Recently Moore Park Golf became the first public golf course in Australia to enable people with severe physical disability to enjoy a round of golf.
They launched the Paragolfer which is a German designed cart, that will allow people with hemiplegia and quadriplegia the opportunity to experience participating in the sport.
In addition, Centennial Parklands recently invested over $1M on refurbishment and accessibility upgrades to the Moore Park Golf House, which includes a new accessibility ramp and a unisex accessible toilet.
Here’s hoping a few more courses around the country follow suit! If you would like more information visit: www.mooreparkgolf.com.au/paragolf
We recently attended a forum on choosing employment for youth with intellectual
disability. This forum was put on by The National Council on Intellectual Disability
(NCID) and NSW Council on Intellectual Disability.
The forum was initiated by the mother of a young man, frustrated with the lack
of opportunities available for people with disability to be employed in open
employment. We heard of some great experiences of people with moderate
intellectual disability being employed in mainstream or open employment, such as
Jane who now works at an Office Works store in Melbourne.
However, we also heard some not so great experiences of how hard it is for people
with an intellectual or learning disability to find a job, yet alone keep it.
And this seems to be a problem not just limited to intellectual disability. In Australia
the employment of people with a disability is 2.9 per cent, yet they make up 15 per
cent of the working-age population.
Usually people with disability who are seeking work might use a Disability
Employment Services (DES) to help them find a job. Some people have had great
experiences, whilst others might have had not so great experiences.
So how do you choose the right service for you? In the last 12 months the
Government has been keeping a record of the performance of these services
right around the country. The great news is that this information is available to
you. What’s even better is that the information can be filtered to give you a better
understanding of which service might be better at helping you get a job.
You can look up the providers in your area - and for instance if you have a physical
disability you can see which services have had the best record of helping people
with physical disability get a job and keep it.
The same goes if you have an intellectual or any other disability. This is really
important when choosing a DES as one service may have a great understanding
and experience in one type of disability and perhaps not much understanding or
success with another.
www.employment.gov.au/disability-employment-services-star-ratings
So what if you feel you don’t need an employment service to assist you find a job?
Usually if you have the skills and experience there shouldn’t be a problem getting
an interview. But what happens then when you’re face to face? As an employee or
prospective employee you do not have a legal obligation to disclose your disability to
an employer however disclosure may be practical in some situations.
An employer is allowed to ask you as a prospective employee if you have a disability
which would affect how you do the job. If your disability doesn’t then it’s not really
relevant. However, if you think it might and you choose to disclose your disability,
the way in which you do it can actually help people understand and not really see it
as an issue.
For instance if you choose to disclose the disability at an interview, you might bring
a letter from your doctor stating how it affects (or doesn’t) your capacity for work and
you might also provide your prospective employer a ‘fact sheet’ on your disability or
something similar. You’ve become an expert at disability, but remember that many
people may have no idea on disability, so helping them understand really helps in
making it become a non issue.
You may also like to let a prospective employer know about the Employment
Assistance Fund. This fund is available to provide financial assistance for work
related equipment, modifications and services. The types of services can include
Auslan interpreters, specialist support for employees with learning disability or
mental health condition as well as disability awareness training. The Fund may also
provide a free workplace assessment to help identify required modifications.
Then as any other candidate would do, tell them about your abilities, skills and what
you can bring and add to the organisation. Sometimes your experience of having
a disability can be a great way to sell your planning, negotiation and organisational
skills for instance. And of course you have skills which are just as good or better
than the next person, so make sure you tell your prospective employer about them.
There are a number or organisations and corporate entities that have made it a
priority to offer employment opportunities to people with disability. These come in
the way of open employment, mentorship and paid internships. You can find out
more about some of these programs by visiting Australian Network on Disability’s
website at www.and.org.au.
These are just some of the many ideas and resources available to you to assist in finding that job.
So what to make of the Federal Budget handed down last night by Treasurer Joe Hockey?
Here’s a quick snippet of some of the main points that may affect you.
NDIS
The NDIS came through pretty much unscathed with the Government committing to it’s funding and rollout – some good news it seems!
Disability Support Pension
There are some concerns about the proposed changes to the Disability Support Pension. The Government wants to introduce compulsory activities for Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients under 35 years of age with an assessed work capacity of eight hours or more a week who have a participation plan. These activities will vary depending on a person's circumstances and will focus on obtaining employment. Sanctions for non compliance will be introduced.
It will be interesting to see how the Government brings this into practise. It’s all very well for people to be working if they are capable – and there are many people with disabilities that want to work. And it makes good economic sense as well as social sense to have everyone participating in society.
However, the figures of people with disability being employed has declined over the past decade. Is this as a result of too much reliance on the DSP, or does it point to another problem?
There are countless reports of a distinct lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Why is this? Is it because of a general lack of understanding and willingness from employers to employ people with disabilities?
Do some employers see a person with a disability as a liability rather than an asset and put it in the ‘too hard’ basket?
So what will the Government do to address this issue to create awareness and better understanding for people with disabilities to gain meaningful employment?
Health
Doctor’s Visits
The Government is proposing a patient contribution of $7 per service for standard general practitioner consultations and out of hospital pathology and diagnostic imaging services.
For patients with concession cards and children under 16 years of age the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) rebate will only be reduced for the first 10 services in each year, after which it will return to current benefit levels.
So if you’re someone who has complex health needs and you see your doctor and associated health services regularly and you go over those 10 service visits in a year - it looks like it will cost you more for your health care needs.
Cost of medication
From 1 January 2015 to Government plans to increase the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co payments and safety net thresholds.
Co payments will increase for general patients by $5.00 (from $37.70 to $42.70) and for concessional patients by $0.80 (from $6.10 to $6.90) in 2015.
Pension Indexing
The Treasurer announced that the Disability Support Pension, the Carer Payment and the Aged Pension will now be indexed in line with CPI Index rather than to the Average Male Weekly Earnings.
What does this mean in real terms? Well many believe The CPI index does not reflect the real cost of living, and so feel many will fall further below the poverty line.
The proposed changes in the Budget will start to go before the Senate on 1 July 2014. Already there has been major opposition to some of these changes by Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer – as well as many working in the Social and Health sectors.
So it looks like the Government might have bit of a fight on its hands if it’s to get these changes through Parliament.
Time will tell.
What do you think? Is it a fair budget or is it too tough?
