This email was inspired by and contains some words (in italics) written by the “Hands Off Our NDIS” feedback campaign.
(Update 24th January 2023: Compulsary assessments were stopped
Hiya! Thanks for reading this old blog post – a feedback form copy and paste.
The compulsary assessments were stopped. Ages ago.
Finally updating this blog post. (Can barely see, breathe through my sinus infction and lump on my head, am exausted and… but whatever. Gotta update the blog post.
I edited it a bit on publication for confidentiality, an intro paragraph for some context and formatting to look good – and visually how I’ve collected my thoughts.
The cruel, kinda slash and burn policy was offically dropped!
[Oh god. No. Not possible – unless the testing project-phase was continued but stopped being stated out loud… Honestly, I wouldn’t trust that era of people and their ideologies about what vulnerable people kinda-do and don’t deserve-kinda and how we ‘should’ be treated.]
What is this term ‘desktop review’ by the way? Did it come in with business taking over police investigation and business administration roles/ duties? I dunno man, I call that ‘admin’. Doing your job. During customer relationship interactions. God!
How can people concetrate in this stuffed up world! Try giving people somewhere to live. And certainty – not viewed as disposable staff. Good lord. Whatever happened to being able to live and work at home?
I’ll digress again – I would have loved to been an independant contractor and be able to work at home. Like in my own time, heh. Get exausted a lot. Need to chill. You know – with a desk and/ or couch and… people to… whatever. Build a life and habits in a home. Go wander around in a community. Sit on one of many public, community benches for gods sake. They don’t exist any more. And yeah, work at home. Get the run of the house. Like for inspiration and working and building stuff.
But whatever. Not the point.)
The advocates – including you possibly -were sucessful to stop compulsary assessments! This org below sound awesome. A community group I imagine.
I’m glad and a personal thank you as a disabled person if you provided feedback about these assessments.
https://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/hands-off/%5D
Subject line: NDIS neglect and harm with compulsory assessments
Dear Minister Reynolds,
You are not a medical professional, and are putting people, including myself, in harm and being intentionally neglectful by dismissing our concerns and continuing with these compulsory assessments.
If you have not already done it, your responsibility is to read every report by the Royal Commission into Elder Abuse and Royal Commission into people with Disabilities.
Fundamental to any care situation – is to listen to and take on recommendations of a sick person’s experienced and educated multi-disciplinary medical team.
If, for instance, you developed early onset dementia, or developed an infection that ended with you in a wheelchair, would you want one person, who knows almost nothing about medicine, dementia, and/or physical rehabilitation to dictate your care?
As the new Minister for the NDIS, you have the chance to make things right. Please, I’m urging you to:
• Follow the recommendations already provided from QCOSS, Australian Medical Association, and the other frontline services and research institutions with experience and education working with disabled people.
- Read the reports by the royal comissions about neglect and abuse in the health sector.
- Immediately stop the roll-out of these changes
•Co-design alternative approaches with people with disability and the people who support them
•Commit to keeping people with disability at the centre of the NDIS.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Karletta Abianac
04
Musings of KarlettaA 