Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities

ADEC Newsletter

Summer 1999

A Bi-annual Publication of 
Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities (ADEC)
Patron: His Excellency Sir James Gobbo
13 Munro Street, 
Coburg 3058 Vic
Australia.
Telephone (03) 9383 5566
Fax (03) 9383 5185 
E-mail: info@adec.org.au

IN THIS EDITION:

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From the Desk of the Executive Director

I would like to welcome readers to this latest edition of ADEC news. Our activities for the last six months have been significant, with all staff and ADEC's Committee working hard to see the successful completion of a number of important and innovative projects. The following highlights need particular mention.

  1. The Disability Information Services Access and Equity Project was completed and launched during January. Each of the agencies participating in this project have completed specific Action Plans to facilitate non-English speaking peoples access to their services. The report on the outcomes of this project was launched by the Minister Dr. Denis Napthine during January at the Victorian Immigration Museum. ADEC would like to thank all participating agencies for the work and commitment they put into ensuring the success of this project.

  2. The Disability Information Services Multilingual Directory was also launched during January by the Minister. We will soon undertake to distribute 12,000 copies of the directory across Victoria. The ditrectory has been produced in twelve community languages. We will be seeking to produce it in further languages at a future date. Order forms for the directory are also included in this newsletter.

  3. The Social Support Coordinator Competency Identification project has also been completed. This project involved the identification and documentation of the competencies and skills expected of social support coordinators in undertaking their roles. The final report of this project has been provided to the Aged Community and Mental Health Division for further consideration.
  4. The Accessibility Project (funded by the National Office of the Information Economy) is underway and will see ADEC develop information technologies as a way of resourcing and providing multilingual information to the human service sector, to people with disabilities and their families. Simon Freidan, previously with the Australian Transcultural Mental Health Network, has now been employed by ADEC to work on this project.

  5. ADEC is busy developing resource materials to support consumer participation in disability standards and service quality assurance processes. This project will be completed in May and is part of a range of activities funded by the Disability Branch to facilitate consumer participation in quality assurance processes.

  6. ADEC is undertaking a project which will seek to identify the service needs of older non English speaking communities, and to establish better planning and dialogue between Aged Care and Disability Service providers around the needs of older people with disabilities. This project is a collaborative project being undertaken together with the Centre for Health Program Evaluation (Melbourne and Monash Universities).


We hope that you find this edition of our newsletter informative. If you have any queries about these or other projects being undertaken by ADEC, please feel free to contact me on 03 9383 5566.

Gabriel Maligeorges.

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ADEC AGM 1997/98

ADEC conducted its Annual General Meeting on November 19th, 1998. Approximately 150 members and supporters attended the meeting which was held at Brunswick Town Hall.

The Annual General Meeting allowed ADEC to present honourary life memberships to two long term supporters of the organisation, these include:

Mr. Nick Kongas, long term President of the Greek Association for People with a Disability. Mr Kongas was a member of ADEC's Committee for four years and has been honoured with life membership for his work in supporting the development of disability services for non English speaking communities, including the AGAPI respite house.

Mr. Kamal Ishak has been honoured with ADEC life membership for his work in supporting the Arabic community, and for his long term representation on ADEC's Committee of Management (10 years).

The AGM saw the election of a new Board for the 1998/99 period. The new Board of Management includes:

Ms. Maria Cesarello - President.
Mr. George Bisas - Chairperson.
Ms. Fran Draycott - Secretary.
Mr. Lucio Nacarella - Treasurer.
Mr. Edward Sciberras.
Mrs. Laila Elguindy.
Ms. Frances McKay.
Mr. Harvey Ritchie.
Mrs. Helen Patsikatheodorou.
Ms. Colleen Dixon
Ms. Joyce Apap
Ms. Maree Ivey

We would also like to welcome two new members to ADEC's Board. These are Ms. Colleen Dixon and Ms. Joyce Apap. Colleen is currently employed by the Guardianship and Administration List, and brings to ADEC many years of experience in Advocacy and Disability service provision. Colleen's position on the ADEC Board further enhances the linkages between ADEC and the Office of the Public Advocate.

Joyce is employed as a Community Development Worker with Clarendon Clinic. Joyce brings to ADEC a great deal of experience in Community Development particularly with ethnic communities, and experience and linkages to psychiatric services.

