Thread by @PWDAustralia

It's absolutely possible to create an environment where worker safety and the human rights of people with #disability are not placed at odds with each other.

#DisabilityRC

https://twitter.com/MegClementC/status/1201656222463561733

Dr Spivakovsky makes the point that people without disability can get frustrated and angry, or behave in a way other people don't like, without anybody using that as a reason to tie them down or sedate them.

#DisabilityRC

When "challenging behaviour" is a response to your environment, the answer is to change the environment, not punish the behaviour.

#DisabilityRC

Dr Spivakovsky says "I appreciate that we can't change the world overnight, but can we not change it faster than we are at the moment?"

Hear hear!

#DisabilityRC

A good note to finish up on for Dr Claire Spivakovsky.

We'll be resuming in 20 minutes with Professor Sally Robinson.

Livestream: disability.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.…

Mute the tag #DisabilityRC to avoid this thread!

Sally Robinson is up before the #DisabilityRoyalCommission now. Mr Harding is the Counsel Assisting who is asking her questions.

Livestream: disability.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.…

Mute the tag #DisabilityRC to avoid this thread!

Prof Sally Robinsons is @SalRob310 - her research is about people with disability being able to have the same kinds of flourishing lives as anyone else, and what gets in the way of this.

#DisabilityRC

@SalRob310 She is explaining the "multi-dimensional framework of abuse" - the role of different people and relationships, the role of systems and organisations like group homes, and the role of wider social and cultural concepts that interact with how people experience abuse.

#DisabilityRC

Talking about Jan Daisley now - one of our founding members and former president. Prof Robinson says Jan would be front and centre of #OurRoyalCommission if she was alive.

#DisabilityRC

Find out more about the Shut In campaign, which Jan was central to, on our website: pwd.org.au/our-work/proje…

#DisabilityRC

Robinson is now talking about safety strategies, and a model of how people with #disability understand safety. Four aspects to safety: 1) being physically safe, 2) being emotionally safe, 3) feeling capable and 4) having your access needs met.

#DisabilityRC

Being emotionally safe is about having respectful relationships with others, people you can trust. Feeling capable is about feeling listened to and like you have influence over what happens in your life.

#DisabilityRC

Having your access needs met as a matter of course is about feeling welcomed and not like an inconvenience.

#DisabilityRC

In Prof Robinson's research, people with and without abuse histories had different safety strategies.

#DisabilityRC

Prof. Sally talks about the service systems lack of recognition to the accumulating nature of abuse to people.

#DisabilityRC

The Chair asks for more information about the PhD work. Prof Robinson explains more about her work and the participants, who had faced emotional and psychological abuse across various settings.

Prof Robinson specifies the way she defined abuse and harm.
#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson goes on to describe a few instances of disregard and neglect of people with disabilities that she found during her research.

#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson talks about people wanting care that was cooperative, not controlling.

#DisabilityRC

In terms of difference between residents and citizens: 'residents' are expected to be compliant, and not know much about abuse or neglect they may be enduring or have the ability to complain. Sally says this lack of knowledge about types of abuse extends to staff.

#DisabilityRC

Commissioner Atkinson states that change in regards to abuse in group homes could come from inclusion and behaviour changes.

#DisabilityRC

Chair says that complex problems require complex, multifaceted and multidimensional solutions.

#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson talks about how the NDIS has not done well in training the workforce in the sector

#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson discusses what she hopes to see out of the commission. Says she would like to see specialist processes in place to capture the stories of people with complex needs and backgrounds.

#DisabilityRC

She also mentions improving the safety of people and children with disability, particularly when it comes to family and domestic violence.

#DisabilityRC

She mentions that there is very little said about the violence that people with disability experience from family and carers, and hopes the commission will address it.

#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson also discusses the power structures in services, and the difficulty that exists for people with disability who may want to file complaints.

#DisabilityRC

Prof Robinson finishes up by stating that this is a broader community issue. That we need to build awareness and skill in taking action when people see abuse and neglect in the community.

#DisabilityRC

Commissioner Atkinson asks for specific examples of taking action.

Prof Robinson tells a personal story, finishes off by saying "how hard is to treat people like people"

#DisabilityRC

Pro Robinson talks about benchmarking what is ok in ordinary life, and what should be acceptable treatment of people with disability.

#DisabilityRC

Dr Colleen Pearce, Public Advocate, is coming up next!

#DisabilityRC

Ms Eastman, Counsel Assisting, is asking about the role of the Public Advocate, which is part of Victoria's guardianship laws.

#DisabilityRC

Dr Pearce has a very broad role, and there are around 100 staff working with her.

