Carers are not machines

With the advent of the NDIS, it seems the unpaid carers are not being recognised to their vital role in caring for their loved one.
The NDIS is all about the person with the disability and their needs and this is a good thing.
To begin with, the planners and NDIA didn't take the welfare and well being of unpaid carers into account at all.
They realised, rather quickly that if they do not look after this group, people with disabilities are going to cost Australia millions more then it is now, due to carers not being able to manage or cope.

In saying this, unpaid carers are treated like machines....

• No you are not entitled to timeout from your duties as a carer...
• What do you mean, you need  time with your other family members?
• Why should you have down time for yourself?
• Of course you can't have a holiday without our loved one with a disability.....
• You are lucky you get anything.......

And the list goes on........

I find it interesting how many people leave the industry after a certain amount of years, due to carer burnout, yet they don't truly get that unpaid carers don't have the  luxury of leaving in spite having carer burnout ( unless they relinquish their loved one).

 Isn't it time the unpaid carers are truly recognised and rewarded for what they do for this country?

Isn't it time the carers are included as part of the solution - not seen as part of the problem?

Even machines break down, if they are not well maintained

If the NDIS & Governments continue to only pay lip service to the unpaid carers, the NDIS will go from a preventative program to a crisis program very quickly and we are back to the dirty old system we had before. But worse, because we spent all this money on the NDIS to have..the same old, same old...

We need to ensure the carers are well supported whilst carrying out their selfless duties

www.idareu.org.au

We all need time with our mob

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, out of the blue, we feel a need to contact someone - a family member or an old friend; attend an activity or an event, which simply makes us feel good for no reason other than it just does?

Humans are known to be creatures of a pack and so by nature, we don’t operate well in isolation.

The emergence of NDIS, seems to have created a tendency for one-on-one (individual) support, where a person with a disability is being taken out from their group setting to receive one-on-one support instead.

Don't get me wrong here, one-on-one support is wonderful and many people with disabilities can learn quicker, have access to the community around them easily and, with more dignity when receiving this type of assistance.  There is also the benefit of more flexibility as activities can be tailored to a person’s needs and passions.

However, the biggest problem with one-on-one support is the tendency for isolation to creep in, as there is no avenue for interaction with like-minded people.  This lack of interaction, makes it difficult for such individuals to develop socialising etiquette with others, namely members of the public, and could eventually cause mental health problems.

I tend to see it as spending time with their 'mob'.  We all know there is just something about this that makes people feel wholesome including people with disabilities.  They don't have to be with their 'mob' all the time and it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else...but they do need this time.  Be it once a week, thrice a week, or even once a month.......

We often hear from families with intellectually disabled children, that one of the issues their children face when attending mainstream schools, is difficulty in making ‘real’ friends among their peers.  We need to find a way to give these children an opportunity to spend time with their 'mob' and create a sense of belonging among them.

Chloe Dymond has a candid way of introducing herself when asked where she is from - she always responds saying she 'Comes from Down Syndrome'.  I simply love this phrase, as I think it gives her that sense of belonging, and I visualise “Down Syndrome” as just being another country, with people of different views and cultural backgrounds.  Similar to how many immigrants build a sense of belonging through community centres that reflect their ethnic origins and have a tendency to gravitate to suburbs where people from their country of origin  tend to reside.

Chloe needs to spend time with people from her ‘country’ to feel connected to the world.

I hope the NDIS does not take away these people’s opportunity to 'recharge their batteries' with their mob and further reduce opportunities for the general public to engage with people with disabilities, and learn from them.  Collectively, families who have people with disabilities, need to work together to create a healthy lifestyle balance, for the people we care about, as well as play our role in educating others on creating an inclusive society.

www.idareu.org.au