The election of Executive positions saw Maria Cesarello take on the role of President for the 1998/99 period. We would like to welcome Maria to this role and to thank Mr. Eddie Sciberras the outgoing President for undertaking the role of President over the last year.

Gabriel Maligeorges.

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Non English Speaking Consumer Participation in Quality Self Assessment for Victorian Disability Services.

The Victorian Disability Services Branch has funded the development of quality self assessment processes that will allow people with disabilities to participate in the cycles of quality assessment managed by funded disability services. The approaches to be utilised by these services are expected to achieve clear and open consumer feedback, and to keep the consumer perspective at the centre of quality service assessment.

The Branch has recently commissioned the development of a Quality Self Assessment Handbook. This handbook acknowledges that unique strategies need to be utilised in order to ensure that people with different levels of understanding are able to participate in quality assessment processes.

This is particularly true for non English speaking consumers of disability services. Current self assessment processes do not provide adequate strategies for engaging non English speaking people with disabilities in the processes of dialogue and participation.

The Quality Self Assessment System Handbook acknowledges that one way to maximise consumer input into service delivery is to assist consumers to understand key concepts and terminology before participating in quality assessments. Providing opportunities for non English speaking people with disabilities to be informed about the Victorian Disability Service Standards and how these relate to the services people receive will enhance opportunities for meaningful participation, as will participation by non English speaking family members and other key advocates in these quality processes.

In order to facilitate the development of relevant information, ADEC is undertaking a project that will produce a kit of relevant information about the Victorian Disability Service Standards. This kit of information will be translated into nine community languages and will be produced in English. The kit will incorporate contextual information about the Victorian Standards, it will incorporate practical vignettes outlining the relevance of the Standards to the development of quality services. The kit will also include contact details about ADEC and other relevant advocacy services where people of non English speaking background will be able to gather further information and support in order to participate in quality processes within services.

This project is part of a broader strategy organised by the Disability Branch to facilitate participation in quality assessment processes. Other agencies including VALID, the Association for Children with a Disability, Physical and Multiple Disability Rights Victoria and the Huntington's Disease Association on behalf of the NOGS group have also been funded to develop information sessions targeting people with disabilities. More information about this project can be obtained from Josie Prioletti on 9383 5566.

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Positive Wellbeing for Older People. Joint project between ADEC and the Centre for Health program Evaluation

ADEC has been concerned for some time at the lack of adequate planning processes at either Commonwealth, State or Regional levels that enable the aged care and disability services sectors to consider, plan for, and respond to the needs of older people who have or acquire a disabling condition.

These cross sectoral planning issues are only now beginning to be addressed. The current National Public Health Partnerships have set the scene for the development of formal planning, policy and program partnerships between the various health and family service sectors. In Victoria, the current Primary Health and Community Support System (PHACS) reform process is attempting to set the scene for inter sectoral policy and program responses.

With these systems developments in mind ADEC, together with the Centre for Health Program Evaluation (Melbourne and Monash Universities), have been successful in obtaining a project grant from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, and the Aged Community and Mental Health Division, Department of Human Services.

The aim of this project funding will be to facilitate the aged care and disability service sectors to develop collaborative/joint planning processes at metropolitan and a regional level that are responsive to the needs of rapidly aging non English speaking communities in need of aged or disability services.

The project will involve the development of profiles of aged people with disabilities in Victoria. This includes:

  1. the type and prevalence of disabilities amongst aged non-English speaking people now and over the next ten years.

  2. needs of aged non-English speaking people, now and projections for future needs.

  3. the range of access issues for aged non-English speaking people with disabilities.

The project will further involve a mapping of the current service delivery structures that exist for aged non-English speaking people with disabilities, documenting of current structures for planning, liaison, and interface between aged care and disability services, the conduct of regionally based planning forums for policy makers and service providers, and the development of model planning and evaluation frameworks to allow for the monitoring the extent to which services respond to the needs of non English speaking aged people with disabilities.

For more information about this project, please ring Gabriel Maligeorges.

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Launch of the Access and Equity Project and Multilingual directories

The Access and Equity Project was an extensive twelve month project initiated and implemented by ADEC. The project involved twenty three Disability Information Services who worked in conjunction with ADEC to identify service barriers and increase access to services for people from non English speaking backgrounds.