#DisabilityRC

For more on the Public Advocate's role: publicadvocate.vic.gov.au/about-us/victo…

#DisabilityRC

We're particularly looking today at the function of "guardian of last resort." That's someone who Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) appoints to make decisions for some people with disability, like where they live.

#DisabilityRC

(Needless to say there ought to be more resources for people with disability, particularly intellectual disability, to be supported to make their own decisions, rather than having someone make decisions for them.)

#DisabilityRC

Guardians, Dr Pearce says, "where possible respect a person's wishes," but primarily act in their "best interests," (as determined by the guardian themselves, of course), and often have "very limited choices" about where they can let someone live.

#DisabilityRC

At this point, we are adjourning until 2:35 so we can all watch the #DisabilityAwards2019 - after which the #DisabilityRoyalCommission will be "returning to a human rights framework," which we left for some reason? Thanks for that one, Ms Eastman.

#DisabilityRC

We're back to the #DisabilityRoyalCommission with Dr Colleen Pearce, Victorian Public Advocate.

Watch here: disability.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.…

#DisabilityRC #OurRoyalCommission

Ms Eastman, Counsel Assisting, is questioning Dr Pearce about her stated human rights based approach.

#DisabilityRC

The values of the Public Advocate's office have moved from a focus on protecting people to a focus on upholding their rights. Dr Pearce and Ms Eastman are discussing how the #CRPD has affected the office.

#DisabilityRC

Now talking about the difference between looking at someone's "best interests" (as mentioned earlier) and trying to reflect their "will and preference."

#DisabilityRC

The upcoming Victorian Guardianship legislation changes (next year) will be the first in the country to actively incorporate #CRPD principles.

#DisabilityRC

Ms Eastman is asking if Victoria, having a charter of rights, has a different experience to other areas.

Dr Pearce says it's hard to say, the legislation itself is also slightly different.

#DisabilityRC

Dr Pearce says a rights-based focus is about how they approach the work they do.

#DisabilityRC

The discussion has referred to Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, which can be found here:
humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/human-rights/t…

#DisabilityRC

Dr Pearce doesn't think the Charter is reflected as well as it might be in various organisations in Victoria, particularly in the private sector.

#DisabilityRC

Eastman's questioning is now pivoting back to group homes and de-institutionalisation (yes, in case you're wondering, that word is going in our jargon buster)

#DisabilityRC

"How can we be sure the environment [people with disability] live in is safe and creates opportunity for flourishing?" - Dr Pearce

#DisabilityRC

Eastman asks which features of group homes need to be addressed in order to uphold people's rights.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce says "one-size-fits-all is the wrong paradigm." Making people live together, eat the same food, go to bed at the same time is not reflective of human dignity and choice, and contributes to violence in group homes.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce: Disability support workers try hard with limited resources, too casualised, low-paid, not enough training.

Chair: Why is it so casualised?

Pearce isn't really answering that question, but it may be a bit beyond her role.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce agrees with @PGIBILISCO 's testimony yesterday about people going into group homes losing control over their lives.

#DisabilityRC

@PGIBILISCO She says in some circumstances we should consider a group home to be a "place of detention" if a person can't leave on their own.

#DisabilityRC

Dr Pearce says during NDIS rollout there was a lot of pressure to get a lot of people plans very quickly, which is why a lot of people ended up with identical so-called "individualised" plans.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce: One of the missing pieces is, "What do Boards of disability support organisations actually know" about what goes on in their group homes? How are they held accountable for it?

#DisabilityRC

Bit of an understatement to say Yooralla has had "serious issues". Dr Pearce is now speaking approvingly of the changes they've made since then, co-design etc.

She says it can't work unless residents live in an environment where they can speak up.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce: Service providers need to stop seeing complaints as combat and start seeing them as useful feedback.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce: There is no engagement with people in these houses about who they might live with. Accommodation is so limited there is often no choice. But it's not appropriate to have e.g. a victim and perpetrator continuing to live in the same house.

#DisabilityRC

[This is really bringing home how important affordable accessible housing is to the disability community. You can't have choice and control if there aren't enough houses to go around - an artificial scarcity which the government could absolutely do something about.]
#DisabilityRC

Pearce: The new model says Community Visitors can't visit unless it's an SDA (which is #NDIS Specialist Disability Accommodation).

She said Community Visitors are sometimes all people have in terms of enforcing their rights.

#DisabilityRC

Community Visitors are volunteers who visit unannounced and write reports about what it's like in e.g. a group home.

More here: publicadvocate.vic.gov.au/our-services/c…

#DisabilityRC

Pearce: If nobody goes to a SIL (which is private group home not getting #NDIS SDA funding) except people who work there, there's no human rights monitoring, abuse can go unchecked.

#DisabilityRC

Sometimes disability support workers do call up the Public Advocate as whistleblowers, but they mostly depend on Community Visitors to observe human rights abuses.

