NDIS Portal Glitch Stretches to 8 Weeks

Glitches with the National Disability Insurance Agency’s portal and payment system are persisting with many service providers and NDIS participants questioning the Government’s lack of action.

The National Census website, which was brought down by alleged hack attempts, was immediately scheduled for investigation and repair to bring the site back online. In comparison the NDIS portal, through which participants manage their funds and make payments to their providers, has been working inconsistently for the last 8 weeks. As the weeks roll by one starts to wonder if the delays are a reflection of the Government’s commitment to the NDIS.

The Australian reported that some providers have had to turn away patients due to the delays in payment;

Speech pathologist Diana Bleby said she was owed more than $5000 by the NDIS and was now drawing on a line of credit to sustain her practice in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

“I don’t work as a speech pathologist to earn the big bucks,” Ms Bleby said. “We get some payments from the NDIS but it’s highly unpredictable. My line-of-credit loan is getting less and less flexible and I need to pay rent and contractors.” (Puddy, 2016)

Where will this leave patients? It is more likely than not that the patients have had to sit on waiting lists in the first place  just to be seen by their providers  and now they face cancelled appointments and breaks in treatment because providers can not afford to continue working without payment.  As a break in treatment could have devastating effects on a patient’s progress, many families are being forced to pay for treatments themselves to avoid being thrown back on to a waiting list.

Kate Bradbrook's family includes two children who are eligible for NDIS funding, a 12-year-old and a five-year-old. The elder child had her plan approved before the end of June but despite a planning meeting, the younger child's approval has been delayed because of the glitch.

 "My planner told me to start booking therapy when we had our planning meeting," Ms Bradbrook said. "She said it wouldn't take long for his plan to be approved. It's ready to go, everything's done, but because of the current issues with the system, his plan can't be approved."

Ms Bradbrook said NDIS told her any therapy he had received would not be covered until his plan was approved. "I'm probably up to $1,000 out of pocket, which I've been told won't be reimbursed," she said. (Waldhuter, 2016)

Unfortunately it seems that the general public’s disregard for people with disability resonates with the Government. How else can we explain the difference in the way that the census website was dealt with? Is it that the Census is a money-making endeavour where the NDIS is seen as a drain on the public purse or is there a more deep-seated issue at hand? With the NDIS we were told that PWD would finally have a voice; we can HIRE our own providers and we can FIRE them if they don’t live up to standards. The promise of self-determination and self-management, through the use of the NDIS Portal, has ended up in a huge technological bungle and no one who can do anything about it seems to care.

For too long PWD have been pushed to the fringe of society; we have been told we need to be grateful for what we get and not to complain about poor service levels. The introduction of the NDIS is the biggest change to the social services landscape since the introduction of the universal healthcare system in the 1970s.  It promised increased funding, autonomy and integration. It promised that PWD would be in control of their lives and their futures. Sadly these glitches have, at least temporarily, taken away the promise of self-management and replaced it with worrying delays and unexpected expense.

The Government needs to reassert its commitment to the NDIS by ensuring the portal is fully functioning and by taking the concerns of PWD and service providers seriously.

On the 5^th August Minister for Social Services and Disability Services Christian Porter announced a review of the implementation of NDIS IT system would be undertaken and has made assurances that what they deem as the ‘central issues’ with the portal have already been resolved.

The NDIA has advised that service providers will be compensated for the delays in payment and that affected parties can contact the NDIA on 1800 800 110 to discuss.

Works Cited

Puddy, R. (2016, August 4). Cash-strapped providers ‘turn away patients’ due to NDIS bungle. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/cashstrapped-providers-turn-away-patients-due-to-ndis-bungle/news-story/6d412d8af84c1a9e12fa3d6816f6088b

Waldhuter, L. (2016, August 10). NDIS providers entering eighth week without payment as families face approval delays. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-10/ndis-providers-entering-their-eighth-week-without-payment/7711754

Workshops to Prepare for Individualised Funding

We’re sure you will agree there is so much information going around at the moment about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). So how do you make sense of it all? One great way is to go along to one of the many free workshops that are being offered around the state.

