DARU Update

23 April 2012

  • IN THENEWS
  • EVENTS & TRAINING
  • PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
  • SUBMISSIONS, CONSULTATIONS AND FORUMS
  • POSITIONS AND PREMISES VACANT

IN THE NEWS

Death with Dignity Backed

Farrah Tomazin. The Sunday Age, 22 April 2012

Victorians could soon have greater control over their deaths by being allowed to refuse life-saving treatment for future illnesses, under proposed laws strongly endorsed by the Health Minister.

The proposed laws being considered by the state government would enable people to set directives about healthcare and medical treatment for conditions they don't yet have.

Health Minister David Davis said these so-called ''instructional healthcare directives'' were about giving people the choice to reject treatment which could simply make their life ''unpleasant, uncomfortable and may, in some cases, be futile''. ''I strongly support the ability of people, with their families, to make clear their wishes ahead of time, in terms of medical treatment,''

The proposal is one of 440 recommendations by the commission to overhaul Victoria's guardianship laws. But the commission's report, which was tabled in State Parliament last week, has made clear that any legislative change should not allow healthcare directives to authorise euthanasia or assisted suicide. It also recommends giving doctors the right to refer their patient to another doctor if they are unable to comply with an instruction due to their personal views or beliefs.

Commission acting chairman David Jones said the proposal was designed to empower people to make decisions about their own lives, while they are still capable of doing so.

"Otherwise what happens is that … people lose the capacity to make the decision themselves," Mr Jones said. "This can result in family difficulties - for instance, where someone says: 'no, we want mum to get treatment so she can go on living' while other members of the family say 'no, she's got no quality of life, she wouldn't have wanted this'.''

The report follows an extensive inquiry commissioned in 2009 by the former Labor government.

Allowing people not yet cognitively impaired to set directives about future medical treatment could prove politically sensitive for the government. John Chesterman, policy manager for the Office of the Public Advocate, said having the capacity to make decisions over your own medical treatment was important. "We're mindful of the need to keep safeguards in place and to make sure all steps are taken to ensure the social wellbeing of the person.''

To read the full story, visit:

More information about the report can be found under Publications in this edition of the update

Commuter Rails at Disabled Boy

Wes Hocking, news.com, 18 April 2012

A boy, 3, and his mum were berated for sitting in a train's special-needs seats because he didn't appear to be disabled.

Brooke Stein was reduced to tears after an elderly woman began ranting at her and son Alex, whose disabilities include cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The woman even told other passengers on the city-bound service from Warrnambool last month that the pair were in the wrong spot and wouldn't move.

"I was just dumbfounded," Ms Stein said. "I physically couldn't look at her, I was so upset. I have never come across it before in my life and I did not expect I would."

A disability group and V/Line have pleaded for greater understanding, amid reports of special-needs passengers being given the cold shoulder simply for using areas they are entitled to use.

The Grovedale mother and her son boarded the train at Marshall station in Geelong. They were on the way to an appointment at the Royal Children's Hospital.

They are entitled to use special-access areas on public transport because Alex has seizures and can be difficult to control.

"You may not see it, but he can be a danger to himself and to other passengers," Ms Stein said. "Trains get so busy. There are a lot of people on them now, and you need that space to be able to sit with him," she said.

Scope chief executive officer Jennifer Fitzgerald, who has seen commuters with special needs given hostile looks, said disability wasn't always physical. "It can be sensory. It can be intellectual," she said.

Australia was a signatory to a United Nations convention on rights for people with a disability, and special-access areas were part of a state government commitment to provide accessible public transport, she said.

V/Line said it was disappointed in how Ms Stein and Alex had been treated. "All our passengers, without exception, have the right to be treated fairly and equally on our trains and at our stations," a spokesman said.

Designated access areas were on all trains, and passengers were encouraged to call a conductor if they needed help.

To read the story online, visit:

New Family-CenteredApproach to Managing Autism

Media Release, Mary Wooldridge MP, Minister for Mental Health, Women's Affairs and Community Services, 1 April 2012

Families and carers of young people living with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will be better able to respond to concerning behaviours thanks to anew $2.5 million, three-year behaviour support program from the Victorian Coalition Government.

Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge today announced that Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) had been awarded the contract for the newbehaviour support program, which would help an estimated 2,015 families and carers of young people living with an ASD in Victoria.

Aspect will implement an innovative model to support families and carers of children and young people with autism between the ages of six and 25.

