A lesson in empowerment

Many people in the disability sector are still struggling with what it means for participants to have choice and control over their supports. Our natural instinct, especially women to protect those we see as vulnerable.  While a percentage of participants will remain in that boat, the NDIS changes the game and the role of support staff has shifted to the right.  

The NDIS should be empowering all Australians with disabilities, together with family members and informal supports to make informed decisions, not just those who are able to navigate the complex NDIS system.  People regardless of their 'perceived abilities' should have a choice over `how they spend their days?'.  

Even knowing I am a highly intelligent, independent women some service providers and support workers, assume they know what I need, better than myself.  To be honest, I am capable of putting far too many activities into my day.  I do not need well meaning workers to add to my chaos. 

Devising activities for clients to participate in, is a role I hope will be dropped from the support workers role in the future.  Where a person has a support coordinator, guidance on choices is their role, but ultimately the participants and their families should be choosing activities for participation. These choices should be balance with their NDIS goals.  If  workers are encouraging activities that are not part of the participants plan, for example coffee at a local cafe, then this is dis-empowerment. 

Don't get me wrong I'll take any excuse to have a Chai Latte, but as director of my supports I will let my team know when and where that will be, subjected to short notice.  Sometimes the world just drives me to needing 'a Chai in a cafe'.  I am more like the average Australian than you realise. 

That's the message I want to send to all prospective support workers, not just those I engage in Team Deb.  All supports must be client centred.  If you're not happy with the activities your client chooses, then you might need to find a client that likes to do the things you enjoy doing.  

This is what the company I work for offers. Hire Up desires to match participants and workers who have similar interests. Participants and families can select team members that enjoy the same activities as them.  As the owner of a small creative business, much of my time is spent producing work to sell. I struggle to connect with support workers, who do not enjoy creating art and craft. 

There has been a movement from the medical care model, for a number of years. Under this model people with disabilities received 'care' and 'paid carers' were in a decision making role. Under the NDIS model, it is the participants and/or family members who make decisions about community participation and the daily activities they choose to engage in.  The term 'paid carer' is outdated, it comes from a time when the state government was responsible for the care and protection of people with disabilities. 

Large scale care facilities are no longer operating and even disabilities services in Queensland have ceased.  Participants today are more likely to remain part of the family unit, where the primary care is provided, thus the word 'carer' should not be used for people in a paid position.

We have been using the term support worker for over 15 years, this demonstrates societies reluctance to change. We do not need to do everything for people with disabilities, unless they are profoundly disabled and totally dependent on others to have their needs met. Empowerment is supporting participants to do things for themselves. Doing everything for those living with disabilities has led to deskilling with people becoming dependent on others. This dependence has allowed wide spread abuse of people with disability.

This is why 'choice' is the centrepiece of support under the NDIS. All supports accessed under the NDIS should be chosen by the participants or family members, not just who provides these supports.  As an additional safety measure NDIS has changed the way support plans are written, so any support must be aligned with the participants goals and the steps identified by them to achieve their goals.  Hopefully this ends the support workers ability to choose activities for their participants. 

If Sally chooses to see a movie every Tuesday, that is her choice, however if one Tuesday she decides there is a sale at 'Spotlight'  and decides to go there instead, that is ok too.  But deciding that Sally should be learning to cook instead of seeing a movie is not ok. 

Goals such as learning new skills are now decided at the NDIS planning level, once a participant and/or family member has chosen a service provider and engaged a support worker, then the workers role and the activities a participant does has been predetermined and no longer the support workers role. 

Traditional support service still require a large amount of paperwork to ensure quality services are provided. However individual support workers should no longer be planning the participants day.  Especially if people are self-directing their own supports. Duty of care should no longer extend to being responsible for all the 'care' needs that was once required.  There is no reason someone who self-directs can not write their own session reports to feedback to the NDIS. 

These are the changes most of the disability sector are struggling with.  When workers come to a company like Hire Up and apart from incident reports, participants and their families are writing everything including the support plan, workers struggle to understand their role. 

Service like Hire Up and other online platforms offer options that were missing in the traditional disability sector.  Just as any support service cannot meet the support needs of every person with a disability, it is also true for platforms like Hire Up or even contracting staff with their own ABN.  

If your support delivery style is based on traditional models of care, it is unlikely that providing supports for companies like Hire Up will suit them.  Just as clients can now choose the companies and staff they want to support them, workers can choose companies and/or clients who like the type of service delivery they provide.  Under no circumstances should it be acceptable a support person positioned in someones home proceed to challenge a participants choices and plan their day.  For participants to experience this, is dis-empowerment.

One of my NDIS goals is to extend my visual arts practise.

Currently I am gaining inspiration through my Artist's Residency

in a kindy. My support workers support me in this role.

We all need to adapt to the changing of the NDIS landscape where the role of the support worker is to empower participants and families to work toward the NDIS goals outlined in their plan. I look forward to seeing changes in the way workers empower their clients.   

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