The project aims included the following:

Many barriers were identified during the course of the project, however, the four most common barriers outlined in the project report are as follows:

  1. Lack of promotion to ethnic communities

    Many of the services that exist in Australia do not necessarily exist in all cultures. Lack of relevant promotion e.g. ethnic media and radio, creates difficulties for people of non English speaking backgrounds in understanding the service system.

  2. Lack of information available in relevant community languages

    It is difficult for people from non English speaking backgrounds to make decisions regarding service options unless information is available in a language that they understand. This includes information in both written and audio form.

  3. Lack of networking with ethnic communities

    Networking with ethnic communities provides services with the necessary information to understand the needs and changing needs of people from non English speaking backgrounds.

    Without adequate networking with ethnic services, run the risk of developing inappropriate or irrelevant services.

  4. Lack of relevant cross cultural staff training

    Relevant and specific cross cultural training can provide staff with the skills and confidence to work appropriately with ethnic communities.

    Without relevant training, staff may lack the confidence to work with diverse cultural groups as well as being reluctant to engage interpreters.

The project report along with the twenty three participating agencies Access and Equity Action Plans were launched along with multilingual directories (information pertaining to the services provided by the twenty three agencies) in 12 community languages. The project report and directories were launched by the Minister of Youth and Community Services, The Hon Dr Denis Napthine, at the Immigration Museum on Thursday 28th January, 1999.

It was a well attended launch which included the following distinguished guests:

Mr Andrejs Zamurs - Director of Disability Services Program
Mr Des O'Shea - Director of Northern Region, Department of Human Services
Ms Silvana Scibilia - President of the Intellectual Disability Review Panel (IDRP)
Mr Carlo Furletti - Member for Templestowe Province
Ms. Angela Wallace Mitchell - Commissioner Victorian Multicultural Commission.
Ms. Vicki Mitsos- Commissioner Victorian Multicultural Commission.
The successful project outcomes were a result of the willingness and enthusiasm of each of the twenty three participating agencies to increase access for people from non English speaking backgrounds.

If you would like copies of the Access and Equity Project Report, please complete and send the resource request form attached to this newsletter.

Josie Prioletti

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Multilingual Directory of Disability Information Services

As a result of the Access and Equity Project 1998, ADEC identified that there was a need for a directory of disability information services in diverse community languages.

A directory was developed which lists 23 organisations that provide a range of services to people with disabilities and their carers.

The directory contains a brief summary of each organisation with general information about the services each agency provides and all contact details.

The services included in the directory are the following:

  1. ARBIAS - Alcohol Related Brain Injury Assessment, Accommodation & Support
  2. Association for Children with a Disability
  3. Association for the Blind
  4. Australian Huntington's Disease Association (Vic)
  5. Better Hearing Australia
  6. Blind Citizens Australia
  7. Brain Foundation Victoria
  8. Communication Aid Users Society
  9. Cystic Fibrosis Association
  10. Down Syndrome Association
  11. Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria
  12. Headway Victoria
  13. Motor Neurone Disease Association
  14. Multiple Sclerosis Association
  15. Muscular Dystrophy Association
  16. Paraplegic & Quadriplegic Association
  17. Parkinson's Victoria
  18. RVIB - Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind
  19. Spastic Society of Victoria
  20. Victorian Council of the Deaf
  21. Victorian Deaf Society
  22. VSDC - Services for Deaf Children
  23. Yooralla

The directory is available in the following 12 languages:

English
Arabic
Chinese
Croatian
Greek
Italian
Macedonian
Maltese
Polish
Spanish
Turkish
Vietnamese

The directories were launched at the Immigration Museum on Thursday 28 January, 1999 by the Minister for Youth and Community Services, the Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP. The directories will be distributed to ethnic communities and disability services over the coming months.

If you would like copies of the directories, please complete and send/fax the attached order form.

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Disability Information Directories And Access and Equity Report Order Form

Please return this form to ADEC 13 Munro Street, Coburg Vic 3058 or fax it through on
(03) 9383 5185.

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Training Calendar Update

ADEC's annual training calendar is due to commence in March 1999 with some exciting new courses. This year, ADEC has combined it training skills and expertise with other reputable training providers to add some variety to the already well established training calendar.

