To the Commissioners,

My name is Luke, I’m 21 years old and I have a mild intellectual disability. I do some public speaking in disability awareness and I am working on building this into my own small business. 

In general, I feel that the supports I receive work pretty well for me. But as I also volunteer in disability advocacy, I know others are not in the same situation as me have some people have serious difficulties related to their supports. Everyone should have the right to get the supports and services they need to get on with life, without all the frustration and hassle. 

I terms of the supports I have, I access a day service and also get money for taxi vouchers.

The things I appreciate about my day service are the flexibility, (mostly I can choose what I want to do with my time there). The fact that I have good communication with the service staff (we have a good rapport and they are open to feedback and changing things if they are not working for me) and I feel like the support they provide me with (like helping me set up a website for my business) is meaningful and is actually helping me achieve what I want.

Although things are going pretty well now, I haven’t always felt like I could get the supports I’ve needed. When I was 16-17 I was going through a rough time – not knowing what I wanted to do or where I fitted in the world. When I tried to get a case manager, I was told that I was not ‘disabled enough’ and didn’t meet the criteria for case management. 

I hope under the new scheme people will be able to get the supports and not be shut out because they don’t meet certain criteria.

Carers are also an issue for me – I have been lucky to able to do some travel with my family, but I would like to do some more on my own. I would need carers for this but getting funding will most likely be a problem. Finding the right people who are capable of doing to journey with me might also be difficult. 

General comments:

In as many ways as possible, I think people with disabilities should have choice about their lives. If you have that power to choose, and do what you want – you are just like everyone else.

•	I think that people should be able to choose their supports from a range of options and how the supports are managed. 

•	I think it is important for people with disabilities to be able to choose who supports them. There has to be a lot of trust between you and anyone who supports you, so having that choice is important. Also, you should also be able to speak up if you are not happy with someone who is supporting you. 

•	Support for parents is important – I hope that parents and carers can be offered some more supports under the scheme.

•	It’s important the young people with disabilities and parents have information about things – supports, services, etc. This information should be accessible to them.

•	Early intervention is also important, but young children also need time to relax and just be kids. 

•	I think it would be good to be able to access psychology services as part of the scheme.

•	As much as they want to, a young person needs to be involved in any processes related to their disability supports. If something is about you, you should be involved in it.

•	People getting supports under the scheme should not be subject to means or assests testing. If a person with a disability gets into a really good job, then they should be able to keep the income they earn and not have it going straight back into the covering the cost of their supports.

Thank-you for your time in reading this submission and I hope this inquiry results in better supports, services and ultimately, life opportunities for people with disabilities.