REACHING OUT

THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

 

Addressing Disability Advocacy Needs of Ethnic Regional and Rural Western Australians

 

Report of the Research/Consultancy project funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Service, undertaken by Ramdas Sankaran for Edith Cowan University

on behalf of the Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre.

 

June 2001

 

Contents

                                                                                                                                Page

 

Acknowledgements                                                                                                    3

 

Acronyms                                                                                                                    4

 

Foreword                                                                                                                     5

 

Executive Summary                                                                                                   6

 

Recommendation                                                                                                       7

 

Project Background and Rationale                                                                             8

 

Project Objectives                                                                                                      9

 

Project Outcomes                                                                                                      9

 

Project Implementation                                                                                               10

 

Ethnic profile of people with disabilities                                                                      10

 

Regional consultations                                                                                               13

 

Summary of barriers identified                                                                                   15

 

Integrated Rural Disability Advocacy Service Strategy                                              16

 

Service Delivery Options                                                                                            19

 

Choice of Service Delivery Options                                                                            22

 

Achievement of Project objectives and Outcomes                                                    22

 

Conclusion                                                                                                                  24

 

 

 

 

Appendices

 

Appendix 1 Media Release                                                                                         27

 

Appendix 2 Article and Paid advertisement in the North West Telegraph                  28

 

Appendix 3 Service Delivery Options Feedback Schedule                                        29

 

Appendix 4 MALSSA’s Riverland advocacy Project                                                   30

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

The project consultant wishes to acknowledge and thank members of the project Steering Committee for their substantial input and support throughout all stages of the report.  The Committee comprised:

 

·         Dr. Anne Atkinson (chair)

·         Ms. Jenny Au Yeong

·         Ms. Sophie Jasinski

·         Mr. Nara Srinivasan

 

The input and participation of the following agencies were also valuable in planning and implementing this project.  They are in alphabetical order:

 

Aged Care Program, Health Services (Geraldton)

Bunbury Italian Club

Bunbury Migrant Resource Group

Career Network Employment Service, Karratha

City of Bunbury

Disability Services Commission (Perth, Bunbury, Narrogin, Collie, Geraldton, Hedland and Karratha).

Forrest Personnel

Geraldton Community Day Centre

Geraldton Home Help

Geraldton Personnel

Geraldton Regional Education Centre

Hedland Personnel

Islamic Association of Katanning

Islamic Association of the North West

Nickel Bay Multicultural Association

Nort Pilbara Health Service

Pilbara Development Commission

Pilbara Home Care Inc.

Pilbara Individual and Family Support Association

Roeburn Shire

Rural Children’s Support Network (Hedland and Karratha)

South West Citizen Advocacy

South West Mental Health Service

Town of Port Hedland

Uniting Church Frontier Service – Hedland and Karratha

West Pilbara Health Services

 

Special thanks are due to all individuals who participated in the regional consultation forums (who’s names are not included for privacy reasons) to Moss Polites, Executive Officer of MALSSA for his input and for making available a copy of the Riverland Project proposal and to DSC, the Bunbury Migrant Resource Group, Geraldton Regional Education Centre, Islamic Association of Katanning and the Uniting Church Frontier Service – Hedland and Karratha for their assistance in organising the regional consultations.

 

This project could not have been undertaken but for the funding provided by the Department of Family and Community Services and the top-up funding provided by Edith Cowan University.  The support of David Marshall and Tina Spadaccini from DFACS and Mr Nara Srinivasan from ECU, is much appreciated.

 

Acronyms

 

 

ABC                 Australian Broadcasting Corporation 

 

ABS                 Australian Bureau of Statistics

 

BMRG             Bunbury Migrant Resource Group

 

CDAA              (proposed) Country Disability Advocacy Alliance

 

CSS                Community Settlement Service Worker funded by DIMA

 

DIMA                Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

 

DSC                    Disability Services Commission.

 

EDAC              Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre

 

ECU                Edith Cowan University

 

DFACS            Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services

 

GREC             Geraldton Regional Education Centre

 

HREOC           Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

 

MALSSA          Multicultural Advocacy and Liaison Service of South Australia

 

NDAC              National Disability Advisory Council

 

NDAP              National Disability Advocacy Program

 

NESB              Non-English Speaking Backgrounds

 

PWD               People With Disabilities

 

 

Foreword

 

 

The Reaching Out Through Partnerships project, which seeks to address the disability advocacy needs of ethnic regional and rural Western Australians, is an important milestone for the Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre (EDAC).

 

Whilst the Centre has always had a statewide brief, funding constraints have limited its non-metropolitan involvement to its 1800 free call facility. Even this facility has not been publicized or promoted in regional and rural areas. Not surprisingly, EDAC has attracted only 2-3 requests for assistance from non-metropolitan areas via this free call facility, since its inception some 5 years ago.

 

The funding of this research/consultancy project by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Service and the Edith Cowan University was therefore most opportune.

 

The project report confirms our Centre’s views that people with disabilities from non-English speaking background communities living in regional and rural areas face significant barriers which affect their access to services.

 

As the title of this project suggests its planning and implementation involved building effective partnerships between government agencies commonwealth, state and local, academia, ethnic people with disabilities, ethnic groups and organizations and mainstream service providers in regional and rural areas and EDAC.

