Col and Craig
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Col is in his 40s. He has an acquired brain injury and lives in an aged care facility.
Col’s advocate, Craig, said the facility is ‘ill-equipped to support a man of [Col’s] age and complex presentation’.
‘This was a last resort,’ Craig told the Royal Commission. ‘It is acknowledged by all the key stakeholders that specialist disability accommodation is more age appropriate and suitable to [Col’s] long-term disability support needs.’
Col can’t sit upright without help and can’t swallow properly. He is fed through a tube in his stomach. He is at risk of choking due to involuntary movements that require ‘close monitoring and delicate re-positioning by trained staff’.
Craig said staff at the aged care facility are ‘simply not trained and equipped to support a relatively very young man with such injuries’.
Col lives in the dementia unit which has four staff for 30 residents, but he needs one-on-one care 10 hours a day. The NDIA only funds six hours of individual care a day, so Col’s sister Narelle provides the other four hours.
Craig said the failure of the NDIA ‘to fund reasonable and necessary supports’, is putting an unreasonable burden on Col’s family, especially Narelle, who is also his legal guardian.
‘She is exhausted and faces burnout, not only by virtue of this unsustainable weekly schedule, but by the challenges associated with navigating the NDIS.’
Craig said that despite repeated reviews, the NDIA has refused to meet the gap.
Narelle recently took Col’s case to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
‘It should not have come to this,’ said Craig.
Before the case was settled, the NDIA agreed to fund in full the support and physiotherapy Col needs.
‘There is less stress and worry involved, as the family know that [Col] can live safely and work towards his therapy goals while a home is found’.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.