Speaker 1 0:00
Welcome to a Vision Australia radio podcast. Love our podcasts. Why not listen to us live, tune in anywhere, anytime, ask your smart device to play Vision Australia radio or visit va radio.org
Speaker 2 0:21
on the Vision Australia and reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news rap.
Sam Rickard 0:26
It's the 15th of October, 2025 today. I'm Sam Rickard, and as usual, we are dealing with articles from the Powerd Media website. Joining me as usual, is Emma Myers, who wrote these articles. And if I may say so, these are some pretty fantastic articles this
Emma Myers 0:43
week. Thank you so much. Sam, the 15th of October, getting to the end of the year, it is. We're
Sam Rickard 0:50
sort of hurtling headlong into Christmas and all that sort of stuff. It may be three months away, but, my God, it's close anyway. So we are talking about travel. And that's probably appropriate with the Christmas holidays coming up, but the movement there, as you might say in the travel
Emma Myers 1:06
world, yeah. So finally, we had some good progress to look forward to Fran so I sat down with the Minister for Transport, Catherine King, to discuss what's happening with the new Western Sydney Airport, and specifically what access features are being implemented in its design. And I'm actually quite optimistic and excited about using the new airport in its facilities. It
Sam Rickard 1:41
will be interesting to see how it goes, because I don't know about you, but I've been through Sydney Airport a few times, and it feels like I'm sort of stepping back 20 or so, or more than 20 years, really. I mean, the last time it was sort of had anything done to it was during the Olympics, and it still feels like a really, really hot airport,
Emma Myers 2:00
aside from the last two years, I probably visit the International Airport once a year. So so. And as you said, Sam, it hasn't been updated in so long, and my first time flying overseas was 2008 Believe it or not, and so I haven't seen any, I guess, upgraded airports within my lifetime. So I'm really, really looking forward to experiencing it when it gets unveiled, whenever that may be.
Sam Rickard 2:39
What I find interesting as well is that even, I mean, it was mentioned in the in the space of the interview that, yes, some airlines are pushing a bit more to be more accessible. But I've actually been noticing it myself that they do seem to go that extra mile now. So, I mean, sometimes it was just that, oh, okay, you've got a disability. We'll have to do something about that. But it does seem to me that there is some training going on now,
Emma Myers 3:08
yeah, so the Transport Minister actually said that they're trialing a system where, if you have a disability, an attendant will meet you at the terminal gate and assist you from there all the way to the end of your journey through to the other side. Whether that's the same assistant, who knows, but um, it sounds promising. And around the time that I did this interview, to buy airline, and it's announced a huge upgrade in their accessibility, which hopefully, if this is still running, I'll be able to provide feedback on because they're the airline that I booked to go over things with next year. Without
Sam Rickard 4:04
further ado, we will move off to the news read very confidently by Cameron Stark.
Speaker 2 4:10
Thank you, Sam, many travelers with disability often face a broad range of systemic barriers when it comes to navigating the aviation industry, which is why the Australian government is currently in the process of CO designing 11 initiatives outlined in the aviation white paper, according to the Minister for Transport, the aviation white paper sets out long term policies and actions for the future of the Australian aviation industry, including improvements to The sector that protects the rights of people with disability according to Department of Infrastructure and Transport. One of these initiatives includes creating new aviation specific disability standards by modernizing the 2002 disability standards for public transport, as stated in the white paper Powerd media spoke within. For transport. Catherine King, who claims the aviation industry is already consulting with a disability community, incorporating co design methodologies and trialing solutions. This has already seen airports and airlines try to work out what they can do to lift their game, which is a good thing. She says, the minister referred to a trial where once a traveler with disability arrives at the airport terminal, there are coordinators who will take them through their entire journey. I myself have noted pre boarding for some airlines seems to be starting much earlier for passengers who might need further assistance. Australia isn't the only country upgrading the aviation standards for the disability community overnight. Dubai based airline company Emirates announced their own enhancements for travelers with disability, including a new accessible and inclusive travel hub for global customers. The hub is said to provide information for travelers with varying accessibility requirements and enabling them to plan their journey by specific need. According to the Emirates website, as for the new Western Sydney Airport, Minister King explains the design was built in compliance with existing standards, but also stretched as best as they can. It's not often you get to do an airport from scratch, and that's what we've done, she says they've designed it in an accessible way, but also in a way where it's a calming space. The environment of the airport itself is beautiful. It's got a lot of stone and wood light, a lot of passive seating, a lot of ways you can move about quickly. Minister King says any new standards will be implemented to maintain the highest quality of modern accessibility, disability has been very much part of the Western Sydney Airport authors brief to actually make sure we do improve things for people with disabilities, said Minister King, for many families in Australia, access to appropriate childcare for children with profound disability is virtually impossible, but a new pilot program launching this month is looking to close the gap. It is called the ripple ability respite program, an initiative run by the ripple ability pediatric service which helps carers and participants identify both informal and formal support networks as they navigate the NDIS the ripple ability respite program is proposed to provide tailored care for children with complex needs, while also offering some much needed support for their siblings and carers. CEO of care corner, Barbara Goodwin says her experience of caregiving began when her six and a half year old son, Winston, was diagnosed with severe disability. He was born with a brain malformation resulting in various neurological conditions. He's got seizures, respiratory difficulties, chronic lung disease. He is non mobile and non verbal, but I kind of like to focus on what he can do. He's got a very cheeky personality. Ms Goodwin said she found her son's transition into the education system to be more intense than any medical experience she had encountered in his short life. I found the transition to school harder because he had never been out of care outside of home, and I think he missed out on that at the start. For us, it was a decision where we said we wouldn't have gone anyway, just because we were still finding our feet and things were very uncertain. