In the role of advocating on behalf of the brain injury community, Brain Injury SA (BISA) continues to identify areas of importance to people living with brain injury and their families. We have been actively developing a culture of consultation with our stakeholders on identifying what these are and then reviewing the role BISA may have in pursuing change where needed.
This year, we undertook a second survey with our participants and their families, seeking to know what service needs are a priority and where we should consider service development. We hope we can make this an annual practice to ensure we are keeping up with what is important to those we serve and thank all those who participated for their time.
2020–21 saw the introduction of the proposals from the Federal Government to introduce ‘Independent Assessments’ for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants. We identified a number of very significant concerns, along with most of the disability sector, about these changes and what they would mean for existing participants and people seeking to access the scheme. Included in these concerns was the paucity of consultation with the Disability Sector and services users, which was undertaken with very tight controls and time limitations for what would constitute immense change in the way services were accessed by people with disabilities.
With the support of the Advocacy and Appeals team, we produced our own submission to the consultation process as well as assisting in the production of a submission from the Coalition of Disability Advocacy Organisations to the Joint Standing Committee overseeing the NDIS. This was followed up with some locally based lobbying activity with our State Minister for Human Services, prior to directional decisions being made. Our activity was part of much National campaigning on this issue, such were the levels of concern. We were pleased to see that the government has withdrawn this proposal and await further opportunity to provide feedback on proposed future NDIS reforms.
We are always very pleased to hear from members of the brain injury community on any issues of concern that deserve some particular attention from the perspective of living with brain injury. This helps feed our systemic advocacy and keep abreast of the issues people experience. We will continue to work to ensure that government consultation is not tokenistic by seizing opportunities to respond to consultation processes with energy and vigour. We will continue in our systemic advocacy to work to influence and achieve changes needed for the people we support whilst proactively challenging barriers, inequities and other areas of difficulty experienced by those living with brain injury and their families.
Participant Story: Slavoljub Blazevic
Slav has been a participant here at Brain Injury SA for 16 months since his initial brain injury in 2019 which occurred in the recovery period following a total left sided hip replacement.
He currently attends three sessions a week here at our Light Square City clinic in the heart of Adelaide and over the last year the main focus of Slav’s therapy sessions has been on improving the strength of his left leg by undertaking a wide variety of exercises as well as going for long walks on his local beach.
Slav’s focus has shifted to the rehabilitation of his left arm. He has been trialling the GRASP programme, a series of functional exercises to target the use of a persons affected arm after stroke. Exercises can consist of cutlery practice, pouring water into a glass and hanging out and pegging up laundry. Slav practises his exercises for 60 mins up to 3 times a week.
By his side in every session, a constant source of support is Slav’s wife Rosie. Rosie attends all of Slav’s therapy sessions and takes a very active role in understanding all exercises and assisting Slav with his rehab at home. The support of spouses, partners and family like Rosie is invaluable to our participants in their motivation, engagement, and adherence to their exercise sessions.
Our Allied Health Assistant team (Kyle, Tansy and Vicky) lead each of Slav’s weekly sessions. They work with a variety of our Brain Injury SA participants, often on a weekly basis and keep a watchful eye on each participant’s progress and can inform the Allied Health Professionals of how each participant is managing.
When asked, Slav states that Kyle, Tansy and Vicky:
“Are all very good, friendly and professional and try to get the very best out of me in every session”.