'I live well'
VDAC message
Outcomes under this pillar
Housing
How will we know we've made progress:
- More people with disability have access to affordable housing
- More people with disability have access to stable and secure housing
- More people with disability have access to suitable housing
Health
How will we know we've made progress:
- People with disability report improved physical health
- People with disability report an increase in healthy living
- People with disability report improved mental health
Wellbeing
How will we know we've made progress:
- People with disability report increased overall life satisfaction
- People with disability report increased resilience
Priority area commitments and actions
2.1 Health
We will equip our hospitals and health services to provide people with disability appropriate support while receiving inpatient care. We will do this by:
2.1.1 Evaluating the Disability Liaison Officer program in health services to inform system improvements and workforce development opportunities.
2.1.2 Establishing a framework for health services to share their disability action plans with their community and report on outcomes annually.
2.1.3 Developing ‘disability champion/lead’ models in each health service partnership to promote/guide knowledge, professional development and capacity-building services.
2.1.4 Supporting health services to enhance referral pathways at key intake points to recognise and respond to the needs of people with disability.
2.1.5 Developing design guidelines and assessment tools to ensure autistic people can access inclusive hospital emergency departments that meet their needs.
2.1.6 Working within the Victorian Health Building Authority to implement the universal design policy and charter and build workforce capacity to deliver good practice. This includes a review of the Australasian health facilities guidelines to strengthen application of universal design principles in health facilities.
We will explore ways to ensure health care professionals, including hospital staff, GPs, paramedics and primary and community healthcare staff undertake professional development to better support people with disability. We will do this by:
2.1.7 Looking for opportunities to develop e-learning and other training packages and courses that are co-designed with people with disability and which promote inclusion, foster a culture of respect and change attitudes towards people with disability.
2.1.8 Leveraging broader work around community attitude campaigns and Disability Liaison Officers in health services to include a focus on attitudes towards people with disability in health settings.
2.1.9 Working with relevant peak bodies to promote workforce development strategies.
2.1.10 Investigating opportunities for training to be included in pre-service qualifications.
We will work with people with disability to support better access to inclusive sexual and reproductive health services. We will do this by:
2.1.11 Working to identify barriers to inclusive sexual and reproductive health and viral hepatitis health care for people with disability including LGBTIQ+ people with disability, recently arrived migrants with disability and other identified priority populations.
2.1.12 Identifying good practice in inclusive sexual and reproductive health services, including co-design and training delivery with people with disability, to ensure health professionals support people with disability to exercise their rights to make decisions for themselves.
2.2 Mental health
We will ensure the new mental health and wellbeing service system responds to the needs of people with disability. We will work in partnership with people with disability to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. We will do this by:
2.2.1 Convening a diverse communities working group to give expert advice and guidance on developing a diverse communities mental health and wellbeing framework and a blueprint for action.
2.2.2 Co-designing a diverse communities mental health and wellbeing framework that: delivers safe and inclusive mental health treatment, care and support; better integrates community organisations and mental health and wellbeing services; and promotes good mental health and wellbeing.
2.2.3 Building the capacity of specialist mental health services and the capability of the mental health workforce to engage and support people with disability and carers throughout the NDIS access, planning, plan implementation and review processes.
2.3 Housing
We will embed accessibility into the design of new homes. We will do this by:
2.3.1 Collaborating with the building and construction industry and disability advocates to transition to the new minimum accessible housing standards that are planned to come into effect through the National Construction Code in 2022.
We will increase the supply of accessible social housing for people with disability. We will do this by:
2.3.2 Ensuring all new social housing dwellings delivered as part of the Big Housing Build will meet a minimum silver rating and incorporate key elements of the Liveable Housing design guidelines gold standards.
2.3.3 Ensuring five per cent of the social housing constructed by Homes Victoria have a high level of physical accessibility to meet the needs of Victorians with significant disability. Drop-off areas, paths, lifts and car parking will be included to make all homes easily accessible. Inside the home, kitchens, bathrooms and storage will also be accessible.
2.3.4 Ensuring that at least 50 per cent of remaining homes are designed as ‘adaptable’ in line with the Apartment design guidelines for Victoria.
2.3.5 Creating and designing outdoor spaces that provide access to all residents, including adequate spaces and functionality for people with disability. Accessible dwellings will also accommodate electric wheelchair and scooter access, storage and charging within the entry area.
2.3.6 Supporting the implementation of accessibility standards in social housing dwellings delivered under the Big Housing Build to ensure properties not constructed by Homes Victoria still prioritise good design and quality builds. We will do this through procurement and grant evaluation processes and by working with other jurisdictions and industry to support implementation of the standards.
2.3.7 Ensuring the needs of people with disability are recognised in the 10-year strategy for social and affordable housing that will be released in early 2022. This includes building on the commitments around specialist disability accommodation and universal design.
2.3.8 Aligning social housing approaches defined within Mana-na woorntyeen maar-takoort: Every Aboriginal person has a home – the Victorian Aboriginal housing and homelessness framework that set the direction to increase housing outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians, including Aboriginal people with disability.
We will support renters with disability. We will do this by:
2.3.9 Promoting compliance with new laws under the recently reviewed Residential Tenancies Act 1997, which state that:
- rental providers must not unreasonably refuse disability-related modifications under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 without good reason
- renters no longer have to provide private information protected in the Equal Opportunity Act when applying for a rental property – this includes information about their disability, ethnicity or gender identity
- rental agreement forms must include an information statement that educates applicants, rental providers and agents about unlawful discrimination.
