A disgusting insight into practices used by some care providers in NDIS
By Aaron Cordy
“WHEN my child was born with a rare chromosomal disease, I never envisioned that aside from multiple surgeries and ongoing lifelong medical care that the biggest grief I would face would arise from fighting a corrupt and dangerous government-funded disability service called the NDIS.”
The heartbreaking words of a mother trying to do her best to raise her severely disabled child are a sickening reality for many lost in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). While many safe respectable providers can be trusted with the care of society’s most vulnerable people, there are many disabled people lost in a system that is awash in greed and corruption.
“We live rural and are at the whim of a small and often incestuous workforce where start-up companies dominate. Where mum, dad, sister, in-laws and their close friends work in one business and their relatives may work in other closely aligned disability services.
“In a small country town when things go wrong with support it’s a serious problem. The backlash on you can be enormous. These providers have intimate knowledge of their client and the client’s family supports. They rarely abide by confidentiality. You risk a lot speaking up.”
It is this fear or the inability to speak out against providers and support coordinators that leaves these vulnerable people and their families trapped in a nightmare that was designed with the sole aim of providing the right care for people with disabilities. But the sad fact is the NDIS fails many of these people, and in rural communities, small groups can hold a monopoly on that care. If these providers don’t care about the clients they are charged with looking after, care soon becomes exploitation.
“We removed our child from group-based activities twice when we found they were housed with adult men. In one instance a degree-trained therapist rang us in confidence warning us our then 11-year-old child was in danger of being placed in a providers group activity and intimated she was being exposed to possible risks of a sexual nature as one of these men were her clients.
“It’s a gold mine for an NDIS start-up. Buy an old run-down house or cheap farm block, farm some intellectually disabled clients. House them on mass and pop a DVD on with a cheap sausage sandwich or buy a few old horses, do a few online courses. Voila! You’re running a respite, horse therapy or counselling business and making a fortune. Delivering sub-standard, expensive services with little benefit to the client long term but your balance sheet looks great.”
The mother who shared her horror story of dealing with NDIS chose to remain anonymous because of the nature of the community that she lives in, a little north of the border in NSW. After our discussion, then reading the letter about her experience, it was easy to understand why. Her story resonates with similar tales being whispered right in our backyard here in Greater Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley. Of mismanagement, manipulation, coercion and bullying by a minority of providers and support coordinators who, where can and have done serious damage to the lives of people in their care.
You can read the whole of this letter in our Letters to the Editor section. Keep reading next week when we delve into the NDIS Commission visit to Shepparton last month.
If you would like to have your say about NDIS as a client, carer, provider or support coordinator, please call us at 5832 8900 before 3pm weekdays.
