On Wednesday 16 October 2019, Jake Castledine, and his mother, Janice Castledine, received the news that they won their three-year-long battle with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

Jake, who is in his late twenties and has multiple disabilities including intellectual disability and autism, needs funded support 24/7. He didn’t have enough funding in his package before the NDIS, and despite promises from both the state government and the NDIA that he would finally get what he needed, his first NDIS plan left him worse off. VALID’s advocacy team assisted with organising a plan review, but again, the NDIS denied almost all the supports Jake required. So, Jake’s family asked for legal help from Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service and Legal Aid Victoria to have his case heard at the AAT.

Kathy Cologon, Macquarie University

More than 12% of students with disability are being refused school enrolment, and over 40% are being excluded from school events and activities.

These are some of the findings from a survey published today by the national organisation Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA). More than 500 young people with disability, and families of students with disability, shared their experiences with the education system over the past year.

The system of both mainstream and segregated schooling is often claimed to be a result of parent choice. But families in the survey said students were denied enrolment for reasons including schools advising they lack the necessary resources.

New figures reveal the human toll of a five-year NDIS funding fight, with hundreds of families pushed to relinquish their children into state care.

By Rick Morton.

For the past five years, the National Disability Insurance Agency has squabbled with state governments over who pays to support children with a profound disability. In that time, hundreds of families have been pushed to the brink. The care they were promised never came.

Why language matters.

Erin Bulluss, Ph.D., and Abby Witts

Language is a powerful tool; it can be used to describe the plain, the profound, and the profane. With language, we make choices not only about what we say, but how we say it. Surely we can all recall a time when we were hurt or buoyed by something said to or about us, not because of the statement itself but, rather, how it was framed.

Melissa Martin

In October 2018, the family of a severely disabled man became so concerned about bruises he was suffering while living in full-time care that they asked for them to be investigated.

Key points:

• The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is yet to return a finding regarding injuries suffered by a full-time care client in NSW
• Sam Donaldson's mother has been waiting a year to find out what happened to her non-verbal son and has requested a new care provider
• Disability advocates say they are "disturbed" by a "lack of accountability" in tracking the investigation, and that lengthy delays are common