COTA Victoria is continuing to advocate for equitable access to assistive technology for older people with disability who are not eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We’re appalled that many older people are still being forced to wait more than a year to access funding, to part or fully fund it themselves – or to simply go without.
In January, we launched our Joint Statement on Equal Access to Assistive Technology, which has been endorsed by more than 60 organisations spanning the health, ageing and disability sectors. We’ve already used the statement to start having conversations with decisionmakers in the Department of Health and the Department of Social Services. The statement will continue to play a critical role in our campaign work as we move towards the next federal election.
How you can help
For our campaign to be successful, we’ll also need to show what’s wrong with the current system and just how many people are missing out on the assistive technology they need. We have partnered with researchers from the University of Melbourne to develop a survey that will help us capture this data. We need as many responses to the survey as possible. If you need or use assistive technology but are not eligible for the NDIS, please complete the survey and encourage others to do the same. The survey should only take around 10-15 minutes to complete and will remain open until 28 February. Thanks for your support!
Find out more
To learn more, visit:
And if you have any questions about our Assistive Technology for All campaign, get in touch with our Campaign Coordinator, Lauren Henley, by phone on (03) 9655 2140 or by email at lhenley@cotavic.org.au.