We all deserve a Disability Sector that truly helps support people -Please share and read and most importantly head to NDIS survey to have your say to help sustain the small and independent providers in this industry
Having found myself in the disability industry after working for NDIS as a reviews officer, I have found myself drawn to an industry that at its very core could really help people and at its worse can detriment them.
Often, as a coordinator, it is a thin line between working as an advocate and working as a coordinator. A skilled coordinator can walk this thin line appropriately and achieve some great outcomes for participants.
Irrespective of knowledge and skill, however, comes the need to really know how to ‘play’ the ‘ndis game’. One where the rules and players seem to be constantly changing and yet the central figure impacted by it all remains the same, the participant and their families.
An idealist at heart, I like to believe that a lot of people are in this industry to help the very people it was designed for, however as we begin to witness big insurance companies alongside corporations, including banks, make its way into the sector, it’s hard to imagine that the participant remains at the forefront of their business models.
I for one, wouldn’t want to be another faceless number in a corporate model disability machine and I don’t believe that participants deserve that either.
I believe we all have a duty to help protect the most vulnerable from becoming another forgotten clog in a very large corporate machine.
This includes enabling smaller person-centred independent providers to remain in this industry and continuing to enable participants to have the right to choose and utilise their independent support workers. I’ve personally witnessed participants get a new lease on life with independent support workers.
The very foundational core of which NDIS was built upon- ‘Choice and Control’, remains in jeopardy if independent and small NDIS providers are forced out of this industry allowing large organisations with political insights to move into the industry.
Changes are needed but these changes can also be ones which allow providers of all sizes to remain in this industry.
Have your say when it come to NDIS changes and registration
