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The Summer Foundation’s Dr George Taleporos is gearing up for another great year of Reasonable & Necessary podcasts.
The podcast aims to demystify the NDIS and features interviews with politicians, sector professionals, people with lived experience and other experts. Not one to shy away from the hard questions, Dr George’s engaging style always makes for great listening. See some podcast highlights here or subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
The Summer Foundation Research team recently had its work on the impact and experiences of moving into specialist disability accommodation (SDA) for people with acquired complex disability published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Impairment.
Hi, I’m Bruce, 52 years young, living in an SDA apartment on the Gold Coast. I have a disability called arthrogryposis, which affects both joints and muscles of my major joints.
The Hospital to Home program will now be delivered by the Housing Hub. Since its establishment in 2017, the Housing Hub has expanded to offer a range of specialist support services for people with disability. It is well placed to continue delivering this exceptional service.
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024.
We go into the new year with renewed enthusiasm and determination to see more positive housing outcomes for young people with disability and those who support them.
It’s not always easy to find the information you need about housing options.
The Housing Hub wants to make it easier to find reliable and trustworthy information to help you navigate your housing journey.
The Summer Foundation and the Housing Hub, host a range of face-to-face and online workshops for a wide range of audiences Australia-wide.
Julia recently joined the Co-design team at the Summer Foundation. She shares her story and tells us about her work.
As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the lives of people with disability and their families, we are launching the Feedback in Supported Accommodation Resource (FISAR) project.
The Summer Foundation, in partnership with the Housing Hub, will collaborate with people with disability and their supporters to create new resources to help them share feedback, make complaints and shape the services they access.
We first met Lisa 2 years ago when she was living in aged care. Louise, from the Summer Foundation, chatted with Lisa about how she is going with living in her own home.
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to reflect and say thank you to all our contributors who generously shared their stories for our Staying Connected page.
On this episode of Reasonable & Necessary, Dr George brings together Australia’s leading disability advocates to unpack the NDIS Review. Dr George, along with El Gibbs, Nick Avery, Jarrod Sandell-Hay and Sam Paior will guide you through all the big changes that are proposed, and what they might mean for you.
You can download and listen to the audio version on SoundCloud, iTunes (Apple Podcasts) or Spotify.
Our social enterprise, the Housing Hub, host a range of face-to-face and online workshops for a wide range of audiences Australia-wide.
My name is Bridget Doyle. I’m 28 years old. I love going out for coffee, listening to music, walking my dog Lily, playing board games with friends and pottering around in my garden growing my own fruits and veggies.
I live in SDA in Redcliffe, Queensland. I used to live with my mum and dad, then I moved out to a shared SDA. Unfortunately that didn’t work out and now I live by myself in a SDA apartment. My parents and I had to fight hard to get single occupancy SDA – it was very stressful and took a toll on all of us fighting the NDIS but it was worth it.
It has been a tough journey to get to my current home but it has definitely been worth all of the tough times.
I got involved with the Summer Foundation through my mum who had connected with the organisation previously. Then last year while I was visiting Melbourne I got to meet some of the team, which was such a lovely experience.
I have been fortunate enough to work on some projects with the Summer Foundation and been able to give my insight through my lived experience as a participant of the NDIS. I’ll hopefully also be able to create resources to help other participants navigate the NDIS more easily.
The Summer Foundation has always been a welcoming, supportive and safe space to be a part of. I love being able to give my input into projects that they’re doing.
It’s been a big year for Reasonable & Necessary, with some extremely important conversations unfolding on Dr George’s podcast. Dr George has interviewed NDIS Review Co-chairs Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul twice this year. He’s also interviewed Minister Bill Shorten, international disability expert Simon Duffy and former Disability Royal Commissioner Alaistair McEwan, to name a few.
