PWD policy for housing

http://www.pwd.org.au/documents/pubs/AccommodatingHumanRights2003.pdf So once again people like my sister who have very complex needs are being ignored by your firm. 60 pages of what yo want to happen not one mention on how to house complex needs individuals You actively try to close down centres that provide the type of care, support and safety that she, her staff and the general community need without offering any solution. It's shameful. When she was gaol and I turned to PWD for help I was told that you do not provide accommodation that if she ended up homeless it was not an issue for your organisation. If you close down where she can be housed correctly how does that not impact on your civil, moral and ethical stance on helping people with a disability.  It's a bit two faced. You are neglectful of people with high end need. Their true needs never get spoke about in your papers. All you do is try close down their housing without providing another way to provide an accommodation model. The only word that truly defines PWD position on this is neglectful. If you do have a proposal for how to house individuals who have an intellectual disability a variety of mental health disorders and are highly aggressive I am more than happy for you to point me in that direction so I can read what you are proposing. So far what I've found has nothing of that nature in your proposals. Don't you think all other housing models have been tried and failed? One can only conclude that you are actively setting people up to fail by forceabley pushing people who can't live in the community back into it. And ultimely for some of those people back into prison because of their aggression and behaviour disorders. Shame on you. How about fix up the damage that the Richmond report and your constant campaigning has done. How's about you help all the people that slipped through the cracks and ended up homeless or in prison because of their accommodation closing. Get them out of prison an housed correctly. Get your staff to visit the homeless shelters and the canvas the streets and offer housing the those people who ended up homeless. How about you do't create more misery are more people falling through the crack because your firm is two pig headed to see the bigger picture. There is no black and white when housing complex needs people and PWD never see's the big picture or the real issues that some people face. Your proposal is simplistic and excludes our most vunerable.

ADHC hosuing

http://www.adhc.nsw.gov.au/individuals/support/somewhere_to_live/group_accommodation

Wadalba Group Homes

http://www.baxterbuilding.com.au/Government/?id=30&view=property

Casuarina Grove aged care facility for people with a disability

http://www.adhc.nsw.gov.au/about_us/news/casuarina_grove_aged_care_facility_wins_prestigious_design_award Casuarina Grove aged care facility wins prestigious design award Photograph of Casuarina Grove Casuarina Grove aged care facility for people with a disability was recently awarded an Urban Development Institute NSW, Austral Bricks Award for Excellence. Developed to become the new home for former residents of the Peat Island Centre, Casuarina Grove is a purpose-built cluster-style facility with ten homes, each having ten bedrooms. The contrast for former residents of the Peat Island Centre couldn’t be greater. Built decades ago, residents’ accommodation on Peat Island was based on modified hospital wards and the island’s location meant residents were completely isolated from the local community. Following months of planning and consultation with residents and their families, the Casuarina Grove Aged Care Facility for people with a disability was formally opened earlier this year. Former Peat Island Centre resident Marty, sums up the feelings of many of the new residents of Casuarina Grove. “It all looks so beautiful and I like it. I feel really good.” The Urban Design Institute NSW Award judges noted, “The design of the facility provides a welcoming home-like setting … the use of single-storey construction, local builders and a straightforward approach to the overall planning has achieved value for money.” The Minister for Disability Services and Ageing, Andrew Constance, said the award recognises the NSW Government’s commitment to increase the range and type of supported accommodation to better meet the needs of people with a disability who are ageing. “We are committed to closing existing large residential centres and developing more appropriate accommodation in community settings with a more home-like environment that better meet clients’ needs,” Mr Constance said. Mr Constance said that a number of other large residential centre redevelopments were in progress and he looked forward to further positive outcomes for the current residents, their families and support workers. David, parent of one of Casuarina Grove residents, shares a view common among many parents. “Because I’m getting on a bit in years, he’ll live long after me. He needs an environment where he can be happy.” While the contrast between the design and surroundings of the Peat Island Centre and Casuarina Grove is obvious, it’s clear the design has achieved the most important change, a stronger sense of community. Support worker, Lesley, previously worked at Peat Island Centre and has transferred to Casuarina Grove. “People walk past, drop in and talk. The families come and visit now, we sit on the verandah together … it really is like a neighbourhood,” said Lesley. - See more at: http://www.adhc.nsw.gov.au/about_us/news/casuarina_grove_aged_care_facility_wins_prestigious_design_award#sthash.3Xnhi4Y2.dpuf

