What do people with a disability really want?

I’ve procrastinated about writing this blog, purely because I didn’t know where to begin and how I would condense what I wanted to say. This is my first blog since attending the National Disability & Carers Congress (NDCC) and I will be covering in this blog some more of my experiences from that and some other disability related things I’ve read about recently and formed opinions on.

I found that the NDCC was very beneficial for my knowledge as someone who wants to work in the disability sector when I finish studying and from a personal perspective as someone with a disability. Before the congress I was never someone who understood much of or followed politics until then. I found I learnt much about the important people in government who have or have had something to do with disability. As a result of this I now seem to find myself getting online to see what the latest is in politics especially where opinions and discussion around disability reform are concerned.

At the NDCC we heard from Patricia Scott from the Productivity Commission who has been apart of the team of people who have written the draft report on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). I knew of the NDIS before the congress but I now feel much more informed about what it will involve if it is to be implemented. I always agreed with anything that was potentially going to improve disability services within Australia but I was then able to confidently say I supported the idea of an NDIS. I was ready to say that I count; that all Australians count and no one should be living second-class lives because their basic needs are not being met.

Last week when the Labour government gave the federal budget speech there was much uproar by people with a disability, their families and carers about the intentions the government has to focus on getting more people with a disability into employment and less on the Disability Support Pension. The strategy they want to implement is to allow people on DSP to work double the amount they were allow before losing some of their payments. They will now be allowed to work 30 hours per week instead of 15. People who claim the DSP will be made to attend regular interviews and training sessions with Centrelink to ensure they are still looking for work whilst claiming benefits.

What bugs me the most is that I feel (and I know so much others do as well) that the government seem to be missing or ignoring the real needs of people with a disability. I do agree that there are many people with a disability claiming the DSP when in fact they could be working in some capacity but that doesn’t mean everyone on the DSP are sitting at home because they can’t be bothered doing anything else.

There are so many other underlying issues that people with a disability face everyday that prevents them from working or looking for work. We need the following:

- Suitable public transport system

- Education where everyone gets the support we need regardless of how ‘severe’ our disability is in the eyes of others.

-Aids and equipment that not only do they need for basic living but just for anything that will increase independent living.

-Enough attendant care that will allow us to live the lives we dream of and not just to meet our basic needs.

-Disability awareness programs in schools and workplaces to help reduce stigma around disability.

-Independent living options – we don’t want to live with carers and family for the rest of our lives nor should we have to, we need choice!





Looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, some people with a disability don’t even have the physiological needs meet. Once we have those basic needs met, then of course we can look at employment, until then though the government shouldn’t be putting a blanket fix over us and hoping that this will keep us quiet. I assure you Julia Gillard, you are making us more angry than ever by ignoring our needs! We need an NDIS.

There are a bunch of things I would like to achieve in my life but my main roadblock is funds. I spend money on this that the government should provide instead of investing in my future goals. Some of the things on my list of goals include (not in any particular order):

- Purchasing a car, having it modified and learning to drive it.
- Travelling overseas.
- Skydiving
- Getting married
- Adopting children
- Writing a book
- Being a public speaker
- Representing Australia at the Paralympics in dressage

The list goes on forever but Wayne Swan said in the Federal Budget speech that "Australia has many capable hands. We don't want a single pair to go to waste."

My question to Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard and any other Politician reading this:
How about an NDIS and then they won’t?