These workshops guide you through the process of getting ready for the NDIS. You have the opportunity to talk to people that are already managing their own supports. They share their experience of what works and how you can also make things work for you. 

Below you will find a list of these workshops offered in the coming months by a couple of different organisations.

My Choice Matters - Get More Skills Workshops
 
Inverell - Monday 17th March - 9:30am – 2:30pm
Narrabri - Tuesday 18th March - 9:30am – 2:30pm
Nyngan - Disability Info Share - Wednesday 19th – Friday 21st - time - 9am to 3pm daily.  
http://www.adnnsw.org.au/nyngan-info-share/
Condobolin - Saturday 22nd – Get More Skills - time TBC
Eastlakes - Friday 28th – Get More Skills - 9:30am - 2:30pm

Run Projects is an initiative of My Choice Matters, and is a way for you to apply for funding (up to $5,000) to co-run a project with My Choice Matters. Run Projects is hoping to  achieve:

• Support you to develop more skills so you can exercise more choice, voice
  and control in your life
• Create opportunities for you to experiment and trial new ways of doing things,
  create new knowledge and ways of being in control; and
• Share your learning with others
   

My Choice Matters will run 4 application rounds for Run Projects. You should plan to  complete your project during the project dates allocated to the round in
which you applied.

Round 1 - Application Deadline: 7 Apr 2014 - Project Dates: 1 May 2014 – 31
Oct 2014

Round 2 - Application Deadline: TBA - Project Dates: 1 July 2014 – 31 Dec
2014.

To register or find out further information on any of the above you can visit: www.mychoicematters.org.au

The Physical Disability Council of NSW (PDCN) are running a number of workshops called “Getting Ready”. This a free workshop run over 2 days (3 hours each day) for people with physical disability.

The focus of the workshop is gaining more control over your life by identifying what is  important to you, set goals and make a plan to achieve goals.
 
Blacktown - 10-11 March 2014
Nyngan - 19,20,21 March 2014
Wagga Wagga - 24-25 March 2014
Bega - 28-29 April 2014
Webinar (via the internet)
Offered to all of State - 14-15 April 2014
Armidale - 18-19 August 2014
Berry - 23-24 June 2014
 
To register for a free workshop or to find out more information please contact:
admin@pdcnsw.org.au or call (02) 9552 1606

To find out more visit: http://www.pdcnsw.org.au/

Resourcing Families are also running some workshops in the coming months:
 
Making the Most of Self Management
 
West Ryde - Thursday 3 April 2014
 
Keys to Developing Meaningful Lives
 
Orange - Wednesday 26 March
Lismore - Wednesday 9 April
Sydney - Wednesday 30 April
Nowra - Wednesday 7 May
Wagga Wagga - Wednesday 28 May
Armidale - Wednesday 18 June
Broken Hill - Wednesday 16 July

To find out more on the above workshops and to to register visit: www.resourcingfamilies.org.au/events

All You Need to Know About Voting

You really can’t miss that we have an election coming up on 7 September to decide who will be our Government and local member for the next few years! So how do you make your voice heard and ensure things that are important to you and your community are put forward?

Before and after the election is a great time to speak or write to candidates in your local area (electorate) and raise issues important to you. A good idea is to speak to candidates from all the political parties. That person you speak to could just be the person who puts your issue before Parliament some day in the future. This is how things like the NDIS started - by people talking to politicians and telling them a better system was needed for people with disability.

Ways can you vote
There are a number of new initiatives that will assist voting to be more accessible to everyone in our community. At the 2013 federal election, voters who are blind or have low vision will have three voting options:

New telephone voting option
Voters who are blind or vision impaired can telephone the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) call centre and cast a secret vote from any location, without attending an AEC office.

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes

Voters must register to cast their vote by telephone. Registration for telephone voting starts two and a half weeks before election day and ends at 12 noon AEST on election day.

To register, voters need to call 1800913993. When a voter calls to register, they will be asked to select a PIN. Once registered, they will receive an acknowledgment letter at their enrolled address. The registration number can also be received by post, email, SMS or through a phone call.

Assisted voting at a polling place
Voters may choose to cast a vote with assistance at a polling place. A blind or vision impaired voter may choose an assistant to help cast their vote. The assistant reads the contents of the ballot paper then completes the ballot paper according to the voter’s preferences.