PWD SHUT IN Campaign

Do you acknowledge that some people cannot cope with the broader community and are dangerous to themselves and others in standard housing options? No you don't. Do you have a housing option as part of your campaign that include those hard to house because of their aggression? No Did you offer to assist in finding housing for my sister when she came out of prison ? No, your firm was going to let her end up homeless. The Stronger Together campaign is great for those who can live in the community but it falls way short for those that cannot. There still is not enough housing for my sister and people with the same level of disability and high end care and support she and others need. Do I agree that people who don't need the high end secure housing live in the community. Yes, I know that people have been housed badly and inappropriately and those that can cope and are not a threat should be included in the community. I would just like to see someone be inclusive of those that are not able to cope and are not an easy fit in the community. My sister's needs are very complex as is her housing. She has to be safe, you have to be safe and her staff have to be safe. Housing someone with a intellectual disability, mental health disorder and severe behaviour is not as simple as you would like to make out. The only facility in the state that can cope with my sister is closing. And your campaign offers no solution on her housing. Maybe she can come stay at your place.... Maybe if you lived with someone like my sister then you'd have a better understanding of the sort of care she needs. Maybe if you'd been scared for your life, beaten up, stabbed, not slept when she is in the house for fear of harm. Grown up with someone who self harms, cuts herself, tries to hang herself and suffocate herself. I've lost count of how many times I have had to untie ropes or belts from her neck or take plastic bags off her head or tend to her self inflicted wounds. I love my sister I want what's best for her. It's clear from your campaign that you underesitmate the needs of some people if you did understand then you'd see that units like Kanangra and Norton Road offer the best support for these very complex needs people. PWD is seeking the closure of the centres known as Casuarina Grove, Norton Road Specialist Supported Living, Wadalba Group Homes and Summer Hill Group Homes. PWD is advocating for these closures to occur in a carefully planned and staged process following individual assessments and relocation to community based housing and supports that conform with the objectives and principles of the NSW Disability Services Act and the CRPD. Your answer to meet the very complex needs of people is Community based housing. Don't you think that has been tried in the past. It didn't work. Housing in the communtiy did not offer my sister what she needed, staff were scared of her, had no way to deal with her aggression therefore it became worse. She assualted people. Her general health suffered, she was treated for malnutrition. Even then PWD and ADHC refused to house her correctly in a specialised unit instead they let her end up in prison. So to go back to a knonn failed system makes no sense. Geez. Are you wanting to set peeople up to fail. In community housing options. I'm sure the neighbours will enjoy someone screaming all day moving into next door. Throwing everything they can lay their hands on and threatening them and very likely doing harm to them. Do you acknowledge these very real issues, No you don't. There are some very real hard issues that your campaign simply does not provide a solution for. Norton Road is most likely the only site in the state that can cope with the very real and dangerous behavior of my sister. So without the right housing options for her she most likley will end up homeless or back in jail yep that's an inclusive and dignified option. The prison system cannot cope with her there soloution is to highly medicate and place her in isolation. When she does go into the community with staff at Kanagre she has a 3:1 ratio of staff that are highly trained disability nurses. Where in the community can you see her being housed with that level of care and safety being provided? Where can she get that level of care? Where is that going to happen for her? Oh that's right PWD doesn't offer housing to people or offer solutions to housing needs you only limit the options. Actively campaigning to close centres without adequate housing should not be supported it should be exposed for what is really is, neglectful. You are being neglectful. http://www.pwd.org.au/documents/pubs/Shut-In-EBulletin2011.html

