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Welcome to our new-look bi-monthly newsletter – (Summer Foundation Focus).
As we move closer to the first anniversary of the Labor Government coming to power in May last year the issue of young people in aged care is still not receiving the attention we had hoped for.
The Summer Foundation set up its residential aged care (RAC) Engagement Project last August to connect, build relationships and increase our knowledge of the RAC sector and the challenges it is facing.
We first met Daniel almost a decade ago, when he lived in a nursing home. Last year, Daniel moved into his own SDA apartment.
I’m 57 years old and have cerebral palsy. I’m a Richmond Tigers fan and in my earlier days was passionate about martial arts. I love spending time with my family, friends and, of course, my cats. I’m passionate about my advocacy work and hope it improves other people’s lives.
The Summer Foundation’s advocacy to stop the flow of young people into aged care is ramping up.
More than 10,000 younger people died in residential aged care over the past decade, new data shows.
Our UpSkill initiative, offering NDIS training and resources for professionals assisting people with complex support needs, continues to expand.
The Summer Foundation secured 2 significant research grants in February.
A La Trobe University/Summer Foundation team received an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant for a 3-year project investigating the lived experience of people with a disability moving into specialist housing.
We first met Connor during the more than 2 years he waited to get the right SDA approval in his NDIS plan. Late last year Connor finally moved in to his own apartment.
My name is Connor Brookhouse and I am 19 years old. My disability is called Friedreich’s Ataxia. I love animals and video games. I am now living independently in an apartment, but I was living at my mum’s house before I got SDA funding.
Source: The Australian – Sarah Ison
More than 10,000 younger people have died in residential aged care over the past decade, with new figures prompting calls for the government to implement ambitious timeframes to get people under 65 out of aged care and into suitable accommodation.
In October 2022, the government announced a review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It has appointed an Independent Review Panel, which includes people with disability. This is an important opportunity for NDIS participants to have their say about the scheme.
We first met Daniel almost a decade ago, when he lived in a nursing home. Last year, Daniel moved into his own SDA apartment.
I’m 57 years old and have cerebral palsy. I’m a Richmond Tigers fan and in my earlier days was passionate about martial arts. I love spending time with my family, friends and, of course, my cats. I’m passionate about my advocacy work and hope it improves other people’s lives.
Source: The Conversation – Di Winkler
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was designed to be a market-based system that would shift power from government and providers to consumers.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s Own Motion Inquiry report demonstrates that for the most vulnerable NDIS participants, there is still a power imbalance, with providers and workers still in charge.
Last year we began working with Samar. Samar shares her experience of moving into SDA and explains why she wanted to share her story.
I’m an independent woman, I have cerebral palsy. I live in an SDA apartment, which has been a real life changer for me. I am a disability support worker trainer and I share my lived experience with other projects as they come along. I like to support people with disabilities and hopefully my experience helps others.
There has been significant change in the disability sector in 2022. A change of government, a greater focus on the NDIS than arguably ever before in the community and now the start of what feels like a new era for the NDIS with new leadership and a scheme review.
Source: The Australian – Sarah Ison
The government’s plan to clear hospital beds by getting National Disability Insurance Scheme participants discharged sooner is saving the states “literally millions of dollars every day”, and a “frank” conversation is needed over how they can do more to support young disabled Australians, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says.
Source: The Canberra Times – Dan Jervis-Bardy
Aida Janssen has lived a tough life. She was 12 when a bomb blast in her native Lebanon left her paralysed, the shrapnel causing scars which are still visible.
At 29 she would get to live out a dream of moving to Australia, where she would settle in Canberra and start a family.
The Summer Foundation’s Annual Public Forum was held on November 25, 2022. For the first time since 2019, we were pleased to host an audience in person, as well as online. The hybrid event saw almost 600 join us online and close to 150 people at The Arena, NAB Docklands.
The Summer Foundation’s Down to 10 Days campaign is seeing significant progress in reducing the time NDIS participants are waiting for approval for the housing and support they are entitled to.
“We are seeing real change in NDIS participants getting access to the housing and support they need, when they need it,” said campaign director Tim Naughtin.
“We are hearing stories about people who have been waiting – in some cases for years – for approval from the NDIA, that are now receiving appropriate funding; and SDA providers who have had apartments sitting empty while participants await approval are now reporting the process is happening much faster.
“Recent data backs this up, with the latest NDIS quarterly report showing decisions are being made, and in shorter time frames.
“The impact of this is life-changing for NDIS participants and vital for the sustainability of the SDA market.”
In October NDIS Minister Bill Shorten joined the Summer Foundation for a tour around Guardian Living’s SDA apartments in the Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds. He met a resident in their apartment and saw another that has sat empty for 2 years while the person who is supposed to be living there has waited for the NDIS to approve their application.
Minister Shorten reiterated that clearing the backlog of participants disputing housing decisions and faster decision-making by the NDIA are key priorities for him.
We are also working directly with the NDIA on reducing the number of participants appealing their SDA decisions and on the design of the new NDIS Home and Living policy.
Our work is seeing us build support across the Federal Parliament, with independent MP Monique Ryan in November calling for a 10-day decision-making time frame to be legislated for NDIS participants needing housing.
In partnership with People With Disability Australia, the Summer Foundation conducted research into people’s experience of the NDIS. The research aimed to understand what works well in the NDIS, how it has made a difference to people’s lives and what they would change about the NDIS.
The Summer Foundation has identified the need to connect and build relationships with the residential aged care (RAC) sector as a way of working with providers to achieve the Federal Government’s Young People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) strategy.
We are pleased to welcome Chief Operating Officer, Jess McKay, to the Summer Foundation. Jess is a CPA qualified accountant and has close to 10 years’ experience as a COO. She comes to us with experience in the technology sector, as well as the aged care and not-for-profit sector.
In recent months, the Summer Foundation has invited ministers and senators to visit new Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), to meet tenants and to see what innovative SDA housing looks like. Visits have been organised with the support of SDA providers.
Since the NDIS was created, the NDIA has released quarterly reports to disability ministers on key information, including statistics and trends, about participants, their NDIS plans and the provision of NDIS supports in each jurisdiction.
The 2021/22 Annual Report was launched at the Annual Public Forum on 25 November.
The report highlights the outputs of the research, government relations, policy and lived experience teams, whose work serves as a springboard for all our major projects and programs.
As 2022 draws to a close, we are excited to look forward and share some of the major projects that will keep us busy in the first half of 2023.
