UpSkill blog

Support coordinator, Francine, reached out to the Summer Foundation when she was told the lively 64-year-old she supported must give up access to the NDIS if she wanted to continue living in the residential aged care (RAC) facility she has lived in for 10 years.

Specialist disability accommodation (SDA) is accommodation funded through the NDIS for long-term, accessible housing for participants with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. One option for people who are able to live alone is SDA with on-site shared support.

The recent Disability Reform Ministers’ Meeting (DMM) (held on 29 July 2022) addressed the issue of NDIS participants who are stuck in hospital because they are unable to access appropriate housing and support.

While it is early days since the election, we know we have a new Labor government that has made promises to fix many of the troubles we have seen with the NDIS.

UpSkill Lead, Linda Hughes, recently caught up with Julie-Anne Pho – the Summer Foundation’s Policy Manager to discuss recent amendments to the NDIS Act.

Late last year the NDIA released the Improving Support Coordination for Participants paper. The paper outlines the outcomes of the support coordination consultation in September 2020, as well as the broader strategic plan for the NDIS.

As 2021 comes to a close, we want to thank you for your ongoing work to support people with disability to achieve good outcomes and to live well in the community. We are very proud to support the development of the sector and to work alongside people with disability as allies.

Quite a few years ago we created a hospital passport with my son. A hospital passport is a really handy document to have if you need to go to hospital, particularly if you have disability and might have difficulty communicating with hospital staff.

When Va was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in April 2020 she was living in her own home with her teenage son. As her condition progressed, her home was no longer suitable or safe. Va says: “It was really difficult for me, because I didn’t know what to do. Suddenly your whole life has changed.”

Episode 2 of UpSkill’s Best Practice podcast series talks about how to support a person with complex support needs to leave hospital. In this podcast we hear from Sally and her Mum Jenny about how support coordinators helped Sally leave hospital and achieve what initially seemed impossible.

In July 2021, we published a podcast series in which we discussed best practice support coordination. In episode 1, we spoke with Lauren Lovegrove and Marnie Roelink, who are support coordinators from MNDNSW, as well as 2 NDIS participants who Lauren and Marnie have supported – Vasemaca and Joanna.

With support for decision making now on the NDIA’s agenda, Linda Hughes writes that we can expect to hear more about people with disability having greater opportunity to be supported to make decisions about their own life.

Summer Foundation Projects Support Officer Helen Jeisman chats with one of the organisation’s Lived Experience advisors and curators, Emma Gee, about the Staying Connected page – a platform where people with lived experience can connect and contribute to the work of the Summer Foundation.

In this month’s blog, Linda shares insights into why safeguards for people entering into an ILO arrangement are so important.

For UpSkill Lead, Linda Hughes, spending time with other people with disability and their families taught her how to see things outside the box. This experience has prepared her to help support coordinators to make the most of Individualised Living Options (ILOs) …

Summer Foundation Projects Support Officer Helen Jeisman chats with our UpSkill Lead Linda Hughes about her experiences and advice to support coordinators.