Powerd NewsWrap 16th July 2025

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Speaker 1 0:22

on the visionist. Australia and reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news

Sam Rickard 0:26

wrap G'day. I'm Sam Ricard. It's the 16th of July, 2025 we're presenting articles from the Powerd dot media website, and joining me, as per usual and looking resplendent in your own bedroom, is Emma Myers, hi guys. All right. So we've got a lot to work with this week, including an instance where we seem to have looked more clever than we were, which is rather amusing. But the first topic we're looking at today is a rather unfortunate instance of someone being kicked off the NDIS for apparently saying too much.

Emma Myers 1:00

Yes. And so what happens? Someone has posted about their own personal views of the NDIS on social media, and the NDIS has got some wind of it, and essentially booted the participant from this game for criticizing them.

Sam Rickard 1:24

That's amazing. That's a sort of a like a, oh, I don't know, maybe over in America nowadays, you might say, but that's just incredible. I mean, and well, the mistake you make when you do something like that with someone who is already well spoken is, there's good chance that people come into bat for them, aren't they?

Emma Myers 1:43

Definitely, more than a dozen representatives from disability advocacy organizations have, in turn, questioned the CEO of the NDIA over the removal of this person, and the acting CEO pretty much said, Yep, we've removed this person because of their views, but they haven't really elaborated on the overall situation. So we're left wondering where to go from here?

Sam Rickard 2:21

Yeah. I mean, I'd be worried about my own status. I've got to admit, if criticizing the NDIA is what can get you voted off it. So yes, I suppose, watch this space. But in the meantime, we go over to Andrew Edwards, our guest news reader for the week with the news.

Speaker 1 2:37

Thank you, Sam. Many in the disability community have expressed outrage following reports of the National Disability Insurance Agency removing a person with a disability from the National Disability Insurance Scheme in apparent retaliation for criticizing the scheme on social media earlier this week, representatives from 12 disability Representative organizations that's DRO contacted the acting CEO of the NDIA seeking urgent clarification over the allegations published in the Saturday paper in a statement released on their website, people with a disability Australia, that's PWD, a the national peak body for disability advocacy, confirmed NDIA Is actions. The statement goes on to claim that NDIS response asserted the legality and alignment of all actions with the NDIS act rather than provide quality answers. We have grave concerns that they confirmed an eligibility reassessment that had been in part triggered by the individual's social media content. Dros believe these actions have crossed a line and threatened the level of trust between the NDIA and the disability community advice, opinions about or criticisms of the NDIS or NDIA are entirely separate from an individual's eligibility for the scheme and vital needs for supports, both in the law and the intent of the scheme, according to the statement, disability representative organizations are demanding an immediate independent inquiry into the actions of this case and potentially others where the agency has acted to remove people with a disability From the NDIS without due process or fair treatment, hold an urgent round table between disability representative organizations, the NDIA, acting CEO and senior staff, and NDIS Minister McAllister, to discuss a way forward. The statement urges the Dros go on to argue that the inquiry should be conducted by the Commonwealth ombudsman, in consultation with the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, and be open to additional contributions from people with a disability, as well as disability advocacy organizations. Australians with disability who require the use of a feeding tube to sustain nourishment are being denied. Crucial access to both service providers and NDIS funding, according to the industry body that supports them, dieticians, Australia, the peak body for nutrition and dietetic professionals, is calling on the NDIA to provide clarity and assurance that people with a disability who require nutrition care will be guaranteed to receive it. It comes in the wake of participants they work with reporting a substantial series of setbacks on previously funded supports because of the recent changes to the NDIS. Lina bellick is a registered dietician who specializes in tube feeding. She says there's only 7000 Australians that live with a feeding tube. However, they do experience complications associated with tube maintenance. A hospital admission can set clients back five steps, but the majority of the issues they face can be prevented with adequate support, says Miss bellick, the dietician, currently supports 140 clients, including a 28 year old woman with cerebral palsy who lives at home with a permanent feeding tube. It's essentially her lifeline. Ms bellick explains all her nutrition costs were cut from $16,000 to $8,000 the dietician believes there are inconsistencies in how the NDIA decides which NDIS participants will receive support payments for specialized food formulas. I've got other clients who are getting full funding for their tube feeding supplies and formula that can rack up to about $20,000 to $30,000 a year, she explains. Ms bellick argues, the recent changes to the NDIS are affecting availability of service providers, which she claims impacts on their ability to advocate for their clients without access to the right dietitian that understands that area, you won't have the right nourishment or hydration to be able to function and live an independent, autonomous life, which is the basis of the NDIS dieticians Australia, CEO Marguerite raxworthy says the organization voiced their concerns to multiple government outlets regarding the NDIS cuts, which came into effect on the first of July. These changes came about without any consultation. Nobody from the government engaged with us on this. Margaret raxworthy says, she says health care professionals are ultimately concerned about how this will impact the level of choice and control for people with disability within the NDIS. This decision flies in the face of the NDIS very own principles of design. It is putting allied health professionals, including dieticians, many of whom who have supported participants for a number of years, in a moral and ethical dilemma. A CEO says the best thing the government can do now is to listen, with the intent, to understand the level of impact these changes will have on people. We do not want to see this continue. Members of the disability community are demanding a national protocol to ensure equal access to healthcare services for people with disabilities, according to physical disability Australia, a dedicated advocacy group for those with a physical disability, it comes after award winning artist and adaptive fashion designer Carol Taylor, who uses a wheelchair, was diagnosed with an aggressive stage two triple positive breast cancer three weeks after being denied a mammogram on the basis of her disability, I was recently denied access to a life saving mammogram on the basis that I couldn't complete a Standing transfer. I believe this was a direct result of assumption and ignorance. Says ms Taylor, mammograms can be performed from a wheelchair. The artist argues. I know this because I insisted on one, and it was done with little additional fanfare or adjustment required. Sadly, Ms Taylor's experience isn't uncommon. Yi Yang is a research fellow with the Melbourne Disability Institute. Her work focuses on reducing health inequalities faced by people with disability. When you look across the whole cancer journey, from cancer screening, participation stage at diagnosis to mortality from cancer, people with a disability do much worse, she says. Ms Yang believes there are many underlying issues causing people with disability to miss out on cancer screening programs, buildings where services are provided, medical equipment used to do screening, and information provided for screening may not always be accessible, she explains. Ms Taylor argues the problem lies with a framework of inconsistent policies, outdated assumptions and infrastructure that fails to accommodate diverse bodies. One state requires transfer into a manual wheelchair. Another excludes electric wheelchairs altogether. Some states published vague caveats, like. It may not be possible. The fashion designer argues that equipment and procedures themselves are not often the issue, but rather social bias, lack of knowledge and attitudes. Life Saving services such as mammograms should not be contingent on someone's ability to fit a guidelines, she says. Melbourne Disability Institute Research Fellow ye Yang says there are solutions to making sure people with disability have equitable cancer outcomes, designing prevention interventions with people with disability so that these interventions can actually work effectively. Ms young explains, we need to ensure people with disability have a voice, which means we need to support people with a disability better and involve them in the conversations about their own care. As for MS Taylor, she is scheduled to present a webinar about what is and what isn't working in the provision of healthcare for people living with disability, hosted by physical disability Australia. Now back to Emma and Sam, thank