All courses continue to have disability and ethnicity as the primary focus.

New courses to be provided in consultation with other agencies include:

Duty of Care and Relevant Legislation
4 August
Training provided by Villamanta Legal Service.

Disability and Sexuality
7 July
Training provided by Family Planning Victoria.

Grief and Loss
28 April, 16 June
Training provided by Centre for Social Health.


Due to the many requests for training on specific cultures, ADEC in conjunction with Vicseg (Victorian Cooperation for Services to Ethnic Groups) will provide the following information sessions.

Focus on the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia)
Wed 18 August, 1999

Refugees from Somalia and their Communities
Wed 8 September, 1999

Understanding the Bosnian Community
Wed 13 October, 1999

New courses on the ADEC calendar for 1999 include:

The calendar continues to have the accredited Cross Cultural courses.

- Communication and Accessibility: 21/4/98, 23/6/98, 1/9/98
and
- Planning for Culturally Relevant Services (Implementation of the Cultural Planning Tool): 17/3/98, 19/5/98, 28/7/98, 6/10/98

Prices for training has remained the same for 1999 with discounts offered to both individual or agency members.

Please contact Josie Prioletti for course outlines and details regarding ADEC calendar and service specific training on (03) 9383 5566.

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Staff Profiles

Nicole Braniff

My name is Nicole Braniff and I am one of the new faces you'll see at ADEC. I am employed full time as an Advocate for people from a non English speaking background who either have a disability or are caring for a person with a disability. Some of you I have met since I started in late August of 1998 and I look forward to meeting and assisting more of you in the new year.

In the past, I have worked with people with disabilities for approximately 9 years and in numerous settings. These settings include community residential units, Special and Special Developmental schools and, most recently, employment. My new role at ADEC gives me the challenge of utilising skills and experience gained in past positions and bringing them to my new role of Advocate.

Leonie Davey
My name is Leonie Davey and I began work with ADEC in January this year. I have been employed on a six month contract as a Research and Administration worker. My role is to assist the Individual Advocacy team in its day to day work. Currently, however, I am working as an Advocate for one month whilst Rosy Kos is on leave.

My previous work experience has primarily been in the disability field and as a TAFE teacher (Community Studies). I have worked in employment, advocacy and community development.

I am currently working with a number of newly arrived migrants who have been victims of torture and trauma. It is an honour to be part of ensuring they are treated with respect and dignity by our complex, and sometimes unfriendly, bureaucracies and institutions.

Barry Petrovski
Hello, my name is Barry Petrovski and I have recently joined the ADEC team as a project worker in the Psychiatric Ethnic Access Program. My role as a project worker is to assist in the program's service development and community education initiatives, which aim to effectively promote and meet the access and service needs of NESB people.

At present, my working projects include the development of multilingual psycho-educational resources, a community education project targeting the elderly Russian community, devising a training needs survey of PDSS and contributing to the Cross Regional working groups report on interpreter utilisation by PDSS.

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Consumer End of Year Celebration.


The ADEC consumer end of year celebration was held on the 8th of December, 1998. It was a time to celebrate the activities of carers groups and ADEC over 1998.

The celebration was attended by over 110 ADEC consumers staff and committee of management members. The end of year celebration was enjoyed by all who attended.

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Telephone Survey of Interpreter Use in Psychiatric Disability Support Services

The Cross Regional Multicultural Education Working Group is comprised of workers in the clinical and disability support sectors of the mental health system. It meets regularly to work on issues in relation to informing non English speaking communities about the mental health system and improving access.

The most recent activity of this group has been a brief research into interpreter use in psychiatric disability support services. The rationale for undertaking this survey was to gain insight into the utilisation of interpreter services in the psychiatric disability support sector and whether services had experienced any difficulties in this. The study followed anecdotal evidence that access to interpreters was becoming more difficult.

Method
A telephone survey was undertaken with 41 PDSSs across the northern, southern, eastern and western metropolitan regions of Melbourne in October and November of 1998. Managers and Program Coordinators were chosen randomly and asked about their usage of interpreter services, their level of satisfaction with funding arrangements and the means available to obtain access to such services.

The sample comprised of seven services from the Eastern region, fourteen from the Northern region, eight from the Western region and 12 from the Southern region.