more on housing

Housing choice for people with disabilities 15 Apr 2011 chris-bigby-thumb Professor Christine Bigby E-mail: c.bigby@latrobe.edu.au This opinion piece first appeared in ON LINE Opinion on 15 April 2011. The Productivity Commission draft report Disability Care and Support has recommended a National Disability Insurance Scheme. If it goes ahead, the proposal for a ‘properly financed and cohesive system’ to provide ‘high quality care and support’ for people with disability will be a landmark reform of the Australian welfare state. By replacing the current ‘underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient’ disability support system, people with disabilities will have a right to support that matches their needs. As well as individual support for an estimated 360,000 people, the proposed insurance scheme sets out to champion change in attitudes and to remove the obstacles that face people with disabilities on a daily basis. The widespread community and bipartisan support for the scheme and its self-evident advantages has limited debate. It is important to look more closely at the detail to be assured that this major reform will do what it sets out to do and that is to make sure that people with disabilities are included in the community and are able to enjoy a quality of life that most of us take for granted. Central to this is the type of housing that people with disabilities live in and on this issue, the Productivity Report is curiously silent. Reflecting the campaigns of recent years, when institutions such as Kew Cottages have closed, and more recently the flagged closure of Colanda, an institution for people with intellectual disability at Colac, this silence is of grave concern. Should there be unrestricted choice of accommodation type in the new scheme, or as with clinical interventions should choice be mediated by the evidence base of what works? Should consumers should be able to choose to use public money on accommodation choices that evidence shows obstruct rather than hamper the broader outcomes that as a society we seek for people for people with disabilities? This is the debate that we must have before it is too late. Currently there is a real possibility that an individual or their family may choose a large cluster housing such as Norton Road in New South Wales where ten group homes were recently built side by side on one site or the Minda campus in South Australia currently being refurbished, where over 400 people with intellectual disability live together. But the design of these services are contrary to the principles of current disability legislation. Our research has shown that while not all small group or individual living experiences are great, this is more due to poor implementation. Rationing and unmet need has led to incompatible resident groupings based on urgency of need rather than choice and compatibility. Poor funding and organisational practices have led to staff who doubt the feasibility of inclusion for people with more severe intellectual disability, organisational cultures that undermine engagement and social inclusion, and front line workers without skilled or regular supervision. The proposed scheme will remove one part of the equation of poor implementation. But it cannot afford to leave the supply of accommodation services, staff and organisational practices to consumer choice or the market alone. The scheme must regulate the type of accommodation service that can be purchased to those with the potential to facilitate required outcomes. It must also ensure ongoing rigorous independent monitoring of individual people against benchmarks of social inclusion and quality of life. People with severe intellectual disability have limited bargaining power, many cannot self report, and do not always have resourceful family members or advocates alongside them. For this group, the benchmark of quality is not care alone or staff doing things for people but ‘active support’ to be engaged in their own everyday lives and to facilitate convivial social encounters. Choices offered by the new scheme must be services or support that will best support the outcomes society seeks for people with disabilities – these are not large segregated clustered housing. The scheme must reflect the principles of the National Disability Strategy, 2010- 2010 and United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Such principles place choice alongside maximum opportunities for independence and participation in the life of the community. If the new scheme does not prohibit large-scale cluster services, there is a very real danger that the myth will be perpetuated that some people are too disabled to live in the community. Professor Christine Bigby, Social Work and Social Policy, La Trobe University http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2011/opinion/housing-choice-for-consumers-with-disabi

more on Norton Road

The new residential cluster housing development at Macquarie Hospital will allow for specialist supported living within a contemporary residential setting for residents currently on site who have mixed intellectual and physical disabilities as well as challenging behaviours. This development provides domestic style accommodation in 10 group homes, each accommodating 5 residents under the supervision of residential support carers. The central two houses have been designed to house residents with high medical needs. The housing is designed to benefit from the unique characteristics of the site including views toward Kitty’s Creek and the conservation parkland, as well as a north orientation for all living areas. The project has been designed as a master planned housing development with each house functioning independently. The houses are individualized by varying roof profiles and colour schemes. In addition to this, the behaviour challenged houses have been designed with internal finishes better suited to the needs of the residents. The site incorporates a timber boardwalk linking houses separated by Kitty’s Creek. All houses have been sited and internally designed to allow for disabled access and allow for future retrofitting of additional aids such as grab rails on an as needs basis. http://www.govarch.commerce.nsw.gov.au/files/PS_Public_10_Norton_Road_SSL_Group_Homes.pdf

