What's all the talk about the NDIS???

What's all the talk about the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme)??
In the recent budget, the Australian Government has committed $1 billion to support the first stage of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The NDIS is a proposal for a Medicare-like system for people with a disability. It is a national no-fault insurance scheme that provides funding for people with a disability for personal support, therapy, aids and equipment, home modifications, and employment training.

An NDIS would assist individuals with a permanent disability, no matter how, or when, their disability is acquired, and it would be based on the needs of the individuals, include funding for all aids required for living, maximise independence and give people with a disability choice.

The NDIS website has more information and can be found here: http://www.ndis.gov.au/

Here are links to some recent articles:

Wendy Harmer explains, "It's not only people with a disability who should be cheering the budget's $1 billion commitment to a National Disability Insurance Scheme. Every one of us should be applauding like mad." See article here: http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2012/05/11/3501034.htm


Christopher Boyle writes, "Ending the education lottery: why the government must extend the NDIS to schools", see here: http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2012/05/15/3503212.htm

TechFest & Tim Ferguson interview

TECH FEST 2012

The Royal Society for the Blind will be having 2 days of displays and demonstrations of the latest adaptive technology on Wednesday 23rd May, 10am to 6pm, and Thursday 24th May, 9am to 4pm. This includes:
• Braille equipment
• e-book readers
• magnification devices
• speech software
• scanner reader

For more information about the Tech Fest go to the Royal Society for the Blind website.


Tim Ferguson Interview
You probably remember comic Tim Ferguson jumping around on stage as part of the mad and bad musical comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars. He was, he admits, the pretty one. The act was still playing to packed houses in the mid-'90s and many wondered why it broke up. Tim Ferguson has only recently revealed he'd been living with the debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a condition he'd tried for years to ignore, but is now perhaps inevitably the subject of a new show...

See the interview here...

Exams are around the corner!!!

Do you have exams for your courses??

If you have exams and you need to update your Access Plan, please contact a Disability Adviser on your campus before Friday 18th May.

• Feeling anxious about exams? Read here...
• New L3 workshops for exam preparation can be found here...

To Disclose or not to Disclose...

Choosing whether or not to disclose your disability to lecturers, tutors, employers or peers can be an involved decision.
You may be asking yourself,

• Do I need to disclose?
• How do I disclose?
• What do I need to disclose?
• What are my rights and responsibilities?

The following link takes you to a resource which may help you work through the benefits and risks of disclosing or not disclosing...
http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ndco/disclosure/index.htm

You may also want to talk through your decision with a Disability Adviser on your campus: http://www.unisa.edu.au/disabilityservices/contact/whoweare.asp