Upcoming Project: From School To Work

In the second half of 2020, CRU – Community Resource Unit (QLD), Family Advocacy (NSW) and Imagine More (ACT) will start to work together on a new three year project to support young people with disability and their families to engage with employment.

This program aims to inspire, increase the confidence of and motivate students with a disability and their families to make a start on the road to employment.

We’ll be holding introductory webinars and in-depth workshops for each of the following groups:

Imagining Work for students in Years 7 and 8
Discovering Work for students in Years 9 and 10
Finding Work for students in Years 11 and 12.

We’ll share information about the dates and times of these webinars and workshops soon. The information contained in the majority of the webinars will be the same in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. However some of the content delivered will be specific to the state or territory it is presented in to ensure we cover local schemes and issues.

CRU will be with you on this journey to encourage and support so that your high schooler with disability and your family feel empowered, and you can take action towards employment!

If you would like to join the mailing list and be kept up to date with the details of this project, please add your details to the form below. If you are not a family member but a keen supporter of a person with disability and are interested in this topic, you are also most welcome to join our mailing list.

Update from CRU : Thursday 21st May 2020: Information and Resources

This information was shared via a CRU email on Thursday 21st May 2020.

If you would like to join the CRU Mailing List, please complete your details here

NEW RESOURCES

In January the Everyday Practice website was launched. This initiative is conducted by Amergin and QDN, and CRU is a member of the steering group. This week, Everyday Practice added content on: Complaints and Incident Management, Privacy, Consent and Record Keeping, What a Best Practice Provider Looks Like. Click on each link, or go to the Everyday Practice website by clicking on this text.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

A recording of the FFIE webinar ‘Communication with School – Building a Foundation for Partnerships ‘ on Monday 11^th May, is available on CRU’s YouTube Channel by clicking on this text. A copy of the slides used during the webinar are available by contacting CRU.

CRU FFIE consultants are available for individual consultations to assist people to take the ideas in the webinar or any aspect of Inclusive Education for their child further. Contact the CRU office to connect with a Consultant.

NDIS UPDATE

Last week, the NDIA updated their COVID-19 FAQs to say from May 9 it is allowing greater flexibility in Core for people who are Agency managed or plan managed, meaning you can use all four funding categories flexibly (Assistance with Daily Life, Assistance with Social & Community Participation, Transport and Consumables which includes low cost assistive technology) without needing a plan review.

For participants who do not receive a period transport payment, you are able to using funding flexibly across all Core support categories, including transport. If you receive a period transport payment, the NDIA says this will continue and this funding is not flexible. The NDIA says this change to flexibility is planned to roll out for self-managed participants in June.

The NDIA has released some new COVID-19 related Information Packs available on their website. Click on this text to link to the Information Packs. They bring together NDIA information around particular themes, including Early Childhood & Early Intervention, Fraud, Privacy & Cyber Security, Self-Management, Low Cost Assistive Technology and applying for the NDIS during the pandemic.

DISABILITY ROYAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER

Edition 3 of Connect, the newsletter from the Disability Royal Commission has now been released. Access the newsletter by clicking this text to link to the website.

In this edition, Healthcare experts shed light on issues facing refugees, the experiences of people with disability in employment, meeting Ismail, and information about legal advice for people who want to share their story with the Royal Commission.

AN EASY ENGLISH GUIDE TO THE COVIDSAFE APP

The Council for Intellectual Disability has created an easy English guide to the COVIDsafe app.

Click on this text to link to the information.

THE DISABILITY INFORMATION HELPLINE

The Australian Government established the Disability Information Helpline to provide people with disability accessible information, counselling and outreach services if they are concerned about, or affected by coronavirus (COVID-19). It can help families, carers and support workers, too. The Helpline number is 1800 643 787. You can click on this text or visit the website www.dss.gov.au/disabilityhelp to get more information about, and other ways to contact the Helpline.

Support from Families for Inclusive Education for families moving to Learning at Home

We hope that you have enjoyed a happy and safe Easter.