#DisabilityRC

Pearce describes disability service providers as "recalcitrant," says they often get in the way of Community Visitors, refuse access to documents.

#DisabilityRC

(sorry, this tweet got left out of our thread)

https://twitter.com/PWDAustralia/status/1201716111063937025

Chair Sackville asks if there are resources for paid Community Visitors. Pearce says Victoria has a long volunteering tradition, but some states might find a paid model works better, e.g. due to large distances.

#DisabilityRC

She also says they don't even have enough funding for Community Visitors to do electronic reporting - they mail in their reports.

#DisabilityRC

The Public Advocate's office would like to have Community Visitors visit group homes more often - govt limits it to twice a year.

#DisabilityRC

Commissioner McEwin asks about the culture in group homes. Dr Pearce says there is widespread disempowerment. People feel that management has all the power and they have none.

#DisabilityRC

Another question about supported decision-making.

Read about that here: advokit.org.au/decision-makin…

#DisabilityRC

Dr Pearce says there needs to be a "presumption of capacity" for people with disability. Advocates can be vital to this.

#DisabilityRC

(However, if staff are routinely ignoring clearly stated decisions of people with disability who live in group homes, that doesn't bode well for integrating supported decision-making.)

#DisabilityRC

https://twitter.com/bluntshovels/status/1201720868306468864

The next witnesses are two Community Visitors, appearing as a panel.

That will be David Roche and Cindy Masterson.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says his approach as a Visitor is to think about how he'd feel if he lived in that group home. Masterson adds that they both have a perspective as members of their local communities.

#DisabilityRC

Masterson is describing the training process for Community Visitors, including mentorship from more senior Visitors.

#DisabilityRC

They get training in various methods of communication that people with disability use.

#DisabilityRC

Roche echoes Pearce's statement about service providers'reluctance to show them incident reports, and how there are often things described in staff logbooks that don't make it into an incident report at all.

#DisabilityRC

Masterson agrees, describing an incident in which a person with disability banged his head against a window hard enough to break it, and it wasn't recorded aside from a brief note in the daily log, because it was considered normal behaviour.

#DisabilityRC

She adds that now reports are increasingly computerised it's harder to get access to them - e.g. sometimes a staff member only has access to things they themselves submitted, can't show them any other reports.

#DisabilityRC

Commissioner McEwin asks how seriously management take these incident reports. Masterson says sometimes the report section on management response is completely blank.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says staff sometimes don't really understand what is a moderate and what is a serious incident.

#DisabilityRC

Eastman asks about when people who live in a group home tell CVs about an incident and there's no record of it. Both CVs say there have been incidents of that.

#DisabilityRC

Eastman asks if staff have been cooperative, open and transparent. Roche says yes, in some cases, when staff have been there a number of years and built up a relationship with him.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says she often goes into houses and all the staff are casual staff who may be there for the first time that day - they don't know what's been going on.

#DisabilityRC

Eastman asks about other issues with staff casualisation. Roche says casual staff don't know the people who live there as well. Masterson adds that casual staff also have less training, sometimes extremely minimal induction.

#DisabilityRC

Masterson adds that people must be more comfortable having their personal care assisted by people they are familiar with than a stranger.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says group home management is meant to respond to Community Visitor reports but they often don't, which says that there's low respect for CVs.

#DisabilityRC

Commissioner Atkinson compares staff casualisation to a school where the students have a new teacher every day, and asks why it's happening.

Roche says he assumes it's "limited resources" (i.e. cost-cutting) and blames the profit motive.

#DisabilityRC

Both witnesses are now talking about how many houses have routine maintenance put off for a long time, e.g. a noisy heater keeping people awake at night for two winters in a row or a light fitting broken for six months.

#DisabilityRC

Masterson points out that she wouldn't consider that acceptable in her own house.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says it's very difficult to get an issue escalated to a point where something might be done about it - the Office of the Public Advocate doesn't have the resources to build a lot of cases, and has no power itself to force anyone to do anything about issues.

#DisabilityRC

The people on the ground know what needs to be done, but there's a lot of red tape between them and decision-makers.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says out of 133 cases they've tried to escalate, 13 were investigated.

#DisabilityRC

Eastman asks what one or two things are key to improving quality of life and choices for people with disability living in group homes.

#DisabilityRC

Roche says the Community Visitor program needs to be protected. Masterson agrees that some kind of independent oversight is vital. She also wants an overhaul of the incident report system in group homes.

#DisabilityRC

McEwin asks about people they visit and their understanding of their own rights. Masterson says it's often limited.

#DisabilityRC

The hearing has now adjourned for the day. See you all tomorrow! #DisabilityRC