CareAbility Support Services

03/05/2025

🌍 Understanding Neurodiversity: A Spectrum of Thinking Styles 🧠✨

Neurodiversity is the idea that brains work in diverse ways—there’s no single "normal" way to think, learn, or experience the world. Instead of viewing neurological differences as deficits, neurodiversity celebrates them as natural variations in human cognition. 💡

There are two broad categories within neurodiversity:
✅ Neurotypical – Individuals whose cognitive functions align with societal expectations and typical brain development.
🌟 Neurodivergent – Those whose neurological traits differ from the norm, encompassing conditions like Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette’s Syndrome, OCD, and more.

Neurodivergent individuals experience the world uniquely, often possessing incredible creativity, problem-solving skills, and innovative thinking. Recognising neurodiversity helps us foster inclusivity, understanding, and appreciation for the many ways people learn, communicate, and engage with life. 💖

Let’s embrace neurodiversity and create a world where different minds are valued! 🌈💡

03/05/2025

What is Multiply Neurodivergent?

Multiply neurodivergent refers to an individual who has more than one neurodivergent trait or condition. This means their cognitive functioning diverges from societal norms in multiple ways, rather than fitting into a single neurodivergent category.

For example, someone who is autistic and has ADHD would be considered multiply neurodivergent, as both conditions influence their cognitive processing, sensory experiences, and social interactions in distinct ways. Other combinations might include dyslexia and dyspraxia, or Tourette’s syndrome and OCD.

The term acknowledges the complexity and intersectionality of neurodivergence, recognising that different neurocognitive traits can interact in unique ways, shaping an individual’s experiences, strengths, and challenges.

Victorian Public Sector Commission. (2024, November 28). About neurodiversity. VPSC. https://vpsc.vic.gov.au/workforce-capability-leadership-and-management/neurodiversity-employment-toolkit/about-neurodiversity

18/03/2025

What is ableism?
Definition by vic.gov.au Ableism is discrimination or prejudice towards people with disability. It can be described as the systemic and interpersonal exclusion and oppression of people with disability

Addressing ableism requires a collective effort to build a more inclusive and equitable society.
What arecsome steps we can take?:

Educate and Raise Awareness: Encourage open conversations about ableism and its impact. Highlight the achievements and experiences of people with disabilities to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions.

Challenge Biases: Reflect on your own attitudes and behaviours. Call out ableist language, jokes, or assumptions, and encourage others to do the same.

Promote Accessibility: Advocate for and support policies that ensure accessibility in public spaces, workplaces, education, and technology. Accessibility should be a priority, not an afterthought.

Listen to Disabled Voices: Center the voices of people with disabilities in discussions and decisions that affect their lives. Support disability-led organisations and initiatives.

Model Inclusion: Normalise the representation of people with disabilities in media, advertising, and leadership roles. Representation matters and helps shift societal perceptions.

Update Laws and Policies: Push for strong anti-discrimination laws and enforce existing ones. Advocate for funding for disability services and programs.

Teach Empathy Early: Integrate disability awareness and empathy-building activities into school curriculums. Kids who grow up understanding inclusion are more likely to practice it as adults.

Rethink Productivity Standards: Shift societal values away from equating worth with productivity. A more inclusive society recognises diverse ways of contributing.

By addressing both structural and cultural ableism, society can create environments where everyone, regardless of ability, feels valued and included.

03/01/2025

🌟 Equality vs. Equity: Supporting Disability Inclusion in Australia 🌟

Did you know that 21.4% of Australians live with a disability (2022)? Yet, disparities in employment and education remain a challenge.

🔹 Equality means treating everyone the same, but this doesn’t always level the playing field.
🔹 Equity means providing tailored support so everyone can succeed.

Here’s the difference:
👉 In an equal world, everyone gets the same support, even if it doesn't meet their unique needs.
👉 In an equitable world, we provide personalized support to empower individuals, ensuring true inclusion.