Assisted postal voting
Voters can cast a postal vote with the help of an assistant. The assistant may complete the ballot papers and envelope, but the voter must sign the envelope or make a mark as a signature.

Polling Place Voting
On election day you can go to your local polling place and complete your vote. To find out where your nearest polling place is you can search on the Electoral Commission website by suburb. It will also have a wheelchair symbol next to the listing to show that it is wheelchair accessible. Polling places open at 8am and close at 6pm sharp. 

If you’re not able for some reason to make it to a polling place on election day, then you can ‘pre-poll’ your vote at a pre-poll voting centre or divisional office in the lead up to election day.

You can find a list of pre-polling centres on the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) website, or you can call 13 23 26 to find out.

How to Vote - Practice Voting
If you haven’t voted before, or you think you might need a brush up on how to do it, there is a Practice Voting Tool available on the AEC website.

On election day you will recieve 2 pieces of paper - one for the House of Representatives which is green. The other will be a big white sheet of paper which is the Senate Ballot paper. The practice voting tool lets you practice on both of these ballot papers and will check to see if you’ve done it correctly!

For the House of Representatives you number 1 to 8 (1 is your first choice and 8 is your last choice) next to the Candidate’s name.

For the Senate Ballot Paper, you can choose to vote in two ways. The first way is ‘above the line’ where you put a ‘1’ in the box for the party or group of your choice. By doing this you’re allowing the order of your preference to be determined by the party or group you’re voting for.

The second way to vote on the Senate Ballot Paper is ‘below the line’ where you can choose to fill in every box below the line in order of your preference. You must put a ‘1’ in the box beside the candidate who is your first choice, ‘2’ in the box beside your second choice and so on, until you have numbered every box. You must number every box for your vote to count.

The AEC has also put together this useful video in Auslan, captions and audio. It gives an overview on the ins and outs of voting

To find out more on how to vote on election day you can visit the AEC’s website at www.aec.gov.au  call 13 23 26 or email info@aec.gov.au.

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment you can use the National Relay Service (NRS)

• TTY users phone 133 677 then ask for 13 23 26
• Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 13 23 26
• Internet relay users connect to the NRS then ask for 13 23 26.

Beware of NDIS Scammers

With the launch of the NDIS coming in June, there have been reports of individuals taking advantage of this situation by claiming to work for the Government.

These individuals have then asked people to pay an administration fee to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

These claims are false, and someone making these claims is part of a scam.

There is no need for people to pay a fee to join the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Government is investing $1 billion to launch the first stage of the NDIS in five sites across the country from July this year.

The NDIS Launch Transition Agency will deliver the first stage of the NDIS and in the lead up to launch will communicate with many people with disability in the launch sites.

However, the Launch Transition Agency will not be seeking fees from anyone to participate in the scheme.

You should be very wary of anyone asking for payments for Government schemes, including the NDIS.

Please make sure you do not give any personal details to anyone who tells you there is a fee for the NDIS.

If you are concerned that your privacy has been breached or you have provided personal details as a result of one of these calls, you should report it to the police.

You can also report a scam and get further information at the Government’s Scamwatch website, www.scamwatch.gov.au, or call the hotline on 1300 795 995.

If you have any further enquiries about this scam, you can email
helpdesk.fraud@fahcsia.gov.au

If you want to know more about the facts of the NDIS please go to the Government’s official web site at www.ndis.gov.au

Consultation on the NDIS Rules

On the 1st of February the Australian Government released an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) Consultation Paper.

This paper talks about the Rules by which the NDIS will operate under.

The Rules will also guide how each person will experience the NDIS as well as the effective management of the scheme, now and into the future.

The Rules are still under development and the Government is seeking feedback and so are encouraging people to have their say via

Your Say the new forum about the NDIS Rules 

or provide feedback via email to NDISengagement@fahcsia.gov.au or 

via the NDIS postal address below:

ATTENTION: SECRETARIAT
NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME
PO BOX 6555
CANBERRA ACT 2600

The closing date for submissions is 1 March 2013.

