Options to improve service availability and accessibility for First Nations people with disability
Video transcript
Options to improve service availability and accessibility for First Nations people with disability – Research Report
Background
We have published a research report that looks at how services for First Nations people with disability can be improved. The report was written by a company called Deloitte.
Researchers listened to more than 200 stakeholders from:
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Aboriginal Medical Services
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Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs)
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non-Indigenous health and disability services, including caseworkers
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non-government organisations
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peak bodies.
First Nations academics also informed this report.
What did the research find?
The research found services for First Nations people with disability were generally not safe, traumatising and inequitable.
The report acknowledged that many First Nations communities experience poverty, and First Nations people with disability struggle to achieve self-determination and agency over their lives.
Here are some specific findings:
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First Nations people with disability are very disadvantaged compared to non-Indigenous people with disability. They are more likely to:
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need more services and support as they have more severe disability
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live a long way from specialists, and lack choice in service providers because they live in regional and remote Australia
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have personal, historical and community experience of trauma that can increase their need for services.
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First Nations people with disability prefer to remain on Country to access essential services they need.
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ACCOs are not properly resourced or funded.
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Often some health professionals, like physiotherapists or occupational therapists are not specialised in disability, and do not provide services that are adequate or culturally appropriate.
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Non-Indigenous service are not culturally appropriate.
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First Nations people who are deaf do not identify as disabled but must fit official definitions to be able to access services.
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By 2031, an extra 13,000 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) workers will be needed in the First Nations disability sector because demand for disability services among First Nations people is growing fast.
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At the moment, First Nations people with disability are 28 per cent less likely to get access to care via the NDIS than non-Indigenous people with a disability.
What does the research recommend?
The report recommends lots of ways to boost the sector so it can provide the services needed by First Nations people with disability. The report also says, ‘The time for talk is over. The time for action is now’.
Recommendations include:
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An intermediary body, led by First Nations people, should be set up. This body could collaborate with First Nations people with disability to develop the First Nations disability sector. It could implement policy to increase investment in this sector.
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The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) should:
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fund ACCOs to provide disability services and to partner with ACCOs and tertiary institutions to offer and deliver accreditation courses in disability support, to increase the number of registered NDIS providers
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fund ACCOs to deliver programs that let First Nations communities know about careers in the disability sector
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make cultural safety training mandatory for all non-Indigenous disability service providers.
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The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission should appoint a First Nations Disability Commissioner.
More information
To read the full report, visit our website. Go to the ‘Publications’ section and click on ‘Research program.’