Table 1 - PDSS Respondents by Metropolitan Region
Region
PDSS Respondents
Percent
Eastern Metropolitan71
Northern Metropolitan1434
Western Metropolitan819.5
Southern Metropolitan1229.5
Total41100


The first question asked whether their service had any consumers from NESB. Five (12%) indicated that they had not and were not required to continue with the survey. Of the remaining 36, various levels of NESB consumer participation were recorded.

Services were asked whether they had access to interpreters if they needed them. Of the 36 agencies interviewed, 17 services (47%) indicated that they did, 18 (50%) stated that they did not and one respondent did not know. That half of the sample did not have ready access to interpreters is a matter of concern which would reflect on the level of interpreter usage and therefore of service utilisation by people from NESB.

Services which did not access interpreters

Services which did not access interpreters were then asked of their reasons or to indicate their alternative arrangements. The following responses were given:

Had the aid of bilingual staff7
Had no funds available for such services5
Able to communicate adequately4
Local Area Mental Health Service refuses to fund such services3
Family members or friends used as interpreters3
Have not accessed interpreters2
Did not know how to access interpreters1
Other1
The current system for funding interpreters in the mental health sector is through funds allocated to Area Mental Health Services. Psychiatric Disability Support Services should have access to these funds although three indicated that they were refused. Given that five of the nineteen services who responded to this question indicated that they did not have access to funds to pay for interpreter service usage, it appears that many services are either unaware of the current funding arrangement or are unable to gain access. This exposes a substantial barrier to interpreter service usage.

Seven services stated that they had bilingual staff to assist with NESB consumers and four services indicated that they had no problems communicating with their NESB consumers. Three agencies said that they used family members or friends to fulfil this role and one indicated that they did not know how to use interpreter services.

Services which accessed interpreters
Agencies which indicated that they did access interpreters were asked of their funding arrangements. Of the seventeen agencies which did access interpreter services, nine paid for the services from their general program budgets, six had used the VITS credit line, three had used the Area Mental Health Service funding and one agency had its own interpreting budget. A further five responses indicated that other unspecified means were used to pay for interpreters. It appears that there is considerable inconsistency in the ways in which funding for interpreters is obtained. This indicates some inequitability in the current arrangement.

Funding arrangements
Despite the variation in responses in relation to means of funding interpreters, 50% of services indicated their satisfaction with their current arrangements. Another 36% indicated that they were not satisfied, while 14% did not know.

The final survey question asked whether there were any changes the services would like to see in the funding arrangement. Twenty-two agencies (61%) said that they would, eleven (31%) were happy with the current arrangement and three (8%) did not know. Issues raised by respondents included the inequitable distribution of funds for interpreters with clinical services having greater access. The time delay experienced in using AMHS funded interpreters was mentioned as was the need for specific health interpreters. Some respondents indicated that staff training was needed in accessing and using interpreters and that there may be some unwillingness by workers to access interpreters. The need for additional resources and gaining access to bilingual workers were also mentioned.

It appears that the psychiatric disability support sector responds to the interpreting needs of their NESB consumers according to a variety of means. It would appear necessary to amend current funding and access arrangements in favour of a more equitable system for psychiatric disability support services. The Cross Regional Multicultural Working Education Group will take up the additional support and training issues highlighted in the survey. For a copy of the survey, please contact ADEC.

Malina Stankovski.

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The Babel Tree

ADEC has been awarded a two year project grant from the Commonwealth's National Office for the Information Economy to publish on the internet information and materials on disability in languages other than English. The materials will be classified in a database enabling documents to be retrieved by keyword or language. It is hoped that a CD of materials will also be produced. ADEC has named the project the Babel Tree.

Simon Freidin has been appointed to create the web site. Simon has had extensive experience in publishing such materials for the mental health sector in his work with the Australian Transcultural Mental Health Network, and advised the NSW Multicultural Health Service in the internet publishing of documents in community languages. The NSW Multicultural Health Service recently received a BRW award as an outstanding and innovative Australian information provider on the internet.

In the initial phase of the project, Simon will be writing to agency managers requesting copies of materials already available in community languages, and for permission to include them in the Babel Tree. If you know of any materials on disability, disability issues or access to services that have been translated into community languages, please contact Simon or Gabriel at ADEC.

Simon Freidin.



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