Thursday 28th of March 2024

a new wheelchair too far away...

wchair

The NDIS was planned as a social justice issue by a fair minded Julia Gillard. As she lost the prime Ministership to Rudd himself replaced by Tony Abbott who promised to implement it, some people though that it would be okay. But as soon as Tony Abbott took on the project, NDIS became a mangled affair. 

I know of many disabled people who have had dreadful times and unresolved needs from the Abbott/Turnbull NDIS. How do they (Abbott and Turnbull)  do it? How can they do it?...

We know that the Liberals (CONservatives) hated the idea of the NDIS in the first instance. But in order to get elected, they assured the public that they would honour NDIS. It has been a lie. Though the NDIS does not have a limitless budget it should cater for the people in need. 

The major dilemma for the Liberals (CONservatives) is that helping people through a National Disability Insurance Scheme by-passes the tax deductible charities. It is a philosophical chasm. For years, disabled people have relied on a very eclectic, unreliable and unsustainable tax deductible donation system and a meagre disability government pension. Charity made the Liberals (CONservatives), those with the most cash to give, be part of tax dodging feel-good enterprises. Nothing wrong with this except it was not enough to get people away from an unhealthy dependency for alms, when the NDIS is (WAS) a system that is (WAS) designed to give social dignity and equality to the people with disability.

Enter Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. Their NDIS is like Turnbull’s Innovative Nation, a basic mismanagement of funds to help their unemployed mates become czars of public service, pumping as much cash as possible from the system structure and giving lip service to the needy disabled people. This has been the observation from my friends in wheelchairs and those in need of psychiatric assessment on a regular basis.

Innovative Nation is a bath tub for unimaginative accountants and the Turnbull NDIS is a tiered structure where the final assessments for disability funds are rejected without recourse, nor proper understanding of the needs. Am I too harsh? Well, you should listen to my disabled friends. They are livid. They are the ones in need and they are spitting chips.

 

designed to fail...

This was months ago. Still no joy for the disabled people...:

 

 

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) stopped processing thousands of applications from service providers, critical staff were untrained and properties were not ready when the scheme's nationwide rollout began, documents have revealed.

A much-publicised IT meltdown saw people with disabilities wait weeks for their care packages to be approved while payments to providers froze.

After a six-month Freedom of Information (FOI) battle, even more chaos plaguing the NDIS's transition from trial sites to a full scheme on July 1 can be exposed.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 businesses and not-for-profit providers were blocked from entering the scheme because applications could not be transferred to a new IT system.

"[Data was] needed to inform [the] process but information has not been provided," one document stated.

"Agency is not able to process new providers until this issue is resolved."

By mid-June, the National Disability Insurance Agency's (NDIA) Full Scheme Launch committee was told the problem "still needs attention but due to competing priorities this can be delayed".

Multinational consultancy firm Ernst and Young was enlisted to help fix the issue, the papers show.

NDIA staff unable to update website, properties not ready

The ABC analysed more than 150 pages of high-level internal documents produced in the seven days before and after the launch — one of the biggest milestones in the program's short life.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-12/ndis-rollout-plagued-with-problems...

 

It feels as if the system was designed to fail and/or delay any cash out while the public services "incognito employees and their bosses would cream the cash in salaries and wages". Not my words here, but those of friends who have tried to get improvements and got peanuts.

 

floating in space...

As this Orstrayan government of turds can't even get a wheelchair to the needy, can't even understand the need for renewable energy and after having decimated the CSIRO, it is planning a space programs with rocking chairs...

 

 

The Federal Government has announced plans to establish a national space agency it says will enable long-term growth in the industry.

Acting Industry Minister Michaelia Cash said the sector was growing fast globally, and Australia needed to be a part of it.

"A national space agency will ensure we have a strategic long-term plan that supports the development and application of space technologies and grows our domestic space industry," she said.

"The agency will be the anchor for our domestic coordination and the front door for our international engagement."

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-25/government-to-establish-national-s...

 

Nothing wrong with the idea of sending koala into space but please, can you fix the rest before you do a new Woomera?

Picture at top: a wheelchair floating in space...

a cool space potato...

 

Ian the Climate Denialist Potato asks: Is there coal in space?

We’ll also find out what life form Barnaby Joyce really is, and we’ll appoint Malcolm Roberts as ambassador to Alpha Centauri

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/27/ian-the-climate-de...

 

dumbnation nation...

 

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's $1.1 billion flagship innovation agenda was poorly designed and lacked evidence to support its claims about economic growth, a scathing report from the Auditor-General has found.

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has criticised the policy's foundations, and attacked the quality of advice from the public service that underpinned the policy, which was announced in December 2015 – less than three months after Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister.

