Gawler disability advocate Lyn Lillecrapp hopes the Royal Commissioninto Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with aDisability’s forum in Gawler on Thursday will lead to positive change.PHOTO: Sam Bradbrook
THE Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability will hold a community forum at the Gawler Civic Centre tomorrow, giving local residents a chance to voice their concerns about the disability sector.
People with a disability, carersand disability sector workers will make presentations to the commission on the day, with all available speaking time already booked by locals wishing to tell their stories.
The forum is wheelchair accessible and will also provide Auslan interpreters and live captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Gawler disability advocate and former Paralympic swimmer Lyn Lillecrapp is pleased small communities are getting the chance to be heard by the commission.
“If you did a survey around Gawler you would find there would be a goodly percentage of its residents are getting up into an elderly stage and looking at potential disabilities or they perhaps are already disabled,” she said.
“I think it’s good these sort of royal commissions get out into the real world, because they get locked in the cities and it doesn’t cover a wide range of Australia’s population.
“You’ve got people out in local farming areas like the Barossa Valley, Hamley Bridge, Freeling and Tarlee who can come out to something like this because they probably wouldn’t go into the city.”
Ms Lillecrapp was struck with polio when she was six weeks old and went onto represent Australia at three Paralympic games.
She said the number one concern she would like to see discussed at the forum was disability services for people more than 65-years-old who have lived with a disability for much of their life.
“One of the prime things I’d like to hear talked about is the fact there are some of us who don’t qualify for the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) because we’re over 65, yet we had a disability long before we turned 65,” she said.
“I’ve had mine since I was six weeks old, yet I don’t qualify for the NDIS and the My Aged Care system is useless when it comes to supporting people needing equipment.
“It’s taking four years for people to be assessed and they’re dying in the process.”
The Royal Commission forum will run from 10am to 12 noon.
