Office Bearers

Tony Vardaro – President

Sophie Jasinski – Vice-President

Mrs Thankam Abraham – Treasurer

Dr.Anne Atkinson – Secretary

Committee Members

May Rebello

Janice Bishop

Dr Bernardette Wright

Milan Uskokovic

Nathan Nembousse

John Cooke

Farewell Fiona

EDAC wishes to thank Fiona for her valuable contributions during her time here, and wish her every success in her future endeavors.

Welcome Maria

Maria Cade has been appointed in Fiona’s position. Maria works 3 days per week; 8.30 am - 4.30 pm.

Maria speaks Spanish and English fluently, and is a Nationally Accredited Translator. Her professional background as an Occupational Therapist, coupled with her knowledge and experience as Manager of Employment Agencies for people with disabilities and Home and Community Services, will be invaluable

for EDAC.

As well as Systemic Advocacy, Maria will be supervising various projects, producing our Newsletter, maintaining our Web site, supervising students in placement and presenting training in Disabilities / CALD issues.

At the end of this financial year (June 2003) the Disability Services Commission, approved funding for EDAC to work with

ELBA (able backwards) to identify suitable people from a CALD background who would be willing to train as Support Workers to assist younger people with disabilities from a similar CALD background, who are living in the community.

We will be advertising the contracted position of Research Project Consultant shortly.

Beyond Scope Project

EDAC recently received funding from the State Government to determine the advocacy, training and mentoring needs of C.A.L.D. (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) background students with a disability /s, in the Vocational Education and Training (V.E.T.) system, as well as in the employment sectors, in Metropolitan Perth and throughout the Regional rural / remote areas of W.A. Leah Ciancio has been appointed as the Research Consultant. Welcome Leah!!

Student Placement:

We were privileged to have had Laetitia with us for a period of 4 weeks, as part of her placement requirements for her TAFE Certificate 111 in Community Services studies (please read her inspirational article on page 4).

Welcome to EDAC’s Carers’Support Network

Hello, I am Anne. I joined the EDAC Carers group in 1997 out of curiosity. I have a child with a disability and I remember coming to this small caring group as one of the best things that I have done. I have never looked back since. The Carers showed empathy, that is, they listen, they care for each other and share their love.

We now have 20-30 active family Carers in our group where we meet regularly on a 6 weekly basis for various activities, like listening to speakers from other agencies, going out for lunch, river cruises and occasional weekend breaks. In between we meet for coffee. Recently some Carers went on a week-end respite at the Crest Harbour Village Apartments in Fremantle and a picnic was held at Point Walter Reserve for all family members.

All these events are made possible with funding and supportive staff from the Australian Red Cross, Carers WA and EDAC. We welcome family Carers to join us, regardless of nationality and backgrounds. I am currently the volunteer Co-ordinator of this network. You can contact me on 9332 5375 (home) or at EDAC on 9388 7455,

320 Rokeby Road, Subiaco.

Anger Management workshops

The anger management workshops were borne out of the many identified needs of the Carer’s support group. The workshops provided a supportive environment to self- explore and finding new ways to channel anger. The overall aim was to show Carers that they had the skills to manage their frustrations and the ability to direct their anger in a positive manner and ultimately gained confidence in themselves. It was also important to consider their cultural backgrounds and beliefs as those participated mostly came from Malaysia, Singapore and from ethnic Chinese backgrounds where the concept of anger management was seen as negative. Having to share anger experiences were initially quite demoralising for Carers.

The workshops ran over a period of seven weeks. Their responses were positive and Carers indicated that the workshops fulfilled their objectives. I am glad to have been given the opportunity to run these workshops and have personally gained a great deal from these carers.

Gillian Yee – Psychologist

Disability Discrimination Act Review

The DDA legislation was passed in 1992 and its main aims were to:

Ø Eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, education, access to premises and public transport, goods and services etc.

Ø Ensure equality before the law.

Ø Promote community recognition and acceptance of the DDA and people with disabilities.

The Productivity Commission recently held national public hearings to inform the government on the effectiveness of the DDA in achieving these goals 10 years on. EDAC and PWD( People with Disabilities) attended and gave evidence on their previous submission. Many disability related issues were raised but the ongoing issues affecting people from CALD backgrounds were:

Ø The difficulty for people from CALD backgrounds when bringing relatives with a pre-existing disability to Australia (i.e. the discriminatory provisions of the Migration Act are exempt from the DDA).

Ø CALD backgrounds clients (except for refugees) who manage to emigrate to Australia with a pre-existing disability must wait for 10 years to be eligible to apply for a Disability Support Pension.

Ø CALD clients with a disability and/or their carers (except for refugees) must wait for two years before they are eligible for other Centrelink benefits. (Sometimes migrants’ circumstances change soon after migration).