As you will now be aware, the government has announced that when school goes back next week, most students will be moving to Learning at Home for the first 5 weeks of Term 2 (to be further reviewed). This will be a big change for families and students and so we thought it would be helpful for us to be in touch with you about CRU’s plans and also to provide you with some important links to resources which can assist you. We know there is a lot of information out there – so we hope to not overwhelm you with too much information.

While we know that schools will also be communicating with you with more specifics and tailored resources – we also know that school responses are likely to vary considerably. While many families will be looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time at home with their family, this won’t be without its challenges and juggling, and could feel quite overwhelming – particularly given loss of other routines and supports, and general anxiety about the impact of COVID-19.

Individual consultations

We hope that as with any big transition that you are able to prioritise taking care of each other – including Mum and Dad! – and being led by the bigger long-term vision – even if it is harder to act on many of those dreams right now! Without taking away from the challenges, this provides a time to take stock and even to get to know your child as a learner and therefore to be clearer about their strengths, passions and what supports work for them.

While this is the hope, we know this isn’t straightforward and want to reassure you that CRU will continue to support families though our individual consultation service – phone/email or zoom consults are possible by emailing EducationProject@cru.org.au or by phoning 3844 2211 and a consultant will get back to you.

This will be valuable for families knowing where to start in their transition to home learning! Please remember that while the Families for Inclusive Education Project focuses on issues around inclusive education, CRU generally supports people with disability and their families, so if you have a question relating to other issues (e.g. NDIS or supports during this time), we may be able to assist you by linking you with another CRU team member.

Webinar

As already announced on our date claimer, we will be hosting a webinar at 10.30am on 11^th May on the topic of Communication with the School: Building a Foundation for Partnership. It will include suggestions both for “ordinary” times as well as during this current context. Given the new technical restrictions, we will be offering a recording and zoom session at a different time slot the following week – more details to follow.

Additional resources for families

We will also be:

Launching web resources for families
Offering group zoom conversations for families to learn about helpful resources, offer strategies, and support each other
Offering online learning versions of our workshops – in flexible formats
Sharing family stories and examples of inclusion in different formats
Continuing to support family to family peer support connections.

More information will follow, with specific dates and links for the zoom conversation and other online learning.

Department of Education Resources

We also want to draw your attention to the resources being made available by Queensland’s Department of Education:

Department of Education pages on learning at home – learning resources/links based on the Australian curriculum:
Learning at Home and Inclusive Education information – specific information for students with disability
Department of Education Resource on Accessing Support for Families (PDF) – family support information

Australian Coalition for Inclusive Education

CRU is a member of the Australian Coalition for Inclusive Education which has produced a very valuable resource for families leading home learning at this time. It has lots of interesting links for stimulating learning for all ages and interests. There is also great information on how students can be socially connected during these unusual times.

CRU is interested in hearing your feedback about what additional supports would assist you to navigate the current challenges, and the Department of Education is seeking feedback from us on how learning at home is progressing, even in this preparatory phase. Please contact us by phone or email if you would like to provide this input or need assistance.

Children and Young People with Disability (CYDA)

As well, Children and Young People with Disability (CYDA) is collecting national data and you may want to contribute through completing CYDA’s survey of young people with disability and families. This survey will remain open during the COVID-19 crisis.

We hope you are able to enjoy the slower paced school holidays – and look forward to supporting you over the coming months. Hang in there!

CRU COVID-19 Update

Dear Friends and Supporters of CRU,

In response to the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, and the resulting escalation of public health measures to slow the spread and impact of this virus, the CRU office will close on Friday 20^th March at 5pm.

The CRU team will continue to work remotely and we are available via our usual telephone, email, website and social media contacts. We might be a bit slower to respond but we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you had booked into a CRU event please note that we have cancelled or postponed all events between now and the end of May. All registration fees will be fully refunded.

That’s as much as we know at this stage – we will let you know more when things become clearer. I wanted to share with you a quote that I saw this morning.

“And the very last thing we need right now, is a mindset of mutual distancing.
We actually need to be thinking in the exact opposite way:
Every hand that we don’t shake must become a phone call that we place.
Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern.
Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another,
must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other, should the need arise.”
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

With warm wishes for your continued good health throughout this time,

Margaret