Productivity Commission
SUBMISSION 

dear Sir/madam

I would very much like to make the following points to the 
Disability care and support inquiry

I have read the preliminary report and I’m still very concerned that the matter of services available to the AMPUTEE section of the Australian community is still not being addressed as it should be.
     My name is Donna Thacker I'am 39 & have been a Quadruple Amputee since 2007. Before this happened about 20 years ago I worked at Harris Park at a place called The Appliance And Limb Centre even back then I remember thinking to myself there has to be better material that they could use & the technology could be alot better than it was. The way I saw it this was Australia not some third world country. Then in 2007 when I became a Quadruple Amputee I was quite frustrated when I realised that I was being fitted for Prosthetic Limbs & they were being made  with exactly the same material as the one's that were made at The Appliance And Limb Centre. I have also seen young children on tv who have lost legs due to bombs, their legs were just like the one's we wear. I'am not saying they shouldn't have the best prosthetic limbs they can get, everybody deserve's to be able to have excess to the best material & technology it's 2011 not the 1800 but you would be forgiven if you thought it was the 1800 it is like the world of Prosthetic Limbs has been living in a bubble the past couple of decades.  I think the time has come to pop that bubble & show the Goverment that the material combind with the technology can be used to produce Prosthetic Limbs that may cost a little bit more than the No Frills one's they have been making, but think of  the benefits if the Goverment was willing to put enough funds towards using material like the material that is to make the arms & legs for our Olimpic team. If the Goverment would allow that same tip of material be available to the genreal public it would mean that alot off people who have lost a limb for one reason or another could go back to work & other people like myself can get a job, I'am currently doing a Diploma Of Counselling via the internet, I don't have Prosthetic Arms because I can't afford them so I use my stumps it takes alot longer but I don't mind because in the end I will be able to get a job in Counselling, this letter for example has taken me three and a  half hours but that doesn't matter because this is an issue that is very close to my heart. Even the elderly would gain by using the same material you think about it the better the Prosthetic Limb the fall rate would lower which would also mean less hip replacements & other such operations. I don't see why only the people who are in a Medical Fund or the Wealthy recieve the best that technology has to offer. The initial funds that the Goverment puts towards material & technology will be returned back into the hands of the Goverment in so many ways (1) With the tax's made by people who have  been able to go back to work & it also means more money going back into the genreal public. (2) With such good material being used & technology as good as it is there will be less repairs having to be made & there will be less people having to get there legs replaced (3) It means less elderly people having falls which mean less hip replacments & other such operations.
Does anyone remember the saying, you need to spend money to make money well that has never been more true than in these circumsatances. I hope with everyone banding together sooner ruther than later the Goverment will do something.