We also supported NEDA’s recommendation that HREOC be resourced to conduct an inquiry on the effects of the above exemptions and for them to develop a special CALD disability information strategy in relation to rights under the DDA.

The Productivity Commission will provide a draft report of their findings for further comment in October and a final report to the Government in April 2004. If you are interested in following on the progress please visit HREOC website or contact EDAC.

Laetitia’s story

The most important lesson a person can learn, I believe, is that you can reach beyond the stars. That the possibilities end only if your dreams do. I should know because I’m forever surpassing my goals.

My name is Laetitia and I am eighteen.

I was born without hands or feet. I guess my biological parents were a little freaked out about having a child with a disability, so the day I was born they gave me up.

My first home was Princess Margaret Hospital as I wasn’t feeding properly because I was born with a very small jaw which made it difficult to suck. When I finally learnt how to feed I was put in a foster family for five months until I was adopted by my family I live with now.

They already had four other children – two girls and two boys. Three years later came along another boy. We are all adopted. Everybody says that our parents are amazing for adopting six kids, we just think they’re insane.

I know people think it’s pretty weird how I can ignore the obvious, but I do.

It’s not like I’m ignoring the fact that I have a disability, I just never think about it.

My disability isn’t going to rule my life.

If I want to do something then I do it to the best of my ability. One of the things I love to do is to laugh about myself.

I remember one day one of my sisters and I were at the beach and I saw a dog. The owner of the dog was staring at me, and as I patted the dog my sister said,

“Oh you’d better not do that, remember the last time with a strange dog involving your hands?” The look on that lady’s face was priceless. Apparently when I was little, the whole family went shopping and my leg got caught in front of the wheel of the trolley. Because I was wearing jeans nobody in the shop besides my family knew I had prosthetic legs. As my brother grabbed me my leg started to come off and my sister sighed exasperated, “Laetitia your legs are always falling off!” I think we scared a few old women that were standing around.

What do I want to do with my life? I want to be an author.

Not necessarily famous, but

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my biggest dream is to be in a library somewhere and see somebody taking out one of my books and saying, “She’s a really good author”. My major goal in life is to help people.

Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre (EDAC) has been a helpful stepping-stone as it has opened my eyes to the real world. I’ve always been interested in other cultures and I think this is not just a coincidence that I was placed here on field placement for TAFE (I’m currently studying Community Services in the disability field).

I’m particularly interested in helping women who are in the hands of domestic violence with disabilities. There are so many avenues to take, I could become a counsellor or an advocate or even both.

I’d like to thank EDAC for my experiences so far. I’ve encountered a whole load of different things – from going to management meetings, to answering calls and finding out everything I can about advocacy. I know one day I can reach beyond the stars.

Written by Laetitia

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RESPITE WEEKEND and SUNDAY PICNIC

Making a difference across the world!!

Earlier this year, Brother Ollie Pickett rang us to ask if we could help a young man with a severe physical and learning disability in Peru.

Percy had not been out of his house for a long time!

Veronica, our Secretary, worked really hard with Thea Heath, to get a wheelchair over to South America.

This chair was made and donated by Brother Ollie’s Workshop, Wheelchairs for Kids, and the Chilean Airlines provided the transport free of charge.

Percy had not been out of his house for a long time!

Veronica, our Secretary, worked really hard with Thea Heath, to get a wheelchair over to South America.

This chair was made and donated by Brother Ollie’s Workshop, Wheelchairs for Kids, and the Chilean Airlines provided the transport free of charge.

We received a heartfelt thank you letter and photos of Percy’s first experience in his new chair.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S GRANTS 2003

The Office of Women’s Policy has announced the availability of grants of up to $2000 to acknowledge and encourage the participation of women in the community. This grants program will be a ‘rolling’ process with no closing date and applications will be processed as they are received.

Priority will go to projects that target improved services for all women and in particular:

Ø Indigenous women.

Ø Women from culturally and linguistically diverse background.

Ø Women with disabilities.

Ø Women in rural, remote or regional areas.

As individuals are not eligible to apply we are interested to hear from you if you have projects that you wish to develop for women with disabilities from CALD backgrounds and for CARERS.

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Six Disabilities to Gain Automatic Access to Carer Allowance.

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As you would have heard by now, Centrelink announced that children with Down Syndrome aged over 6 were to be assessed every three years (!) for Carers Allowance. Many agencies including us signed a petition in protest against this unfair and unnecessary burden on Carers and families. We are delighted that the Government announced on Tuesday 12th August, that Down syndrome and five other conditions has been restored to the list of 'recognised conditions' that will automatically qualify for Carer Allowance until their child turns 16. The disabilities are: Down Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Epilepsy (uncontrolled), Haemophilia (moderate), Phenylketonuria, and Fragile X Syndrome. Anyone with one of these conditions will now be eligible for the Carer Allowance without the need for further medical assessment prior to their 16th birthday. Families whose child has one of these conditions and whose Carer Allowance has been stopped will be reinstated. If you have any concerns or queries, please contact EDAC or phone Centrelink on 132717.

