OUR CURRENT POSITION
Communication Rights has been Australia’s leading information and advocacy service for people with high communication support needs for decades. However, like other funded advocacy organisations, we have lost funding due to changes in state government funding as a consequence of the NDIS. As a result, we are trying to re-build our organisation and the services we have effectively provided to hundreds of individuals and organisations over the years, which include:
Working with people with high communication support needs to connect with services in health, education, human services and employment, and to apply for funding to cover costs associated with their needs such as communication devices and therapy.
Working with individuals and organisations across health, education, human services, academia and employment to improve knowledge and practices associated with supporting people with high communication support needs.
Advocating for systemic change at a policy level to improve the lives of people with high communication support needs, and contribute to the creation of a more inclusive society.
Contributing to and conducting research aimed at improving the lives of people with high communication support needs.
OUR PLAN
Communication Rights sees current challenges as opportunities and the Board and staff are busy doing all they can to obtain further funding that will sustain the organisation’s work long into the future.
However, we are also looking deeply at what we do and are considering any opportunities to improve the services we provide. For example, we are currently reviewing our resources for Teachers to ensure they are contemporary and to determine if they can be adapted for use elsewhere in education and human service sectors.
We are also busy working on a submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, to ensure that people with high communication support needs are represented. We believe there are many systemic, attitudinal and socio economic factors which contribute to people with high communication support needs being marginalised in our society, and we want to ensure that these people and the barriers they face are represented.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
We welcome feedback from our supporters, people who have used our services and potential new friends and service users, about what we have done well in the past or what you would like to see Communication Rights do better in future.
We are especially curious about what people believe the gaps are in services for people with high communication support needs in the current environment and how they could be better addressed.
Any ideas or comments you have can be sent to policy@communicationrights.org.au.
