Charmaine

Charmaine is legally blind. She volunteers as an advocate for people with disability, mainly for blind people, to help them access the best available NDIS packages. She also works to promote disability awareness.

Charmaine receives NDIS support. She told the Royal Commission that she has a ‘really good plan’ now. She has around 36 hours of support each week including support workers, a gardener, a cleaner and someone to cook and shop. ‘I can’t complain.’

However, Charmaine has encountered difficulties each time she needs to review her support package. NDIS staff ‘do not understand about blindness,’ she said.

Charmaine spoke about NDIS staff bullying her. She believes it is because she told them what they offered was not enough to live independently. She escalated her concerns about bullying to the relevant minister and the head of the NDIA but said it was hard to get somebody to listen.

Charmaine gave examples of unreasonable costs under the NDIS.

As Charmaine is ‘plan managed’, to be reimbursed for costs she must buy products from specialised providers, who may have ‘very limited products’.

For the NDIS to cover the cost of a microwave, she needed a report from an occupational therapist. But for an occupational therapist to visit her home and write a report, ‘it’s $190 an hour’. This fee was taken out of her NDIS plan. With support services dipping into a plan in this way, Charmaine says, it ‘doesn’t last as long as it should’.

Charmaine finds the NDIS a complicated system.

‘They need to reorganise and restructure the NDIS to make it a better service … It’s so difficult for people to access, it’s not funny.’

Charmaine spoke about her attempts to find paid employment through a disability employment service. A woman at the employment service said, ‘If you look blind, people won’t employ you.’ She told Charmaine she needed to present as though she can see.

Charmaine has qualifications as a trainer and assessor, but the employment service wanted her to pack boxes. She eventually gave up on paid employment. She now has her voluntary work.

Charmaine said that when she refused to attend a day program, believing it would not help her, the service provider bullied her.

She said they also took money out her NDIS package for services she didn’t use, although the money was eventually given back.

Charmaine has difficulty interacting with basic services, such as telcos and banks, due to their lack of accessibility.

‘Everybody who’s blind has trouble with the ATMs ... Then when I got inside the bank, they want me to pin and sign. And I told them “I can’t pin and sign.” “Oh, do you have a driver’s licence?” “No … They won’t let blind people drive.”’

Similarly, Charmaine’s telco refused to discuss her bill with her over the phone because she was unable to read the pin they messaged to her.

Charmaine says getting around in the community is difficult for blind people. Public transport often fails to provide announcements about where to get off. She has also fallen on occasion because of a lack of tactile warning about stairs or ramps. As for traffic lights, she says, the ticking indicator does not always work or cannot be heard.