As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the lives of people with disability the Summer Foundation, in partnership with the Housing Hub, has launched the Feedback in Supported Accommodation Resource (FISAR) project.
Co-design at heart of new resources
The Summer Foundation has welcomed proposed changes to the Aged Care Act that specify “apart from First Nations persons, or people at risk of homelessness, no other younger persons will be able to access funded aged care services”.
After more than 4 years living in aged care William was finally able to move into a specialist disability accommodation apartment with the help of the Aged Care to Home service. The move came 4 days before his 52nd birthday.
The Summer Foundation welcomes the NDIS Review’s emphasis on innovation in housing and living. Ensuring housing and living supports are fit-for-purpose not only meets the needs of NDIS participants, it is also critical to overall scheme sustainability.
The Summer Foundation’s Dr George Taleporos is gearing up for another great year of Reasonable & Necessary podcasts.
The podcast aims to demystify the NDIS and features interviews with politicians, sector professionals, people with lived experience and other experts. Not one to shy away from the hard questions, Dr George’s engaging style always makes for great listening. See some podcast highlights here or subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
The Summer Foundation Research team recently had its work on the impact and experiences of moving into specialist disability accommodation (SDA) for people with acquired complex disability published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Impairment.
Hi, I’m Bruce, 52 years young, living in an SDA apartment on the Gold Coast. I have a disability called arthrogryposis, which affects both joints and muscles of my major joints.
The Hospital to Home program will now be delivered by the Housing Hub. Since its establishment in 2017, the Housing Hub has expanded to offer a range of specialist support services for people with disability. It is well placed to continue delivering this exceptional service.
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024.
We go into the new year with renewed enthusiasm and determination to see more positive housing outcomes for young people with disability and those who support them.
It’s not always easy to find the information you need about housing options.
The Housing Hub wants to make it easier to find reliable and trustworthy information to help you navigate your housing journey.
The Summer Foundation and the Housing Hub, host a range of face-to-face and online workshops for a wide range of audiences Australia-wide.
Julia recently joined the Co-design team at the Summer Foundation. She shares her story and tells us about her work.
As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the lives of people with disability and their families, we are launching the Feedback in Supported Accommodation Resource (FISAR) project.
The Summer Foundation, in partnership with the Housing Hub, will collaborate with people with disability and their supporters to create new resources to help them share feedback, make complaints and shape the services they access.
We first met Lisa 2 years ago when she was living in aged care. Louise, from the Summer Foundation, chatted with Lisa about how she is going with living in her own home.
As the year draws to a close, we wanted to reflect and say thank you to all our contributors who generously shared their stories for our Staying Connected page.
Our social enterprise, the Housing Hub, host a range of face-to-face and online workshops for a wide range of audiences Australia-wide.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Bridget Doyle. I’m 28 years old. I love going out for coffee, listening to music, walking my dog Lily, playing board games with friends and pottering around in my garden growing my own fruits and veggies.
Where is home for you? Can you tell us about your journey to get there?
I live in SDA in Redcliffe, Queensland. I used to live with my mum and dad, then I moved out to a shared SDA. Unfortunately that didn’t work out and now I live by myself in a SDA apartment. My parents and I had to fight hard to get single occupancy SDA – it was very stressful and took a toll on all of us fighting the NDIS but it was worth it.
It has been a tough journey to get to my current home but it has definitely been worth all of the tough times.
How did you connect to the work of the Summer Foundation?
I got involved with the Summer Foundation through my mum who had connected with the organisation previously. Then last year while I was visiting Melbourne I got to meet some of the team, which was such a lovely experience.
Can you tell us about the co-design work you have been involved with?
I have been fortunate enough to work on some projects with the Summer Foundation and been able to give my insight through my lived experience as a participant of the NDIS. I’ll hopefully also be able to create resources to help other participants navigate the NDIS more easily.
Why do you enjoy working with the Summer Foundation to share your experience and insight?
The Summer Foundation has always been a welcoming, supportive and safe space to be a part of. I love being able to give my input into projects that they’re doing.
It’s been a big year for Reasonable & Necessary, with some extremely important conversations unfolding on Dr George’s podcast. Dr George has interviewed NDIS Review Co-chairs Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul twice this year. He’s also interviewed Minister Bill Shorten, international disability expert Simon Duffy and former Disability Royal Commissioner Alaistair McEwan, to name a few.
The 2022/23 Annual Report was launched on 2 November at the Annual Public Forum. The report shares highlights of the work we are doing to resolve the issue of younger people in aged care. Using the Summer Foundation strategic priorities to structure the report, it details the achievements and work in progress from the Research team, the Housing Hub, UpSkill and the Co-design team.
The Summer Foundation welcomes the emphasis on inclusive housing in the Disability Royal Commission’s final report.
As part of our continuous efforts to enhance and streamline our services, UpSkill training will now be delivered by the Housing Hub.
About 860 people participated in the Summer Foundation’s 10th Annual Public Forum on 2 November.
This included 160 people who attended the forum in person and about 700 who were online to focus on how home and living supports can be transformed to truly meet the needs of people with disability.
The NDIS Review final report was made public on 7 December. Overall the scope and scale of recommendations from the NDIS Review are welcome. The Review clearly articulated the design flaws. Change will not happen overnight.
Welcome to our last newsletter for 2023.
The year ends on a high with the state and federal governments agreeing at National Cabinet to work together to improve the lives of people with disability, and the release of the NDIS Review final report and recommendations.
It is heartening to see the government has laid the foundations for the radical changes to the NDIS that are needed. See our perspective on the recommendations and what will happen next here.
Taken together, the NDIS Review and the Disability Royal Commission recommendations have the potential to transform disability housing. You can read more about this in my recent article in The Conversation here.
It’s International Day of People with Disability, long time contributor to the work of Summer Foundation, Lynne Foreman shares her ideas and thoughts on the day.
Introduce yourself
Hi, I am Lynne. I am a disability advocate in Geelong. My disability is called arthrogryposis multiplexcongenita, and I love saying it because no-one’s ever heard of it. There are only a few of us with it in Australia!
I am in a lot of disability organisations where I help out with things. For example, the Valid conference is coming up in February, I am on the reference group, and I help guide people on the day. Part of my role in this is empowering other people with disabilities.
What does International Day of Disability mean to you?
We all come together, we are all one.
Why is International Day of People with Disability important to acknowledge?
I have always been proud that I have a disability.
We recognise everyone these days, why not recognise us!
From this recognition, I hope people understand us a bit better. I was brought up with 6 siblings, I wasn’t treated differently. I think I got out of doing the dishes once!
We might have a disability, but we can do most things. People have got to open their minds. And say just because you’ve got a disability, we can do a lot of things we just do some differently, at the end of the day, we will do it. Sometimes we get looked at and not spoken to. People can be too scared to speak with us because they may think we don’t speak, they don’t want to get embarrassed, so they speak to our support worker instead. I speak up and say you can speak to me.
The theme of IDPwD this year is ‘United in action to rescue and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for, with and by persons with disabilities.’ What does this theme mean to me?
My first thought was, technology is fantastic, there is no reason why we shouldn’t do anything. There is more scope for more assistance.
There are still barriers within the able community because they don’t understand. Assumptions are made.
How can we be united?
It has improved a hell of a lot, I am 67 years old, it has improved. But some people don’t want to know – it is too hard for them. It is education really. We need to think outside the box.