The 2022/23 Annual Report was launched on 2 November at the Annual Public Forum. The report shares highlights of the work we are doing to resolve the issue of younger people in aged care. Using the Summer Foundation strategic priorities to structure the report, it details the achievements and work in progress from the Research team, the Housing Hub, UpSkill and the Co-design team.
The Summer Foundation welcomes the emphasis on inclusive housing in the Disability Royal Commission’s final report.
As part of our continuous efforts to enhance and streamline our services, UpSkill training will now be delivered by the Housing Hub.
About 860 people participated in the Summer Foundation’s 10th Annual Public Forum on 2 November.
This included 160 people who attended the forum in person and about 700 who were online to focus on how home and living supports can be transformed to truly meet the needs of people with disability.
The NDIS Review final report was made public on 7 December. Overall the scope and scale of recommendations from the NDIS Review are welcome. The Review clearly articulated the design flaws. Change will not happen overnight.
Welcome to our last newsletter for 2023.
The year ends on a high with the state and federal governments agreeing at National Cabinet to work together to improve the lives of people with disability, and the release of the NDIS Review final report and recommendations.
It is heartening to see the government has laid the foundations for the radical changes to the NDIS that are needed. See our perspective on the recommendations and what will happen next here.
Taken together, the NDIS Review and the Disability Royal Commission recommendations have the potential to transform disability housing. You can read more about this in my recent article in The Conversation here.
It’s International Day of People with Disability, long time contributor to the work of Summer Foundation, Lynne Foreman shares her ideas and thoughts on the day.
Hi, I am Lynne. I am a disability advocate in Geelong. My disability is called arthrogryposis multiplexcongenita, and I love saying it because no-one’s ever heard of it. There are only a few of us with it in Australia!
I am in a lot of disability organisations where I help out with things. For example, the Valid conference is coming up in February, I am on the reference group, and I help guide people on the day. Part of my role in this is empowering other people with disabilities.
We all come together, we are all one.
I have always been proud that I have a disability.
We recognise everyone these days, why not recognise us!
From this recognition, I hope people understand us a bit better. I was brought up with 6 siblings, I wasn’t treated differently. I think I got out of doing the dishes once!
We might have a disability, but we can do most things. People have got to open their minds. And say just because you’ve got a disability, we can do a lot of things we just do some differently, at the end of the day, we will do it. Sometimes we get looked at and not spoken to. People can be too scared to speak with us because they may think we don’t speak, they don’t want to get embarrassed, so they speak to our support worker instead. I speak up and say you can speak to me.
My first thought was, technology is fantastic, there is no reason why we shouldn’t do anything. There is more scope for more assistance.
There are still barriers within the able community because they don’t understand. Assumptions are made.
It has improved a hell of a lot, I am 67 years old, it has improved. But some people don’t want to know – it is too hard for them. It is education really. We need to think outside the box.
On this episode of Reasonable & Necessary, Dr George speaks with disability rights lawyer Natalie Wade, about NDIS appeals, the NDIS Review and her nationally televised speech on the ABC.
You can download and listen to the audio version on SoundCloud, iTunes (Apple Podcasts) or Spotify.
Hear from Samar Bain, NDIS participant and support worker trainer, who featured on the panel at the Summer Foundation Annual Public Forum.
Can you tell us why you were asked to be a panelist and your connection to the topic ‘Transforming Home and Living Supports’?
The Summer Foundation approached me as I have done other work for them. Given my background as a disability support work trainer and NDIS consultant they thought I was a perfect person to be on the panel as an NDIS participant and working in the field.
I live in SDA housing. The topic transforming home and living support really grabbed me as I’m always having to fight to maintain my support worker hours and the way I would like to be supported in my home.
What do you think the most important part of the discussion was?
These 3 questions were a highlight for me. They all relate to something that I am really passionate about.
I think when it comes to being a great support worker you just have to keep in mind that we are humans supporting humans. I think people forget that.
How did you feel speaking on the panel?
I felt really nervous. All the prep work leading up to it was very exciting and when we got closer to the time I was starting to get nervous and I was worried I would get stage fright but when I got up the first question it just felt natural. I was happy when everyone added to the discussion.