Read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbulls-innovation-agenda-lashed-by-auditorgeneral-20170927-gyq7ef.html

 

From its inception, Gus could see that the "innovation" Turnbullshitolla programme was designed for accountants and I said so on this site. Anyone with a dash of innovation or creative idea was rejected possibly "because of risk" or had to go through complex financial hoops designed to make sure of failure of acceptance. No innovation worth its salt would fit this model of boring accountancy designed to suit the bean counters with piles cream, and you would get nowhere, especially if you were a citizen with a bright idea. A company with a dumb idea would fit the criteria because of its piles-cream accounting structure... Here you go...

 

discrimination...

Only 53 per cent of Australians with disability are employed, compared to 83 per cent of all working-age people. Australia ranks 21st out of 29 OECD nations when it comes to employment rates for people with a disability.

But looking at the data reveals an even darker story — complaints about disability discrimination are the largest category of discrimination reported to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), and the numbers have been steady for around 20 years.

Lower employment levels translate into Australians with disability living in poverty at the highest rates in the OECD.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics also found that the employment rates vary radically depending upon the "disability type". Those who have a "psychological disability", for example, have the lowest employment rate at 29 per cent.

Employment also varies by "disability severity" (defined as mild, moderate, severe and profound). Employment decreases as severity increases. Only 26 per cent of people with profound or severe physical disability are employed.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-12/disability-discrimination-in-the-w...

complaints...

 

Reports of mistreatment, assault and neglect in the New South Wales disability sector spiked last year, while complaints about disability services reached their highest level in more than a decade.

The figures, released by the NSW ombudsman, have prompted new warnings about the looming loss of funding to the disability advocacy groups, which give a voice to the most vulnerable.

The state’s ombudsman received a total of 838 complaints, 402 formal and 436 informal, about disability services in 2015-16, according to its annual report.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/04/complaints-about-...

 

Read from top...

 

outsourcing to a chequered corporation...

Disability rights groups, Labor and the Greens have slammed a decision to hire the multinational outsourcing giant Serco in a key role administering the national disability insurance scheme.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) announced on Friday afternoon that Serco, a company with a chequered corporate history, would help run its contact centres under a two-year contract. 

The decision would put the company at the frontline of the NDIS, interacting frequently with people with disability and service providers, many of whom are still grappling with a vast, complex and sometimes confusing scheme.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/23/outsourcing-ndis-...

 

The 2017 Paradise Papers revealed that Appleby carried out a risk assessment of Serco and noted it had a "history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging" and had faced allegations of fraud and cover-ups.

pumping the tyres...

Disability advocates are cautiously welcoming news the Federal Government has found a different way to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Australians were set to pay more tax to cover the cost of the NDIS from 2019, but the proposal was stuck in the Senate due to opposition from Labor and the Greens. 

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Alastair McEwin said he was worried that no funding plan had been secured. 

"The uncertainty that we've seen around the funding for the NDIS in the last four to five years has been of great concern to me and the disability community," he said. 

But Treasurer Scott Morrison will tell a business lunch today that the proposal has been scrapped, and the money will be sourced through additional unexpected revenue. 

Mr McEwin told AM he wasn't fazed where the money came from, so long as there was a guaranteed supply.

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-26/disability-advocates-cautiously-we...

------

Barely enough hot air for the tyres of your old wheelchair... read from top.

deflating your tyres after cutting your legs...

The federal government has created a “false economy” by restoring the budget bottom line through cuts to the disability support pension and potentially pushing more people into homelessness, a leading economist has said.

Speaking at a budget preview forum hosted by Industry Super Australia in Melbourne on Thursday, the Industry Super chief economist, Stephen Anthony, said the federal budget position had improved due to business receipts and cuts to personal benefit payments, particularly the disability support pension.

“The problem here of course is we’re seeing this spill out on to our streets in terms of homelessness,” Anthony said. “I’d say there’s a bit of a false economy occurring there and I’d ask the tax office to consider the models that they’re using and their reliability because the flipside of what they’re doing is causing a lot of social damage and social harm.”

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/27/coalition-using-c...

 

See also:

downgrading compassion...

raising the bar above your head...

The Turnbull government has accidentally published details of changes that would have denied a huge number of autistic children direct access to the national disability insurance scheme, causing “outrage” among autism groups. 

The autism community was left in shock this week after discovering a major alteration had been made to the NDIS operational guidelines, a document that sets out what’s needed for people with disabilities to access the scheme. 

The document, published on the NDIS website, was changed to remove direct eligibility for all but the most severe cases of autism.

“Level two” autism – which is severe enough to require substantial support – was deleted from a list of conditions likely to meet the NDIS requirements.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/18/ndis-mistakenly-p...

 

Read from top.

death of the little aussie battler...

Quentin Kenihan, the man known as the "little Aussie battler" because of his strong advocacy for people with disabilities, has died at the age of 43.