Senator Vansone’s media release is accessible via: http://www.facs.gov.au

It's Time to Face the Facts

Questions and Answers about Refugees, Migrants and Indigenous People.

The Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Bill Jonas launched the updated version of Face the Facts at an Anti-Racism Conference in Newcastle on the 30^th July 2003.

The publication looks at some of the impacts of migration – impacts on the economy, on the environment and on crime rates. It also outlines Australia’s refugee policies and includes 2001 Census data on ethnicity.

Race and racism are still burning issues in Australian society, and recent events such as the furore over refugees, anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim prejudice and the stalled Aboriginal reconciliation process require a debate to generate solutions that protect the basic human rights of all Australians,” said Commissioner Jonas.

EDAC has received some copies of the FACE THE FACTS booklets. You can either get a copy from us (first come first serve) or you could contact www.hreoc.gov.au to download a copy from the internet. It is a good resource booklet to have especially for training purposes.

Harmony Week

Thanks to a small grant from the Office of Multicultural Interests, EDAC celebrated Harmony week on the 18^th March by organizing a creative workshop “Drawing on Diverse Cultures”. The 3 - hour workshop provided an opportunity for diverse young people with disabilities to explore their identity and improve their self esteem in a creative, supportive environment. The workshop was facilitated by Sue Sweeney, an Art Therapy Master’s student who has experience working with refugees and Fiona Whittiker, project officer at EDAC and also Co-ordinator of Yoghurt – lots of culture! (a website based, youth link and network service.)

Participants were invited to the EDAC office for a light lunch and debriefing. All participants and their carers enjoyed the workshop and had expressed an interest in further workshops and activities for younger people with disabilities

The activities of the workshop are captured in photographs which will be reproduced on EDAC website (www.edac.org.au) .

From the Executive Officer’s Desk

Welcome once again to EDAC News. We have been extremely busy during the end of the financial year and there is no sign of it slowing down. EDAC has been involved in a number of projects, reviews, consultations/forums and presentations in the areas of mental health, DDA review and public hearing, welfare reform, Centrelink and DSC’s consultations relating to emergency responses and the LAC review and implementation, some of which are illustrated in this edition. The number of individual advocacy demands is also increasing. Our annual report will identify the areas of demand and there may be a need to rationalize advocacy services.

The end of financial year also involved the signing of purchase agreement with the governments. Like most NGOs, EDAC hopes for additional resources to cope with current demands and deal with some unmet needs such as empowerment and training of CALD consumers and carers to access the service system and the implementation of our CALD Carers research report but once again we are disappointed. Unfortunately, our application to the department of FaCS for extending advocacy services to regional areas was not successful. The good news is, EDAC has been successful in obtaining funding from the Dept. of Employment and Training and the DSC, for a couple of worthwhile projects (see this edition for details). I believe that if core funding (for daily operational and infrastructure) is unrealistically low the organization will be forever chasing one off grants to top up services. It is understandable for organizations like us to want to do more to address systemic barriers and to achieve EDAC’s full objectives.

Without sounding too paranoid, - do you get the feeling that the directions and policy towards minority groups such as culturally and linguistically diverse groups and people with disabilities are merely rhetoric?

And that services and programs for this group have gone backwards under the trend (or disguise) of mainstreaming? I believe advocacy agencies like us have to work a lot harder to reveal and combat the ‘subtle’ structural and systemic discrimination of today. The arguments and issues for and against mainstreaming are complex but if you have a view about this I would really like to hear from you.

Jenny Au Yeong

NEED HELP TO GET A JOB??

Transition to Work Programme

The Federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations runs this program, which works by providing a person who would assist you to access funds for training which would help you get employment, and obtaining a license (driver’s, or heavy equipment license),for people looking for paid employment

Who have NOT :

· Worked for the past 2 years (no more than 15 hours per week for any more than 13 weeks in the year)

· Be a stay home parent

· Be a Carer for a child or family member living with them

· Be over 50 years of age or over

Who have NOT had :

· Intensive Assistance (Job Network)

· Job Seeking / Training Assistance

· Work for the Dole

Minister for Disability, The Honourable Shiela McHale, to the Need help to get a job?

opening of our new premises in Subiaco. Six Disabilities gain

Anger Management workshops

Disability Discrimination Act Review

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S GRANTS 2003