Sam Rickard 11:01

you, Andrew, so last week, we kind of covered this already, but in the meantime, news seems to have kind of moved with us this time. Emma, you know more about this?

Emma Myers 11:11

Yes, so a well known lawyer and adaptive fashion designer went to get a mammogram, but she was denied on the basis of her disability, in that she's a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair, and so she actually argued that a mammogram can be done from a wheelchair. And anyway, it turned out, three weeks after the incident, she was actually diagnosed with an aggressive stage two breast cancer. And

Sam Rickard 11:48

what I didn't know is that, really, you don't need any special equipment. It's just a case of moving something from what above a bed into a wheelchair. Really, that's what I was gathering from the article. I've never had a mammogram myself, so, I mean, for obvious reasons, I don't know. Now you're getting personal

Emma Myers 12:04

anyway. So the machine actually can elevate itself or decrease its height in accordance to where a person's chest is. So whether they're a tall person a short person, the machine can go up and down. So really, there should be no real issue with putting the machine low enough to a sitting position,

Sam Rickard 12:37

if only the operators were as adaptable as the machines were in short, all right, the other story we covered was one that we've sort of held over from last week, and that was an issue with, well, certain services being excluded from the NDIS, or at least somewhat limited,

Emma Myers 12:54

yes, so people who use feeding tubes are being denied both service providers and NDIS funding, and so their funding is being reduced to the point that they can no longer afford the specialized formula needed to nourish them.

Sam Rickard 13:15

This is something that's actually required. I mean, this is something that they need to sort of for their continued

Emma Myers 13:20

health, pretty much. And what's happening is they're actually blending real food to make their own homemade formulas, but in doing so, they're actually damaging their feeding tubes, because their feeding tubes aren't equipped to deal with actual

Sam Rickard 13:41

food. Wow. Well, there's a somewhat bleak set of stories we have this week. Can you give us something more happy? Happy next

Emma Myers 13:48

week? More cancer than fire. Oh,

Sam Rickard 13:51

okay, Emma, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Thanks again for joining us. That's a wrap for this wrap, we'll be back next week with more bye from me, bye. The

Speaker 1 14:01

Powerd news wrap was brought to you by disability media Australia. This show was produced by Sam Ricard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio you.