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 567,000 children under five live with severe or profound disability, while the Department of Education reports that the average Australian family uses around 28 hours of subsidized child care each week, yet no existing service is equipped to support their complex needs. Ripple ability argues that parents and caregivers occupying full time care giving roles receive little to no relief, often at the cost of their own well being and identity. Clinical Psychologist Michelle life explains that many parents can often withdraw from social networks, social or work activities to fulfill the role of full time caregiver. It ends up being a more financial burden, a higher divorce rate. They have poorer mental health in general, and suffer from carer burnout. According to ripple ability, families of children living with disability are primarily supported by the National Disability Insurance Scheme or the NDIS. However, these budgets are reserved for critical therapeutic interventions and equipment, not child care opportunities. According to a data report released by the Department of Education. Dr Olathe argues that although there are companies who are providing respite or providing care, there are limited places that are readily equipped for children with profound disabilities, the kids that we're particularly interested in supporting need a high amount of medical care, particularly in that zero to five. Age range, there are just no childcare places that are suitable. Founder and Director of ripple ability, Monique power agrees, claiming mainstream early childhood and education care centers are not designed to provide the unique support children living with profound disability need, while centers which provide some specialized care do exist. We often hear they are at capacity or unable to accommodate the care ratios, staffing qualifications and equipment specifications, said, Ms power. Ms power says, the launch of the new program marks a significant step towards bridging the gap between support for parents of children with profound disability following further trials and reviews, it is hoped that the program can act as a demonstrated successful model for centers across Australia to emulate and drive change within the pediatric disability sector. It is our hope that with the success of the pilot, we can demonstrate the tangible impact respite programs like this will have for these families and see the rollout of support like this nationwide Miss power states. The ripple ability respite program was launched in Perth on Saturday. If you would like to know more about the program, go to ripple ability.org/services this link will be in the podcast. Notes. Now back to Emma and Sam.
Sam Rickard 11:22
Thank you. Cameron. All right, so Monique has been getting around a little bit. She was speaking to my colleague Peter Greco last week, and so she spoke to you. This is, I think childcare is as important for the kids, probably, probably more important for the parents, as far as Yeah, I can tell,
Emma Myers 11:43
yeah. So this program is called repulability, and it's being titled as a alternative to regular child care for children with more profound needs, and caring for them comes with additional situations that they need to plan for. So this seems like a really good start.
Sam Rickard 12:10
There something that really rang out to me in the interview itself was the parents talking about how their child didn't go to childcare because they were still working out for themselves how everything worked as well. So, I mean, it's a thing with having a child with a profound disability, there is literally no instruction book to it.
Emma Myers 12:32
I mean, it's the same with an average child's upbringing, in that there's no real manual, or you're going to find yourself in situations that are unusual, to say the least. But when you have a child with additional needs, those situations are often compounded, and there is no one solution. So with this program, it's actually kind of trying to take you by the hand and say it's okay, we've got you, and we know what you're going through. So, you know, there's nothing like this for kids with profound disabilities. When I was growing up, and I think it would have been a game changer for parents.
Sam Rickard 13:24
Well, also it helps to prepare both the parents and the children themselves for when they do eventually go to school. Because that was the other thing that they were saying, was when they sent their son to school for the first time, it was actually really, really hard, because they literally never left their side. And I
Emma Myers 13:41
think regardless of the level of a person's disability, they do need their independence, even if they can't be fully independent, they do need a break from their parents and vice versa, exactly.
Sam Rickard 13:58
Yeah, so this does sound like it's someone thinking about something that I suspect that parents in this situation have had an issue with, but which the wider world hasn't really considered, which is again, a step in the right direction. All right, so you've done a few fantastic articles, and we'll be covering those in the next couple of weeks, including about mental health and the review into the education system. Is there anything else there's also coming up through the pipework at the moment?
Emma Myers 14:30
Well, I have an interview with wa it's green Senator Jordan. Still Jordan, and we had a really lovely chat.
Sam Rickard 14:37
He always sounds like he's pretty switched on, does Jordan? Yeah. In the meantime, it's goodbye for us. For now, that is a rep for this rep, bye. For now, bye.
Speaker 2 14:47
You can find these articles and more by going to Powerd, spelled P, O, W, E, R, D, dot media, along with the podcast of this show, the Powerd news rap was brought to you by disability media, Australia. Here. This show was produced by Sam Ricard in the Adelaide studios of vision, Australia radio Sam.