“This new program will help families and carers of young people with ASD identify the different factors affecting a child or young person’s actionsand will equip them with the skills to best manage the resulting behaviour,” Ms Wooldridge said.It has a highly individualised focus, which includes helping families andcarers develop positive behaviour support plans with the assistance and expertise of Aspect.”

Ms Wooldridge announced the initiative in the lead-up to World Autism Awareness Day Monday 2 April and said it was important people with an ASD could participate in the community and had access to opportunities many other people took for granted.

“Events such as World Autism Awareness Day are vital in raising community awareness of the talents and abilities of people with autism and help create a more inclusive society,” Ms Wooldridge said.

The behaviour support program starts in April 2012 and will be reviewed after three years.For further information, visit: telephone (03) 9377 6600.

Community Sector Warns Against Budget Cuts to Frontline Services

VCOSS Media Release, 18 April 2012

A growing number of Victorians will face a bleak economic future if there are any cuts to frontline services in next month’s Budget, warn community organisations who work with some of the state’s most vulnerable people.

Dozens of representatives from frontline service providers will head to Parliament today (Wednesday 18 April) to personally deliver the warning to MPs from all sides of politics and call for secure funding for vital programs that help millions of Victorians.

‘In uncertain economic times it is vitally important that all sides of politics commit to funding services that help Victorians who are experiencing disadvantage,’ said Cath Smith, CEO of the Victoria Council of Social Service (VCOSS).

‘Many of the organisations we represent are already reporting a greater demand for their services. The impact of increasing unemployment and job uncertainty, along with associated rises in financial stress and means a rise in clients seeking support for housing services, financial counselling and emergency relief services.’

‘To compound these challenges, the slowed economic environment has also resulted in reduced corporate donations which are crucial to effective frontline service delivery,’ said Ms Smith.

Many community sector organisations are funded under a three year funding agreement with the State Government designed to ensure funding to agencies was indexed appropriately so that organisations could continue to provide a consistent level of services regardless of wage increases and inflationary growth.

These current funding agreements with community services are due to expire on 30 June, 2012 and to date there has been no indication from Government about the details of new funding agreements for the 2012/13 financial year.

VCOSS released a report, ‘Sustaining the Frontline’, which proposes a 5-point plan to improve the sustainability and consistency of services delivered by the sector.

‘There is a real capacity for the sector and the government to work together on a path forward that provides certainty, productivity and efficient use of taxpayer funds,’ said Ms Smith.

‘It’s not just about this year’s Budget, it’s about putting in place a sustainable funding model so that our agencies can get on with doing what they do best - delivering much needed services directly to Victorians experiencing disadvantage.’

‘The people that are most adversely affected by any lack of funding will be the most vulnerable in society. It’s not about us, it’s about the services we provide. Without sustainable funding who will provide these services in the future?’

Advocacy Day will see representatives of community service organisations put the question directly to more 50 of Victoria's 128 Members of State Parliament during individual meetings in one of the largest coordinated lobbying efforts of recent years.

To read the full article online, visit:

Converting PDFs to Webpages Results in Staggering Increase in Page Views

Jonathan Roper, Briarbird, 20 March 2012

A striking lack of PDF files differentiates the Victorian Government’s Department of Primary Industries web site from just about every other government and business site in Australia.

Since DPI Systems and Technical Manager Mark Bryant completed a PDF purge in July 2011 the DPI site has also registered an astonishing increase in page views – up 1.6 million per annum from 4.2 million to 5.8 million.

Mark says the reason for the increase in page views is simple – the conversion to HTML and removal of thousands of PDF files has unlocked a vast wealth of useful information, and made it easily searchable and accessible.

“As we converted more and more PDFs to HTML/web format, the stats just kept going up and up until we reached around 1.6 million extra page views per year – it was fantastic.”

Today, the DPI web site has 22,000 pages and just a couple PDF files which have made their way back onto the site – a stark change from 2009, when the site featured 6000 pages and 9000 PDF files.

Mark said although PDFs are a convenient tool for web content publishers, they present considerable accessibility challenges for users.

“I think it was part of the cultural change from print to online; PDFs allowed people to create documents as if they were going to be printed, and then save them as a PDF and put them up on the web, a complete re-think was needed.”

Mark said major disadvantages of PDFs include:

  • not showing up in search results
  • failing Australian Human Rights Commission requirements for being accessible to people with a disability, such as compatibility with screen readers
  • penalising people who have slow internet connections
  • often extremely large document sizes.

“Our users were telling us they wanted to do things in a different way, and when we converted a few PDFs to web pages we found the web pages outperformed PDF by as much as 160 to one.

“Initially we tried to create a web page to match each PDF, but in the end we introduced a blanket rule – no PDFs as it was far too difficult to manage both formats,” Mark said.

“There was some resistance, but the business case is pretty simple when you can show that a web page is being read around 160 times more often than a PDF.

“If you are spending money preparing content for the web, then that money is essentially being wasted if that content is locked up in a format people are unwilling to use.”

With PDF clearly identified as a barrier to site use and accessibility, Mark established a team of five people responsible for converting 9000 PDF files into web pages.

Starting in July 2010, the conversion team worked with content owners to ensure all relevant content for each PDF was captured – in some cases involving very large PDFs, this required creation of ‘micro sites’.

“No information was discarded, and with all content now in HTML search results work a treat, which means our audience is more likely to find the information they need,” Mark said.

“Now if you want to use a PDF on the DPI web site, you need a pretty good business case, you accept any responsibility, and you make sure its WCAG2 compliant (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), which means you have to have a web version anyway.”

To read this article online, visit:

EVENTS & TRAINING

DARU Workshop: Mentoring

When: / Wednesday 16 May, 10:00am – 4:30pm
Where: / VCOSS Board Room, Level 8, 128 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Register: / Go online to:
Cost: / Free for Disability Advocates, $50 for broader community sector

Mentoring isn't what it used to be. Today's mentors understand that they have as much to gain from building close working relationships and sharing their experience with others as they have to give.

Whether you are entering an informal arrangement or a formal training program, learn how to make mentoring more meaningful for everyone

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

  • Discuss mentoring and its multiple applications in today's workplace.
  • Use mentoring to play an important role in the development of other people.
  • Create, maintain, and transition a mentoring relationship.
  • Provide specific behaviours to adopt or stay away from to maximize the impact of a mentoring relationship.
  • Use mentoring to improve today’s workplace

This session is facilitated by PD Training Support.

For more information, contact DARU on 9639 5807 or email .

DARU Workshop: Master Your Mind

When: / Tuesday 22 May, 10:00am – 5:00pm
Where: / Multicultural Hub, Orange Room, 506 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Register: / Go online to:
Cost: / Free for Disability Advocates, $50 for broader community sector

Master Your Mind is a unique training program for building stress resilience and empowering you to perform at your peak. Blending psychological skills training with physiological stress management techniques, the program provides you with the knowledge, skills and resources you need to increase self awareness, build meaningful resilience to workplace stress and respond more effectively to challenge and change.

You’ll discover how to:

  • Build resilience to physical and psychological stress
  • Increase your vitality and stamina, and improve your sleep
  • Better manage challenging people and situations
  • Get more done in less time, and
  • Let go of your day and leave work at work.

Resources provided include the Master Your Mind workbook, a four-week skills enhancement program and eight mp3 audio files of the resilience techniques delivered during the workshop.

This session is facilitated by Will & Kylie Shacklock

For more information, contact DARU on 9639 5807 or email .

Being Person-Centred is Everybody’s Business

When: / 10 & 11 May 2012
Where: / Bell City Event Centre, Preston
Register: / Visit
Full seminar or session registration is available.

This is a two day seminar series for individuals, families and paid workers committed to positive change and real inclusion.This seminar series provides a rare opportunity to hear from renowned International presenters who have been at the centre of driving person centred approaches.

Speakers include John O'Brien, Connie Lyle-O'Brien, Jack Pearpoint and Lynda Kahn.

Together, they have developed a range of tools and methods to support person centred practice – and they have practiced, presented and improved these tools over time. The seminar series includes skills workshops, reflective workshops and an opportunity to meet with many others that are committed to full citizenship rights and inclusion of people with a disability in our society.

For session and program details, visit:

For more information, contact VALID on 9416 4003, email or Leonie Davey at field on 9982 0100, email

Information Evening: Disability, Relationships and Sexuality

When: / Monday 21 May 2012, 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Where: / Collingwood Library, 11 Stanton Street, Abbotsford
Register: / RSVP by calling 03 9445 7488 or by emailing

The evening will cover content including:

  • Physical, social and emotional changes
  • Survival strategies for parents and children
  • Behavioural concerns
  • Relationships and self esteem

There will be plenty of time for questions, comprehensive answers and discussion. A light supper will be provided.