Recommendations

Recommendation 1
Governments and the National Disability Insurance Agency and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission should continue support for cultural-change training for disability service providers, which seeks to counter violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, such as the zero-tolerance initiatives.

Recommendation 2
The Disability Ministers’ forum should consider the national evaluation of Community Visitors Programs and endorse its recommendations.

Recommendation 3
Governments should strengthen human rights protections by funding peer support, self advocacy and individual advocacy at a level commensurate with demand, by substantially extending the National Disability Advocacy Program.

Recommendation 4
The Australian Government should commit to funding advocacy programs as a crucial NDIS safeguard. Such programs and funding should remain separate from any funded supports that are provided to individual NDIS participants.

Recommendation 5
Governments should strengthen human rights protections to make ‘choice and control’ more meaningful by funding a range of supported decision-making initiatives. This can be achieved by making it possible for NDIS participants to purchase such supports through their NDIS plan.

Recommendation 6
The Australian Government should implement the Recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission in its 2014 report Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1
Governments and the National Disability Insurance Agency and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission should continue support for cultural-change training for disability service providers, which seeks to counter violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, such as the zero-tolerance initiatives.

Recommendation 2
The Disability Ministers’ forum should consider the national evaluation of Community Visitors Programs and endorse its recommendations.

Recommendation 3
Governments should strengthen human rights protections by funding peer support, self advocacy and individual advocacy at a level commensurate with demand, by substantially extending the National Disability Advocacy Program.

Recommendation 4
The Australian Government should commit to funding advocacy programs as a crucial NDIS safeguard. Such programs and funding should remain separate from any funded supports that are provided to individual NDIS participants.

Recommendation 5
Governments should strengthen human rights protections to make ‘choice and control’ more meaningful by funding a range of supported decision-making initiatives. This can be achieved by making it possible for NDIS participants to purchase such supports through their NDIS plan.

Recommendation 6
The Australian Government should implement the Recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission in its 2014 report Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws.

The work of OPA staff and volunteers has allowed OPA to see that people with disability face barriers when needing to access dental services in Victoria. The OPA Community Visitors Program had identified over 50 dental care issues in the period 2021-23. These issues include occasions where residents have difficulty obtaining timely and adequate dental care, such as one instance, where there was more than a two year wait for a person to attend a special needs dental clinic.

Access to a range of quality dental care services is vital for people with disability to maintain their health and wellbeing to enable them to pursue their goals and aspirations.

For improved oral health outcomes in Australia for people with disability OPA is calling for:

• community dental care clinics need to be accessible for people with disability
• dental health plans that enable access to regular dental care services each year for people with disability are important
• there should be collaboration of mainstream dental care services and disability support providers
• there should be improved education of dentists and oral hygienists on the needs of people with disability
• access to a range of quality dental care services is vital for people with disability to maintain
• their health and wellbeing to enable them to pursue their goals and aspirations.

Download a copy of our submission.