Welcome to our latest newsletter.

It has been a busy few months at the Summer Foundation as we celebrate the launch of a new co-design project. The purpose of the project is to co-design resources to build the capacity of NDIS participants, providers and supporters so they can exercise better choice and control over their supports.

We’re also gearing up for our Annual Public Forum on 2 November where we’ll look at how home and living supports can be transformed so they truly meet the needs of people with disability. We’re delighted to welcome host Elizabeth Wright, who is the disability affairs reporter at the ABC and a Paralympian.

It’s good to be able to share 2 stories that show the overwhelmingly positive impact on people’s lives of living in the right housing. I’m proud that the Summer Foundation has been able to help Xavier and Brendon move towards their housing goals. Read about these, and more in this month’s Summer Foundation Focus.

I look forward to welcoming you to the Annual Public Forum in November.

CEO & Founder, Di Winkler

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A house showing supports for people with complex needs

Join our Annual Public Forum on 2 November

The theme for this year’s Annual Public Forum on Thursday 2 November is Transforming supports at home: Making it work for NDIS participants. Join us to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of home and living supports.

Co-design project: Support within disability housing

The Summer Foundation has secured funding for an NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission led project to build the capacity of NDIS participants.

What we said to the NDIS Review

An independent review panel was set up last year to look at the design, operations and sustainability of the NDIS. The Summer Foundation has made 2 submissions to the NDIS Review.

Profile – Brendon’s story

Brendon waited for 918 days to get the correct level of funding to continue living in his 1-bedroom specialist disability accommodation in Queensland.

At home with Xavier

Earlier this year the Summer Foundation supported Xavier and his family to find and move to a suitable house in Echuca. We caught up with Xavier’s grandmother Roz to see how things are going.

Successful moves for RAC Engagement

Since 2006, the Summer Foundation has been working to get young people out of aged care. Much of our work over the past 15 years has been around changing the systems that lead to young people with disability having to live in aged care.

Dr. Megan Topping receives Nancy Millis Medal for PhD thesis

Summer Foundation researcher, Dr. Megan Topping, recently received her doctoral thesis examiners’ reports for her PhD thesis, “Treat You Like a Person, Ask You What You Want”: A Grounded Theory Study of the Quality of Paid Disability Support for Adults with Acquired Neurological Disability.

Events Roundup August – September

The Summer Foundation and our social enterprise, the Housing Hub, host a range of face-to-face and online workshops for a wide range of audiences Australia-wide.

Summer Foundation Focus – August 2023