platform 'My disability vote counts - Act for inclusion'. 

Queenslanders with disability are calling on political candidates across the state at this federal election to listen to them, and to work together to deliver change and inclusion.

We have ideas and we have solutions, we vote, and we want to see candidates act for inclusion.

Read more about QDN's election platform here

 

A man wearing a floral shirt holding a sign that says Act for inclusion for and written in pen "Close the gap between allied health and the NDIS. My disability vote counts, Act for inclusion". QDN Queenslanders with Disability Network.

Taxi and passengers with disability

The taxi forum will be held on 2 June 2022 from 3.30pm-5.00pm. There will be speakers from:

  • Department of Transport and Main Roads
  • Taxi Council Queensland
  • Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships

More information and register here

 

Disability Matters, Taxis and passengers with disability, Online event - Share your experiences and ideas. 2 June - 3.30pm to 5pm. QDN Member event, Want to be a QDN Member? Join QDN for free now! www.qdn.org.au. There is a photo in a circle with a woman wearing dark glasses and holding a cane, standing next to a taxi sign.

Policy updates

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

National Conference on the Future of the NDIS: Where to from Here

Date: Wednesday 15 - Thursday 16 June

Three weeks after the election on 21 May, decision makers and leading journalists will investigate NDIS directions, the risks to provider viability and opportunities for change.

For more information click here

 

Participant Service Improvement Plan 2022-2023

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Released the Participant Service Improvement Plan 2022-2023. The plan outlines several improvements to the way participants engage with the NDIA, including:

  • Communicating with the NDIA: including having a NDIA contact name for all your interactions, access to online forms and services and being able to track inquiries.
  • Getting information from the NDIA: including consistent guidelines in language that is easy to understand about how the NDIA has come to a decision and access to your information.
  • Gaining access to the NDIS: including applying for the NDIA via an online form.
  • Making a plan: including more face-to-face and video conferencing planning meetings and making some DIY online planning tools.
  • Using your plan: being clearer about what supports coordination is, a new NDIS mobile app for managing your plan, working with people living in remote and very remote communities to trial better ways of delivering supports and longer plans with reviews when things change in your life.
  • Payments from your plan: including new systems to promptly pay services directly from your plan so you don’t have to pay first and be reimbursed later.

Read the full participant service plan click here

 

"Improving Support Coordination for NDIS participants" presentations for participants, families and carers

You can attend an online presentation by the NDIA focused on improving Support Coordination for NDIS participants by the NDIA.

The presentation will cover the following:

  • what the NDIA heard about how support coordination can work better
  • what participants should expect from their support coordinator
  • how we will improve support coordination for participants.

Session will be held:

31.05.22 - 7pm - 8pm AEST

02.06.22 - 1pm - 2pm AEST

07.06.22 - 10am -11am AEST

09.06.22 - 7pm - 8pm AEST

For more information and to register click here

 

Participant First Engagement Initiative: help shape the NDIS

The Participant First Engagement Initiative is a way for the NDIA to connect with participants, families, carers and non-participants with disabilities to hear your feedback to work together on improving the Scheme.

It is a way to draw on your lived experience of disability to help improve the NDIS for everyone. The NDIA is looking for a mix of participants and families for a range of future opportunities that may include online and email feedback, one-on-one or small group discussions or, working directly with project teams to design a product or policy.

Sign up by completing the Participant First information form here.

For more information click here

 

NDIS Commission

New resources

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) has developed a series of videos, and complementary posters, to empower people with disability to recognise what good and bad services and support look like, based on the NDIS Code of Conduct.

The videos feature people with disability, their families, providers and support workers and are a product of co-design and testing. Accessible versions are available: in Auslan, 17 languages and for First Nations peoples and LGBTQIA+ communities.

For more information click here

 

Mental health

New agreement to deliver more mental health and suicide prevention services for Queensland.

More than $260 million will be invested in mental health and suicide prevention support and services in Queensland over the next five years, following the signing of a landmark bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and Queensland governments in April.

The funding includes:

  • $49.9 million to establish a network of new Head to Health adult mental health centres and satellites across Queensland with five new Head to Health centres and seven satellites. These new services will address gaps in the mental health system, providing more integrated, seamless mental health care for adults and older adults. These are in addition to Queensland’s first Head to Health centre that opened 20 January 2022 in Townsville
  • $21.5 million to establish two new Head to Health Kids Hubs to improve access to multidisciplinary team care to children.
  • $75.3 million to enhance headspace centres to increase access to multidisciplinary youth mental health services in Queensland, with the Commonwealth funding the establishment of 2 new headspace sites and Queensland providing funding for clinical in-reach into new and existing headspace sites.
  • $78.6 million to expand and enhance existing universal aftercare services to support individuals following a suicide attempt and / or suicidal crisis.
  • $9.4 million to ensure all people in Queensland who are bereaved or impacted by suicide can access postvention support services.
  • $4.9 million to implement a Distress Intervention Trial Program to prevent and reduce suicidal behaviour.
  • $10.3 million to improve perinatal mental health screening and enhance capture and reporting of national consistent perinatal mental health data.
  • $10.5 million to support additional initiatives that address gaps in the system of care for the ‘missing middle’.