As part of the Big Housing Build we will deliver 2,000 dwellings1 as supported housing for people living with mental illness, including people with psychosocial disability, who need ongoing intensive treatment, care and support. We will do this by:
2.3.10 Allocating the $38.51 million funded in the 2021–22 Victorian State Budget over four years to provide tailored wellbeing supports for people living with psychosocial disability housed through the 2,000 supported housing dwellings for people living with mental illness, with funding held in contingency subject to dwelling completion schedules.
2.3.11 Ensuring that supported homes for adults living with mental illness (including psychosocial disability) are:
- prioritised for adults living with mental illness who need ongoing intensive treatment, care and support, with area mental health and wellbeing services assisting with the selection process. This may include adults with psychosocial disability who have access to the NDIS
- delivered in a range of housing configurations including standalone units, self-contained units with shared amenities and various forms of clustered independent units on a single-site property
- appropriately located, provide for people living with mental illness and are co-designed by Homes Victoria, representatives appointed by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division and people with lived experience of mental illness
- accompanied by an appropriate level of integrated, multidisciplinary and individually tailored mental health and wellbeing treatment, care and support.
We will provide high-quality, safe and secure housing options for people requiring supported independent living considering the NDIS principles of choice and control. We will do this by:
2.3.12 Allocating $30 million to upgrade and improve existing government-owned specialist disability accommodation (SDA) properties throughout Victoria.
2.3.13 Completing upgrades and improvements to 450 government-owned SDA properties.
2.3.14 Initiating an ambitious renewal, replacement and growth program to improve the range and quality of government-owned SDA in Victoria.
2.4 Supporting a high quality NDIS
We will work with people with disability to ensure the scheme is responsive, sustainable and delivers outcomes. We will do this by:
2.4.1 Continuing to advocate to the Commonwealth Government and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and by directly supporting opportunities for meaningful input from people with disability to any proposed changes to the NDIS.
2.4.2 Supporting the Victorian NDIS Community Advisory Council in its role to provide advice about the operation and implementation of the NDIS in Victoria.
2.4.3 Representing and advocating for the needs of Victorians with disability in all forums including the Disability Reform Ministers meetings and the Victorian Executive Steering Committee, as a joint funder of the NDIS.
2.4.4 Working with the NDIA on shared responsibility to support more coordinated and person-centred responses for people accessing support across and within service systems.
2.4.5 Pursuing research to identify barriers that result in some NDIS participants not making full use of their plan and to support disability policy through advanced research and analysis.
2.4.6 Continuing to work with the Commonwealth and other states and territories to ensure the NDIS continues to be based on lifetime insurance principles and provides equitable access for all eligible Victorians with disability.
2.4.7 Continuing to support groups of at-risk Victorians with disability who are ineligible for the NDIS.
We will work with the Commonwealth Government, the NDIA and the disability sector to build a disability workforce of the size and capability needed to meet the support needs of Victorians with disability, including NDIS participants. We will do this by:
2.4.8 Working across the Victorian Government to ensure that employment, jobs and skills initiatives result in positive outcomes for the disability workforce. This includes targeted recruitment campaigns to promote disability career opportunities, including encouraging more Aboriginal and multicultural workers into the disability sector.
2.4.9 Supporting skills and training authorities to design and deliver educational programs and resources tailored to the needs of disability workers and promote best practice and culturally responsive service delivery outcomes for people with disability.
2.4.10 Advocating to ensure NDIS pricing is adequate to provide disability employers and workers with the conditions needed to attract, train and retain a quality NDIS workforce, including in regional and rural areas.
2.4.11 Identifying service gaps and service system interface issues to inform strategies that will support development of a thriving disability workforce and market.
2.5 Children and families
We will strengthen the capacity of families with children with disability and parents with disability to improve the health, safety and development of their children through targeted and coordinated whole-of-family support. We will do this by:
2.5.1 Building the capacity of parents and families to help prevent children with disability support needs from requiring care outside of their family home. The types of support may include advocacy and advice, practical support and/or material aid, counselling, parent–child interaction and community connection and social inclusion. This includes providing culturally safe support to Aboriginal families and children.
2.5.2 Helping families to navigate the NDIS. We will help parents develop skills to advocate for NDIS plans that contain parenting and disability support that help maintain and improve family functioning and the sustainability of family-based care.
2.5.3 Building on the learnings from the funding of 34 specialist disability practitioner roles across 17 departmental areas to support vulnerable families with disability in order to build disability inclusion and NDIS capacity across the sector in future.
2.5.4 Building on the learnings from delivering the Parents with Intellectual Disability program, which has provided flexible and tailored support to parents with intellectual disability with a child or children at risk of requiring care. The types of support have included intensive home-based and case management responses through a multidisciplinary team of dedicated family services, early parenting and disability practitioners. This includes providing culturally safe support to Aboriginal parents with intellectual disability.
2.5.6 Delivering disability practice advice teams, comprising two positions in each of four departmental operational divisions, who work with child protection practitioners to improve outcomes for children with disability who are subject to child protection involvement. This includes supporting assessments and decision making in relation to individual children in all phases of child protection involvement and capacity building across the workforce to ensure children receive optimal disability support through the NDIS. The teams also provide a strategic liaison role with the NDIA in relation to children with complex disability support needs involved with child protection.
2.5.7 Working with parents with disability and advocacy agencies to identify program and service improvements, including for those navigating the child protection system.
2.5.8 Bolstering the care services system to better support children with disability with a specialist approach that draws on improved partnerships with the NDIS.
2.5.9 Building the capacity of child protection practitioners in supporting families with children with disability with complex needs, including through a dedicated professional development package.
References
[1] To be delivered as either dwellings or allocations.
Updated