Skip to content Skip to navigation
MENU
COTA Victoria Logo
Login
Get Involved
Home CLOSE
MENU
  • About
    About
    CLOSE MENU
    • Annual reports and financial statements
    • Staff
    • Board of Governance
    • Contact Us
    • Work with us
      • Current Job Opportunities
    • Our supporters
    • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
  • Policy
    Policy
    CLOSE MENU
    • Our policy priorities
    • Policy positions
    • Stories of Change
    • Policy Development Committee (PDC)
    • Aged Care
      • Telling your story
    • Assistive Technology for All
    • Ageism in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
    • Social Isolation
    • Submissions
    • Publications
    • End of life
    • COTA Green Sages
    Priorities for older Victorians: Submission for the Victorian State Budget 2023-24
    COTA Victoria's Strategic Plan 2023-2025
  • Information
    Information
    CLOSE MENU
    • Looking for information?
    • COVID-19 resources for older Victorians
    • COTA WISE services
    • How-to guides
    • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
    • Resources
  • News
    News
    CLOSE MENU
    • Latest News
    • Media
      • Media Releases
    • COTA Connects
      • COTA Connects Archive
      • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
    • ONE COTA magazine
  • Events
  • Our Programs
    Our Programs
    CLOSE MENU
    • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
    • Care Finders
    • Employment Support
      • Women Working Together
      • Locals Working Together
    • Living Longer Living Stronger
      • Find a Living Longer Living Stronger program in your area
      • Living Longer Living Stronger Online
      • Exercising at home
        • Random Acts of Exercise
      • Living Longer Living Stronger providers and instructors
    • Victorian Seniors Festival
    • COTA Cycling
  • About
  • Policy
  • Information
  • News
  • Events
  • Our Programs
  • Login
About
  • Annual reports and financial statements
  • Staff
  • Board of Governance
  • Contact Us
  • Work with us
  • Our supporters
  • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
Work with us
  • Current Job Opportunities
Policy
  • Our policy priorities
  • Policy positions
  • Stories of Change
  • Policy Development Committee (PDC)
  • Aged Care
  • Assistive Technology for All
  • Ageism in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
  • Social Isolation
  • Submissions
  • Publications
  • End of life
  • COTA Green Sages
Aged Care
  • Telling your story
Information
  • Looking for information?
  • COVID-19 resources for older Victorians
  • COTA WISE services
  • How-to guides
  • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
  • Resources
News
  • Latest News
  • Media
  • COTA Connects
  • ONE COTA magazine
Media
  • Media Releases
COTA Connects
  • COTA Connects Archive
  • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
Our Programs
  • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
  • Care Finders
  • Employment Support
  • Living Longer Living Stronger
  • Victorian Seniors Festival
  • COTA Cycling
Employment Support
  • Women Working Together
  • Locals Working Together
Living Longer Living Stronger
  • Find a Living Longer Living Stronger program in your area
  • Living Longer Living Stronger Online
  • Exercising at home
  • Living Longer Living Stronger providers and instructors
Exercising at home
  • Random Acts of Exercise

Banding together to campaign for assistive technology for all

14 April 202019/05/2021
Accessibility, Consumer Rights, Rights, Technology
Banding together to campaign for assistive technology for all preview image

February 2021

The issue

At least 50% of older Victorians have a disability that may impact on their mobility, communication or self-care. While many of these people will require or benefit from the use of assistive technology, it is not an easy thing for them to access.

Grab rails, ramps, chair lifts, hoists, prosthetic aids, wheelchairs and electric scooters are all examples of assistive technology. These solutions facilitate independence and participation in everyday activities, reduce the risk of accidents and falls and enable people to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible. Importantly they reduce people’s vulnerability to violence, abuse and neglect.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is able to fully fund the assistive technology that is required by participants. An individual must be under 65 at the time of making an access request for the scheme. This means that many older people with disability are not eligible. The funding landscape for those who are excluded from the NDIS is complex and confusing for people to navigate. High co-payments and long waiting lists also prevent older Victorians from accessing assistive technology when they need it most.

What we did

COTA Victoria was aware that there were many other organisations who were concerned about the level of unmet need that existed for people with disability outside the NDIS. The barriers to older people accessing assistive technology could not be resolved through state-based advocacy alone. A national approach was needed, and the sector needed to be united in what it was asking for, as this would provide us with the best chance of achieving change.

With these factors in mind, COTA Victoria formed the Assistive Technology for All Alliance and campaign in late 2019. ATFA is a national alliance of peak bodies and consumers advocates spanning the health, aging and disability sectors. It now has over fifteen members. Together, we are advocating for the establishment of a national assistive technology program to support people with disability who are excluded from the NDIS – the majority of whom are over 65.

The COVID-19 pandemic derailed many of the plans we had put in place to progress the Assistive Technology For All campaign in 2020, but we were still able to forge ahead with a number of important initiatives. In 2020, we:

  • Gained mainstream media coverage with a story on ABC television, radio and print
  • Created a campaign website
  • Presented at the 2020 Virtual Disability Conference
  • Completed submissions to the review of the Victorian State Disability Plan, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, the Review of the National Disability Strategy and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

Throughout 2019, one of the shortfalls of the campaign had been the fact that there was limited involvement from people with lived experience of the issues we were trying to address. We started to close this gap in 2020 by setting up a Facebook group and holding a consumer focus group to inform our submission to the review of the National Disability Strategy. We are mindful that we still have a lot of work to do to build grass roots involvement in the campaign.

The Impact

Alliance members continue to assist with a broad range of tasks including communications, submission-writing, drafting collateral and sourcing funding opportunities. This has significantly reduced the number of COTA Victoria staff hours required to support the campaign.

Coordinating this project has positioned COTA Victoria as a key voice on issues impacting upon the dignity and rights of marginalised older people. It has also increased our credibility in working with and understanding the needs of older people with disability. We have also established new and lasting relationships with several influential people across the ageing and disability sectors

assistive technology, Assistive technology for all

RELATED NEWS

A new link between trusted health services and aged care services preview image

A new link between trusted health services and aged care services

20 March 2023
Read more
Read more
Information and education to plan for your future preview image

Information and education to plan for your future

17 March 2023
Read more
Read more
COTA Victoria responds to sharp rise in power bills preview image

COTA Victoria responds to sharp rise in power bills

16 March 2023
Read more
Read more
SHARE THIS CONTENT:
COTA Victoria Logo
  • About
  • Policy
  • Information
  • News
  • Events
  • Our Programs
Seniors Rights Victoria Registered Charity
Follow on
Facebook
COTA FEDERATION
  • ACT
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
COTA Western Australia COTA Northern Territory COTA Queensland COTA New South Wales COTA ACT COTA Victoria COTA South Australia COTA Tasmania
Follow on
Twitter
GET INVOLVED
  • Seniors Rights Victoria
  • COTA Connects newsletter
  • Get Involved
  • COTA Insurance
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Follow on Instagram
  • Contact Us
Seniors Rights Victoria
TERMS PRIVACY CONTACT SITEMAP
© 2023 COTA Victoria ABN 81 960 500 420 WEB DESIGN CODE AND VISUAL
Back to top
All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to registrations, including Email. Any information collected by COTA Victoria is collected via correspondence from you or your organisation. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT