Supporting CALD Communities
Specialist CALD Provider
We Are An Inclusive Provider
Blue Star Homecare and the NDIA recognises that people with disability from a CALD background can face additional challenges in terms of inclusion in their communities, and this extends to their ability to access the NDIS and support. People with disabilities need to be included in mainstream services and this is just as important as is access to disability specific services. The NDIS fosters opportunities for specialist providers to cater for the unique needs of people from CALD backgrounds, while improving access to mainstream and community-based activities.
Over time, the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy will drive increased participation in the NDIS by people from culturally diverse backgrounds through making information about the Scheme more accessible and increasing the capacity of providers to service CALD communities.
We consider barriers often faced by people with disability from CALD backgrounds when accessing supports and services. Our response to these barriers shape our design, implementation and evaluation of our services.
Understanding Barriers To Support
There can be many barriers for people with disabilities especially women from CALD backgrounds when trying to access support services, including:
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- Language
- Discrimination
- Stigma around mental health and disability
- Pre-migration history of torture and trauma
- Lack of family and community support
- Fear of authorities, as well as a lack of understanding of systems and laws that can provide support and protection
Effective cross-cultural communication can assist in breaking down some of these barriers and increasing access and safety for clients.
Respect for an individual’s culture, including acknowledgement of values and belief systems, while recognising the strengths people from CALD backgrounds demonstrate are also essential. Providing options through information and support while reducing stigma around mental health and disability are all important to increasing the safety and wellbeing of people from CALD backgrounds who are experiencing marginalisation.
Understanding CALD
Worldviews
Understanding the worldview of a person from a CALD background is crucial, because it informs the decisions they make for themselves and their family in relation to receiving support for disability or mental health and violence. Often people from CALD backgrounds are afraid to talk about their situation to family and friends or to contact a support service. This may be because of feelings of shame or discomfort around the topic of reporting abuse. There may also be fear of being cast out by friends, family or the community.
Commonly Asked Questions
NDIS plan is a document that is based on your goals and describes the disability-related services and support that will help them to achieve those goals. It describes the funded supports you will receive from the NDIS.
If you are eligible for the NDIS, you will receive funding on an annual basis to purchase the services, aids and equipment you need from the service provider/providers of your choice such as Aidacare.
You can choose to either self-manage your own funds, in which case you make claims to NDIS personally, or else ask the NDIA – the agency established to administer the NDIS – to manage your funding for you.
As individual circumstances, conditions or needs change, NDIS participants will be able to apply to have their funding plan adjusted accordingly.
All reasonable and necessary disability care, equipment and support services will be funded through the NDIS.
Generally, the supports and services that will be provided, if eligible, need to assist you to:
- work towards achieving your goals
- become as independent as possible
- develop skills for day-to-day living
- participate in the community
- work and earn money
In practice this means providing support, as and if required, in areas including:
- mobility
- communication
- self-care and self-management
- social interactions
- learning
- building skills and capacity for social and economic participation
Blue Star Homecare can support you to prepare for your NDIS planning meeting, to help you to make the most of the NDIS. We can also help you understand and implement your NDIS plan once you receive it.
Our Community Engagement team can answer your NDIS questions no matter what stage of your NDIS journey you are at.
When you receive your NDIS plan Blue Star Homecare can support your NDIS goals with our wide range of tailored, flexible and quality services. We are a specialist disability provider, and we know the NDIS.
Well, that’s entirely up to you. The most important thing is to find a provider that not only offers the services you are looking for but that feels like a good fit for you.
Some things you might like to consider or questions you could ask are:
- Do they offer the services you are looking for in your area?
- Do they take into consideration your preferences for support and how it is delivered e.g., what you like to do, how you prefer to be showered, how you prefer to be fed etc?
- Do you feel like you’re being respected as an individual?
- What are their values as an organisation?
- How do they measure quality? What will happen if I’m unhappy with anything?
- Can I pick a different support worker if I feel the ones that I have is not a good fit for me?
- Can I come in and see where the services are delivered (if relevant) e.g., employment, day services etc.
At the end of the day, it’s totally your choice!