I think when I got the question from the audience it kind of threw me off guard but I surprised myself.
Why do you take the time to share your experience and insights?
I am very passionate about what I do. As someone living with a disability I feel like I’ve got a valid point of view and I also work in the field. I love to share my insight. I am very passionate about the disability sector and training support workers. I like to share my insight and my experiences and I want people to learn from that, to take away from that and be the best version they could possibly be, just like I have done.
What would you say to someone else thinking about connecting with our work at the Summer Foundation and sharing their experience?
It’s a great organisation to work with and be connected with. The knowledge and the insight they have is just incredible. I highly recommend connecting as they are very supportive and value everything you share with them. I feel very honoured to be part of their team as they are just amazing to work alongside.
You can watch a recording of the 2023 Annual Public Forum here.
The Summer Foundation’s Annual Public Forum was hosted on November 2, 2023, where we enjoyed record-breaking attendance for this years’ event. We hosted closed to 160 people in person at The Arena, NAB Docklands, and nearly 700 people online. It was wonderful to see such an appetite for having these important conversations. Our focus for the 2023 Annual Public Forum was how home and living supports can be transformed so they truly meet the needs of people with disability.
Our panel of experts was made up of sector professionals, people with lived experience and policy makers, and were hosted by Elizabeth Wright, disability affairs reporter at the ABC and Paralympian. Together, they provided a robust and thoughtful conversation around what good supports look like.
Samar Bain brought the voice of lived experience to the discussion with her unique position of NDIS participant and user of home and living supports, and as trainer of support providers. Samar emphasised that appropriate training of support workers was essential to the provision of good support.
Penelope McKay shared the work that the NDIA are doing to improve home and living supports. Kate De Cruz brought valuable insight around the evidence around what good supports look like, and David Clark, CEO at InLife, shared how they are trying to make changes that improve the support provided to participants.
Penelope McKay is the Deputy CEO at the National Disability Insurance Agency responsible for Home and Living and Market Stewardship. Penelope will join us to discuss the Agency’s perspective on how we can transform supports at home and what the NDIA is doing to improve outcomes for NDIS participants.
With the NDIS seeking to foster innovation in the sector, there’s no better time for the Head of Home and Living to discuss the new home and living policy. The discussion with Penelope will provide insight into the challenges and opportunities the new policy may present.
David Clark is CEO at InLife, a passionate not-for-profit organisation determined to break down everyday barriers and positively transform the experience of disability support. They recognise the challenges of living with disability support and want to reshape the experience for the better. David will talk about the issues and risks associated with poor quality supports and what, as a provider, can be done to make sure supports meet the needs of participants.
David has spent the last 15 years using business ideas to improve public sector and non-profit organisations.
“It might feel like you haven’t got choice and control but there are avenues you can take if you have the right supports in place.” – Samar Bain
Samar is a disability support worker trainer and shares her lived experience to support people with disability. She lives with cerebral palsy but is able to live independently since moving into her SDA apartment.
Samar’s SDA apartment provides her with the freedom she has long desired, and to live her life on her own terms. Although the NDIS has improved Samar’s life, she believes there are barriers to living with true choice and control.
Dr Kate D’Cruz is a Senior Research Fellow at the Summer Foundation. She leads research projects that evaluate the experiences and outcomes of young people with disability.
The Summer Foundation’s research into the personal impact of moving into purpose-built specialist disability accommodation (SDA) provides compelling insights into the importance of support for people with disability to live well.
The NDIS has come a long way in the 10 years since its inception, but to transform home and living supports in a way that truly meets the needs of participants, the NDIA needs to embrace flexibility, innovation and person-centred choice and control in every decision that it makes.
Watch the full recording of the forum below:
This paper summarises findings from relevant research on the topic to help inform the discussion about supports at home in the lead-up to, at, and after that forum.