PWD

Do you acknowledge that some people cannot cope with the broader community and are dangerous to themselves and others in standard housing options? No you don't. Do you have a housing option as part of your campaign that include those hard to house because of their aggression? No Did you offer to assist in finding housing for my sister when she came out of prison ? No, your firm was going to let her end up homeless. The Stronger Together campaign is great for those who can live in the community but it falls way short for those that cannot. There still is not enough housing for my sister and people with the same level of disability as her. Do I agree that people who don't need the high end secure housing live in the community. Yes, I know that people have been housed badly and inappropriately and those that can cope and are not a threat should be included in the community. I would just like to see someone be inclusive of those that are not able to cope and are not an easy fit in the community. My sister's needs are very complex as is her housing. She has to be safe, you have to be safe and her staff have to be safe. Housing someone with a intellectual disability, mental health disorder and severe behaviour is not as simple as you would like to make out. The only facility in the state that can cope with my sister is closing. And your campaign offers no solution on her housing. Maybe she can come stay at your place.... PWD is seeking the closure of the centres known as Casuarina Grove, Norton Road Specialist Supported Living, Wadalba Group Homes and Summer Hill Group Homes. PWD is advocating for these closures to occur in a carefully planned and staged process following individual assessments and relocation to community based housing and supports that conform with the objectives and principles of the NSW Disability Services Act and the CRPD. Your answer to meet the very complex needs of people is Community based housing. Don't you think that has been trein in the past. It didn't work. I'm sure the neighbours will enjoy someone screaming all day moving into next door. Norton Road is most likely the only site in the state that can cope with the very real and dangerous behavior of my sister. So without the right housing options for her she most likley will end up homeless or back in jail, yep that's an inclusive and dignified option. The prison system cannot cope there soloution is to highly medicate and place her in isolation. When she goes into the community she has a 3:1 ratio of staff that are highly trained disability nurses. Where in the community can you see that as happening for her? http://www.pwd.org.au/documents/pubs/Shut-In-EBulletin2011.html

Norton Road ABC podcast

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/norton-road-disability-housing/3010974 POdcast about Norton Road

http://www.disabled-world.com/news/australia-nz/nsw/north-ryde.php

This is where they are looking at moving Sue to due to Kanangra Centre closing North Ryde Accommodation for People with Disability Information by Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care - Published: 2011-02-21 $14 million accommodation for people with a disability opened at North Ryde... New accommodation for people with an intellectual disability and complex behaviour needs was officially opened at North Ryde today. Norton Road Specialist Supported Living, built by the NSW Government at a cost of $14 million, follows the closure of the nearby Lachlan Centre late last year. The Minister for Disability Services, Peter Primrose, who officially opened the new state-wide specialist service, said it offered 50 accommodation places to people living across NSW. “Norton Road Specialist Supported Living is a showpiece of what can be achieved in the provision of specialist accommodation for people with a disability,” Mr Primrose said. “Each of the 10 homes offers quiet areas where people can relax or entertain their visitors and, to ensure privacy, each person has their own bedroom. “They feature pleasant outdoor areas including gardens and BBQ facilities and are a very big improvement on where the residents previously lived.” Mr Primrose said that the new accommodation was built because accommodation at the Lachlan Centre was no longer suitable for the residents. “The new homes provide residents with the opportunity for increased independence, more participation within the local community and a true sense of belonging.” Residents, their families and staff were involved in the design of the homes, their fit out and furnishing to ensure that the new accommodation best met the needs of the residents and staff. They chose the furniture for the homes and picked the colours and curtains for the common areas in the houses. Mr Primrose said that the replacement of Large Residential Centres with contemporary accommodation targeted to individual need represented real progress in improving the quality of life for many people with a disability and their families. The Lachlan Centre closure follows the government’s decision to close all Large Residential Centres by 2018 and replace them with modern accommodation that better suits the needs of residents. Last week, Casuarina Grove, the State’s first specialist aged care service for people with an intellectual disability was opened at Hamlyn Terrace as part of the replacement of the Peat Island Centre which closed last year. Four, five-bed community based homes at nearby Wadalba opened last September as part of the Peat Island closure. In 2009, the Grosvenor Centre in Sydney’s inner-west was closed and replaced by the Summer Hill Group Homes and Respite Units on adjacent land.

Minutes of Meeting

"It was pointed out again that Sue’s sister (Julie) is very involved in her care and needs to be involved in the transition process. Sharon explained that she is aware of this and has been staying in regular contact with Julie. Sharon agreed that she will stay in communication with Julie on the transition process for Sue." I have the mintues only had to ask 3 times for them. I don't understand why it is so hard to keep me in the loop. Sue asks me questions and i have to tell her i don't know because the CJP haven't spoke to me. The meeting at Kanangra took place 27/5/13 so it's a bit of a delay in getting the info to me, (got it yesterday). I take mintues so i understand the process.

Sue's move

So far things are still as they kind of were before. Not set date, assesments still to be done. Which is fine they aren't rushing things. I have found it qute hard to get information out of the CJP big surprise. I either get emails with very little info about what is happening or i have to ask and ask and ask for info. Pretty normal for CJP.