Page 2497 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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heads around in the not too distant future. Some support workers’ attitudes towards people with disabilities, their clients, are unacceptable. They have been improved within the past two to three years. We thank the government for any impact it has had in this area, but still more can be done. There is little or no choice for people with disabilities in selection of support staff, which adds to the problem in many cases with a bad personality fit. I think we can do better there, perhaps to look at the matching of clients to support workers. Surely that would be somewhat of a simple thing. It would not add stress to the support worker or the person with the disability.
I think there is an issue with the quality of training. It has been said that staff with certificate 3 qualifications are ill-prepared for work in the community, and this is a complaint from the staff as well. So if they are feeling ill-equipped to go out there and not confident, then I think we really need to revisit that whole training aspect so that both consumer and provider will be confident. Voluntary support is virtually non-existence particularly for physically and intellectually disabled, who are reliant on family and friends. It seems that there is no program in place to encourage volunteers. Hopefully Ms Porter may pick up on this and we can all get onto Lorraine Higgins at Volunteering ACT.
I will be careful not to say too much more about the transport issues but there are some whole issues around wheelchair accessible taxis. I think we have to applaud the government for increasing the number of wheelchair accessible buses on the roads. That is good news. The number of dedicated routes for wheelchair accessible buses does not appear to have increased. People with Disabilities point out two routes here—routes 34 and 84. A couple of other things would help. Some drivers still drive too fast through corners risking potential wheelchair tip-overs. Of course, none of us in this place really know what that would feel like. A number of bus stops, including some on accessible routes, simply are not accessible.
The question into the future is: how will this government tackle the issue of funding that is associated with this section of our community? It is a fact that the Stanhope government simply cannot continue to ignore their plight. Perhaps we may see some surprise come out of the war chest next year. Indeed, it will be an ongoing issue for all of us in this place to consider the fact that we must not only talk the talk on inclusion, and no more so than the Stanhope government that must now put action and funding to the rhetoric.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (8.33): While, on the whole, disability services is one of the areas that the ACT government is getting right, ACTCOSS and ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service, ADACAS, have said that there are problems in relation to service accessibility and service quality. ADACAS, in particular, has said that there are significant problems relating to the individual’s right to respect and courtesy and the right to be informed, consulted and party to decisions made about them. They say the likelihood of progress in any particular case often relies on the goodwill of particular staff members.
Some of that resistance comes up in regard to younger people in nursing homes. There remains a big battle when it comes to keeping younger people with very high medical needs out of nursing homes, even though it is generally agreed that this is not an appropriate form of care. Despite pronouncements to the contrary, nothing, it seems, is happening quickly enough.
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