For more information click here

 

Collaboration to reduce the use of psychotropic medication 

Recently, the NDIS Commission, together with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, have released a joint statement on the inappropriate use of psychotropic medicines in people with disability and older people as a form of restrictive practice. This follows an RC report which found that psychotropic medication is over-prescribed to people with cognitive disability.

NDIS Mental Health Sector Reference Group Communique

The communique from the first meeting of the NDIS Mental Health Sector Reference Group  for 2022 is available. Notable discussion points included the release of the Psychosocial Disability Recovery-Oriented Framework, the passing of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Participant Service Guarantee and Other Measures) Act 2022 in March, and the Queensland Mental Health Commissioner’s summary of the Queensland Inquiry into mental health services.

To read the communique click here

 

Disability Royal Commission

Changing Attitudes Towards People with Disability

Changing Community Attitudes to Improve Inclusion of People with Disability, a report commissioned by the Disability Royal Commission, was released last week. It puts forward a number of recommendations to change attitudes towards people with disability so that they are better included in society, including making leadership by people with disability more visible, and ensuring active presence of a diversity of people with disability across all life domains.

For more information click here

 

Updated Disability Royal Ccommission (DRC) Brochures 

The following updated DRC brochures are now available on the DRC website:

Housing

Affordable housing and response to floods

Knowing that the housing crisis is one of our sector’s main concerns at the moment, we acknowledge the Queensland government’s recent announcement of 118 new social and affordable homes to be built on Brisbane’s northside. In addition, for those still impacted by the catastrophic flooding event earlier in the year, the Queensland government had released this new package of responses to address housing needs. More, please!

To read the announcement on new homes on Brisbane's northside click here. 

Release of the National Construction Code (NCC) 2022 

Significant changes to the NCC have been released with Stage 1, released on 9th May. Stage 2 is scheduled for release in August 2022.

Each state and territory will indicate their own transition times and may choose to expand, remove, or vary the NCC. The adoption has been delayed until 1 September 2022.

Key to this change is the adoption of new Livable Housing requirements for Class 1a buildings(houses and townhouses) and Class 2 sole-occupancy units (individual apartments) to a silver standard based on the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. There is a voluntary gold standard available for features beyond this.

The seven core design elements in the LHA Silver Level are:

  1. A safe continuous and step free path of travel from the street entrance and / or parking area to a dwelling entrance that is level.
  2. At least one, level (step-free) entrance into the dwelling.
  3. Internal doors and corridors that facilitate comfortable and unimpeded movement between spaces.
  4. A toilet on the ground (or entry) level that provides easy access.
  5. A bathroom that contains a hobless shower recess.
  6. Reinforced walls around the toilet, shower and bath to support the safe installation of grabrails at a later date.
  7. Stairways are designed to reduce the likelihood of injury and also enable future adaptation.

These reforms were developed over many years, in close collaboration with disability support and advocacy groups, occupational therapists, building industry, and state, territory and local governments. This change will increase the stock of accessible housing, supporting Australians with disability, older Australians, their families and carers.

For more information click here

 

The Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA)

The Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) has released four short videos outlining tenancy related information that outlines some rental essentials in a quick and easy format to understand.

The new videos cover:

The RTA has a range of other resources available to assist tenants including fact sheets, webinars and the Talking Tenancies podcast, for more information to assist at the start, during, and end of a tenancy.

For more information click here

 

Brisbane 2032 Games - Visioning Forum for Queensland

Come and join us on the 13 June from 3pm – 5pm for a Brisbane 2032 Games - Visioning Forum for Queensland

  • It will be an opportunity for us to start the conversation of how we can create a games that leaves a legacy for all Queenslanders
  • There will be a range of speakers

More information to come early next week!

How can people who are homeless stay safe in disasters?

If you are a volunteer you are invited to take part in the Have your Say! For emergency preparedness Survey.

For more information click here

 

Domestic Violence Prevention Month

Just a reminder May is Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month is an annual event held each May to raise community awareness of the social and personal impacts of domestic and family violence and the support available to those affected. The key aims of the month are to:

  • raise community awareness of domestic and family violence and its impacts;
  • promote a clear message of no tolerance of domestic and family violence in Queensland communities;
  • ensure those who are experiencing domestic and family violence know how to access help and support;
  • encourage people who use abuse and/or violence to take responsibility for their abusive behaviour and seek support to change.

Changing the Landscape resource

Women with Disabilities Victoria (WWDV) in partnership with Our Watch has released a resource called Changing the Landscape: a national resource to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities. This resource explains the underlying and intersecting drivers of violence against women and girls with disabilities and also identifies the actions we must take to address these drivers and how these actions must be implemented. It shows that action to prevent this violence and promote gender and disability equality must be taken at all levels of society.

To find Changing the landscape click here

 

‘And You Think You’re the Expert?’ podcast

WWILD Sexual Violence Prevention Association Inc. created the ‘And You Think You’re the Expert?’ podcast as part of the Listen Up! Project.

For this project, we consulted with women who have an intellectual disability about what makes safe, accessible services for them, after an experience of violence, such as sexual assault and/or domestic and family violence.

To view the podcast click here