 

Its recommendations also offer exciting opportunities for partnerships between these stakeholders in addressing the unmet disability advocacy needs of ethnic regional and rural Western Australians. One such opportunity is to establish a Country Disability Advocacy Alliance comprising EDAC, People With Disabilities and other advocacy organizations with a statewide brief.

 

The implementation of the recommendations, if funded by the Commonwealth and state governments, also poses interesting challenges for EDAC. It will require it to step outside its service boundaries i.e. non-English speaking backround people with disabilities.

 

It is hoped that the Commonwealth and state government will respond positively and swiftly to the report’s recommendations to harness the goodwill that exists between the various stakeholders in their efforts to obtain a fair deal for ethnic regional and rural Western Australians.

 

On behalf of the Centre I wish to thank the Department of Family and Community Services and Edith Cowan University, which funded this project, Dr. Anne Atkinson and members of the project steering committee, the project consultant, Ramdas Sankaran and all those who contributed towards its planning and implementation.

 

 

 

Sophie Jasinski                                               Dr. Anne Atkinson

President                                                         Vice President and Chair

                                                                        Project Steering Committee

 

 

1 Executive Summary

 

1.1 Regional and rural areas of Western Australia are not homogeneous in terms of their population size, diversity and distribution, disability services infrastructure, multicultural services, infrastructure, etc.  Accordingly the adoption of a-one-size-fits-all approach to disability advocacy service provision is neither appropriate nor economically viable.

 

1.2 Government funded disability advocacy services are virtually non-existent in most regional and rural areas and it is therefore opportune to establish a Country Disability Advocacy Alliance (CDAA) comprising EDAC, PWD and other “independent” advocacy organizations with a statewide brief.

 

1.3 The outcomes of the consultation forums held in the targeted regional areas were broadly the same. With one exception all participants indicated that disability advocacy services should be provided locally and not through a visiting service from Perth.

 

1.4 The barriers to accessing disability services identified by participants, as well as their choice of service delivery models, were not dissimilar from region to region (paragraph 6.9).  They are grouped under the following headings.

Ø      Lack of awareness and understanding of Disability services and their roles

Ø      Attitudinal barriers

Ø      General lack of disability services locally,

Ø      Cultural in-appropriateness in Service delivery

Ø      Language

Ø      Complexity of Service access

 

Other barriers identified include

Ø      Lack of ethnicity data, especially English language proficiency and cultural background makes service planning difficult

Ø      Difficult to access Perth based disability advocacy services

Ø      Inadequate local public transport

Ø      Disability services in Perth are inaccessible due to cost of travel i.e. petrol is too costly.

Ø      Disability Employment and training opportunities are limited or non-existent

 

1.5 An integrated rural/regional disability advocacy strategy should comprise at least the following.

  • Outposted services of EDAC/PWD in Bunbury and Geraldton.
  • Pool of Bilingual Disability Advocacy Officers.
  • Cross-cultural training programs that can be accessed by regional and rural service providers.

2 Recommendations

 

It is recommended that:

 

2.1 the Commonwealth and state government consider providing funding to:

 

2.1.1 the Bunbury Migrant Resource Group and the Geraldton Regional Education Centre to operate an ethnic disability advocacy service in their regions through the employment of p/t advocacy workers or advocacy workers on a sessional basis;

 

2.1.2 the Bunbury Italian Club to provide disability advocacy services for Italo-Australians living in the Bunbury region, through the employment of advocacy workers on a sessional basis;

 

2.1.3 The Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre to:

 

·         Establish a pool of bilingual disability advocacy workers who can be employed on a sessional basis, at all regional and rural centers. (this be implemented on a staggered basis over 3 years)

 

·         Develop and implement a cross-cultural training package and offer training to regional and rural disability service providers;

 

·         Establish an outposted service in Bunbury/or Geraldton if recommendation 2.1.1 is considered inappropriate/impracticable. Such an outposted service whilst providing priority access to ethnic and indigenous people with disabilities, will be open to all regardless of their ethnicity’

 

2.2 EDAC explore funding options that will enable it to implement an internet based multilingual disability information service. Additionally, it should approach the commonwealth to publicise the eligibility criteria for mobility allowance; through direct mail out to those not receiving it but are already receiving a disability payment and to others through the ethnic media, relevant ethnic associations and organisations which service migrants and ethnic communities.

 

2.3 EDAC explore the feasibility of establishing a Country Disability Advocacy Alliance with other bodies such as PWD and DDU, which have a statewide disability advocacy brief.

 

 

3          Project Background and Rationale:

 

3.1 The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2000, P11) found that,

“People with disabilities from non-English speaking background communities sometimes experience multiple layers of discrimination-discrimination on the basis of disability, race or ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Invariably discrimination results in isolation, fear, exclusion and alienation.”

 

3.2 It also highlighted significant barriers, which affect these people, many of which have been confirmed by the findings of this project. In seeking to address the disability advocacy needs of ethnic regional and rural Western Australians, EDAC highlighted the following in its project proposal:

·         WA has the highest proportion of overseas born compared to other states in Australia and it’s population is extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity, language, religion and culture.