Pursuit home
- All sections
Fighting for disabled people’s health
Having a disability does not automatically equal poor health
Share selection to:
People could be forgiven for thinking that the introduction of the $22 billion a year National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will solve all the problems around disability; at least when the NDIS’s ‘teething’ problems are ironed out.
But it won’t and it can’t.
When fully-implemented the NDIS will provide individualised funding support to about 460,000 of the four million Australians with disability. Participants can purchase the disability services and support that will assist them in achieving their goals. But while the NDIS might move us beyond the broken disability service system the Productivity Commission identified in 2011, it won’t eliminate disability-related disadvantage. The NDIS is a disability service system response, but transforming the bad deal people with disability live with ultimately depends on changing society.
People with disabilities often suffer ill health unrelated to their condition but triggered by a range of complicated factors, including discrimination, unsuitable housing and poor employment prospects. Picture: agilemktgi / Flickr
When it comes to health, Australians with disability do poorly; even for health problems unrelated to their [...]