You can access the Consultation Paper via these links– Accessible Word Doc [59kB] / PDF [587kB]

Living Within Your Means

So is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) turning into a political bun fight? At the moment it seems it is, and the politicians on both sides of politics seem to be intent on winning brownie points by slagging the others off, rather than focusing on the real issue at hand - basic human rights for every Australian.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has come out and said yesterday about the NDIS "I will not make a commitment to something I can't fund."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hockey-pours-scorn-on-unfunded-disability-plan/story-fn59niix-1226358249040

He then went on to say:

“you've got to live within your means and the government is engaged in a cruel hoax in saying that it's getting on with the job of the NDIS and then underfunding it".

Only seeing the dollars

You know Mr Hockey there are just some things that take priority over a monetary value. Surely people with disability being able to live a life where they are not treated as second class citizens is one of those things. I wonder how Mr Hockey might get by on 2-3 showers a week, or having to wait a couple of years for a new wheelchair? We’ll probably never know.

Here’s a challenge - Perhaps Mr Hockey could spend a week living with a person with disability and see how well they are currently ‘living within their means’.  Having to ‘get by’ and accept what they are given, which ain’t much! Politicians are elected by the people right? Then surely they should get down and understand the situations of these very people who elect them. 

Perhaps spending some real time with people with disability might provide Mr Hockey with some insight and go a little way in changing his thinking. Surely this should be a matter of ‘how?’ do we fund this Scheme not ‘can we?’

Don’t just be a naysayer and put it in the ‘too hard basket’Joe.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear a re-phrase of Mr Hockey’s comments yesterday perhaps to sound something like this:

‘I can’t make a commitment to how this scheme will be funded yet, but it’s such an important issue, that we will find a way to fund it. 

Now this isn’t about which party you vote for – it’s about making sure whoever you vote for is constantly reminded that people with disability have the right to be treated as equally as any other member of our society.

Let’s see if we can change Joe’s mind.

http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/home/

NDIS - A Basic Human Right

So you’ve probably heard a bit this week about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (or NDIS for short).

On Monday thousands of people around the country joined forces and attended rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane – all making the point of ‘Every Australian Counts’. This has been a campaign running for over 18 months now calling on the Government to overhaul the current disability system.

So what happened? Well Prime Minister Gillard announced at the Sydney rally that Australia will definitely have a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).  “Today I can announce that in the May Budget, my Government, your Labor Government will fund our share for the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme” she said.

PM Gillard also announced the Government will deliver the roll out of this scheme a year ahead of schedule and the scheme will start to roll out next year in 4 locations (these haven’t been named yet). 

The Government’s media release states this initial roll out will see about 10,000 people with disability start to receive support under the new system. Read the media release here

So what now? It may seem like we have ‘won’ and in many ways it is a big potential win for all those people who have literally suffered and continue to suffer under a system that just doesn’t work.

However, now is not the time for us to take our foot off the pedal, especially if you think about some of the comments made by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott not too long ago at the National Press Club in February. His sentiments were that the NDIS was only a priority if the budget was in surplus.

 

More recently this week he has pledged bi-partisan support for the NDIS, however there are still questions being raised from within his own cabinet (Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey) around how the NDIS might be paid for.  He says Australian families will find it really hard to pay for an NDIS.

Really? Are we still trying to win political points over an issue that boils down to people with disability in this country having their basic human rights denied?

The Every Australian Counts campaign has recently changed to a harder hitting message asking such questions as ‘Which country expects a child to wait more than 2 years for a wheelchair?’ or ‘Which country expects someone to live with only 2 showers a week?’. The answer of course is our country – Australia. The supposedly lucky country – well it seems only lucky for some. 

Perhaps Joe Hockey might like to hit the streets and ask ‘Australian families’ how hard it might be to refuse giving a dollar or two to a kid who has outgrown their wheelchair.  Or refusing a dollar or two to the countless other desperate situations people with disability and their families face each and every day of their lives. Surely as Australians we can’t be that selfish, give us more credit Joe.

So do we really care how we pay for the NDIS? Some things shouldn’t have a price tag - surely basic human rights are one of these things.

Check out the continuing campaign at www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au