The Adelaide actor, entertainer and personality was born with a serious bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta and became well-known for his childhood interviews with Mike Willesee.

He had a television series on Network Ten, acted in the blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road and was most recently running for a spot on the Adelaide City Council.

It is understood Kenihan, who also made regular appearances on the ABC, passed away on Saturday evening, and that his death has come as a great shock to friends and family.

Actor and friend Russell Crowe took to Twitter to pay tribute.

"Devastating news. My little mate, the bravest bloke I ever met… gone. We will meet again," Crowe tweeted.

"Not confined any more… Between your interviews, your book, your one man show, your zany little movies… what a creative and productive life."

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-07/disability-advocate-quentin-keniha...

 

Condolences to his family and friends. 

foxes in charge of investigating broken wings in the henhouse...

Craig Wallace, the convener of the Disability Royal Commission Action Group, says he will boycott the inquiry unless two of the seven commissioners, John Ryan and Barbara Bennett, stand down because of a perceived conflict of interest.

"I'm not making any statements that either commissioners Bennett or Ryan were involved or contributed to the neglect of disabled people as individuals," he told AM.

"But what they did is that they were both in charge of and managed systems where people with disabilities have experienced abuse … and that's what makes them unacceptable appointments." 

John Ryan is a former NSW state Liberal politician, and a former senior public servant with the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. 

Barbara Bennett was the deputy secretary of the families and communities branch of the federal Department of Social Services.

Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John was one of the loudest voices pushing for the royal commission.

"I would reiterate the call that has been made now by over 50 disabled organisations for these commissioners to reconsider their positions, listen to the voices of disabled people, and to step back so that we can have faith in our own commission," he said.

Senator Steele-John says he supports those who want to boycott the inquiry.

"You shouldn't ask people to give evidence to folks in a dynamic where they feel as though they're being made to disclose to their abusers," he said.

"It would have been totally inappropriate for the child abuse royal commission to include an individual who'd been part of the Melbourne Response, for instance.

"And I support disabled people in feeling the same way about the participation of commissioners Ryan and Bennett."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/disability-royal-commission-boyco...

 

 

Read from top.

 

See also:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34948

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34864

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/28222

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/34971

robbing the disabled to make a surplus...

Spending $4.6 billion less than expected on the National Disability Insurance Scheme has put Australia’s federal budget on the brink of surplus.

The final result for the 2018/19 financial year revealed a modest $700 million deficit – a $13.8 billion improvement on what was predicted when the budget was originally delivered in May 2018.

The result was built on the back of lower-than-expected spending on the NDIS, higher personal income tax receipts and strong iron ore exports.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government pulled in $11.5 billion more in receipts than predicted, and handed out $6.6 billion less in payments.

“More people in jobs and fewer people on welfare has driven higher receipts and lower payments as a result,” he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

But Labor says the budget result is built on the backs of people with disabilities still waiting for equipment and treatment.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann revealed the coalition had doubled spending on the NDIS, not tripled as it was forecast to do.

That saved $4.6 billion in payments, which Senator Cormann said was the result of a slower-than-expected transition of people into the NDIS.

“Ultimately 100 per cent of the demand in the community will be met,” Senator Cormann said.

“Essentially at any budget updates you’ve got movements up and down, you’ve got demand that is higher than expected and you have to pay more; sometimes you’ve got demand that is lower than expected.”

But Labor disability spokesman Bill Shorten said the government was not telling the truth.

“The reality is, the demand is there. Go to speak with people in the communities and those watching and reading news today, they will be furious,” he told reporters.

He gave the example of a nine-year-old boy whose family had to use a wheelbarrow because he was awaiting an NDIS-supported wheelchair.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/09/19/budget-13-8bn-better...

 

Read from top.

it seems to work...


Unfortunately, even in this day and age, not all public places are wheelchair-accessible. Especially older buildings often do not have enough place to build a ramp or a platform elevator for wheelchair users. Most public buildings try to make do with a ramp at the back of the building or someone has to come out and place a makeshift ramp. This is incredibly inconvenient and there are much better solutions.

Change

However, the company Allgood Trio thought it was unacceptable that many public buildings weren’t wheelchair-accessible. Therefore, they came up with a solution which meant the building did not have to change it’s exterior, but it would be accessible to everyone. It’s a very practical solution, but from the outside the building doesn’t look any different at all.

Technology

What the Allgood Trio came up with? Retractable stairs! These steps look like normal stone steps which means they don’t diminish the exterior of the building. However, by pushing the button something fantastic happens: the normal-looking steps turn into a means for the lady in the wheelchair to enter the building. The only thing she has to do is push a button! The steps are called the Allgood Trio Sesame steps. Watch the video below to see how this amazing invention works.

 

See it work:

https://www.tips-and-tricks.co/various/wheelchair-button/2/

 

Read from top.