CEO Blog
31 October 2024
Travel offers new ideas and fresh perspectives on what we see every day ‘back home’.
During my recent study trip to Stanford University, I used the opportunity to visit services for people with disabilities in California.
I wanted to hear directly from people and the staff who support them. There is no substitute for sitting with people to learn new things, large and small.
In California I saw how innovative ventures employ people with disability in open employment arrangements as part of commercially successful operations.
I heard directly from people with lived experience about how they created their own accommodation solutions in an environment of high homelessness and the absence of a social model of support like the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
I also saw how the Australian and Californian systems have many similar goals and challenges.
So many of the people I met were frustrated with systems that did not put their needs and goals first, despite best intentions.
Everyone I met in service delivery was passionate about the need for quality evidence-based practice but were hamstrung by funding cuts and complex systems.
Those I met listened with great interest and amazement when I explained Supported Independent Living and Specialist Disability Accommodation services available under the NDIS.
Those working in the sector in California were also impressed that Australia has a Cabinet-level minister responsible for the NDIS. With Minister Bill Shorten planning to retire from government, it is crucial the NDIS Minister remains part of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet.
Discussing disability rights, service delivery and ‘what next?’ in our respective sectors made for a great trip full of learning for me. My 3 key takeaways from my time in California are:
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Affordable housing is the foundation for genuine choice and control for people with disabilities.
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All services must be co-designed with people with disability and focused on quality outcomes.
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If governments don’t put the goals of people with disability at the heart of services, they perpetuate systems that hold people back
My trip has reinforced my commitment to bringing the vision of the NDIS Review to life.
Achieve is actively finding new ways to elevate the voices of people with disability to decision-makers across the multitude of new NDIS consultation processes. We are also sharing how we invest in innovation across our services and dismantling barriers to inclusion, both within our organisation and for the people we support.
This is the end of the beginning in our NDIS reform journey, so we must ‘maintain the rage’, bringing creativity and solutions to government.