At CareAbility Support Services, we’re passionate about creating equitable opportunities for people with disabilities—because everyone deserves the chance to thrive.

📊 Quick Stats:
✔ Employment rate: 48% for people with disability vs. 80% without disability
✔ Higher education: 17% of people with disability complete a bachelor's degree vs. 35% without

💡 Let’s work together to make Australia a place where inclusion and equity lead the way.

29/11/2024

I am not normally one that will share, let alone routinely ask for people to also share, however this one truly means a lot.

I've been absolutely blessed to watch this beautiful boy accomplish many goals, reach many Milestones and witness him fill each person's heart with so much love.

Cassian, a 4.5 year old boy who has the most infectious chuckle, his smile lights up the room and everyone, and I mean everyone who meets him instantly have their hearts melted by him.

As Cassian is getting bigger, it is getting extremely difficult for the family to get him in and out of his car seat (in 5 point harness) due to his low muscle tone, spasticity and dystonia. This mission of getting Cassian in the car is coming at great costs to his parents physical health.

In order to keep Cassian mobile is to have a car converted to wheelchair accessible. Like a lot of NDIS rules and regulations, for a car to be modified it needs to be under 10 years old, unfortunately their family car does not meet this criteria they are needing to get a newer car which given the circumstances of Cassians health has been extremely difficult.

All I ask if possible is for you to please share this post and if you are in the position to help with a donation even as small as $1-2 it all adds up and helps Cassian and their family reach this goal.

If my profile is not allowing you to share the post, if you copy and paste it will also work.

Thank you again so very much. It truly means alot to the family.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/keeping-cassian-on-the-road

Strong4Cassian ❤️

The Journey of Cassian: A Call for Community Support In the heart of a lovi… Belinda Wilde needs your support for Help Cassian and his Family stay mobile

12/11/2024

Plan Management changes

DEVELOPING LINKS
Taken over by NIB Thrive. NIB Thrive to date currently have nearly 40,000 participants and aiming to have 50,000 for end of 2025. This i personally feel will remove person centred support to just being a number

FIRST CHOICE PLAN MANAGEMENT
Updating participant software app from Entriprius to Kismet Navigator. Please be aware, that on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd November there will be no invoice processing whilst First Choice transition data and information over to the Kismet platform.

05/11/2024

Do you suffer from migraines?

Cercare Clinical Research Alliance is undertaking clinical trial for migraine suffers
Reach out to Cercare or Pain Med SA - Dr Matthew Green

13/10/2024

Australia’s unpaid carers are in crisis, and it’s time to do something about it.

When a family member or close friend falls ill, who steps in to help?

Primary carers. But there's a massive problem: seven in 10* of these primary carers are women, and they're not paid superannuation.

Over time, this deficit adds up. Big time. Enough to make or break you in later life. Putting others first shouldn’t put you out of home. Providing for others shouldn’t take the food from your retirement table. A family member's illness shouldn’t cost you your future.

We don’t make the rules, but we sure as hell can change them.

We need guaranteed super for carers.

A primary carer will lose on average...

$175,000 in superannuation at age 67^
$392,500 in lifetime earnings to age 67^
Young carers on average will suffer more...

60% have not studied beyond high-school^
43 years of income support required over their lifetime^
Every day, carers around Australia put all or part of their lives and ambitions aside to care for others. People who provide informal care are not paid for their work, although some receive income support payments from the Government.

Becoming a carer increases their financial vulnerability as they sacrifice income, future income potential and superannuation, to look after someone they love.

Is that a fair price on love?

That's why we have launched the Cost of Caring Change AREgenda to address the economic imbalance for carers.

With your support, we will be asking the Government to pay superannuation to all recognised unpaid carers** in Australia. We believe that this small change will have significant benefits both for carers and the continued support of those who need care.

Investing in adequate financial assistance for carers to sustainably continue their caring roles and have security at retirement age makes economic sense. Recognising the financial impact of caring will help us all in the long term, ensuring we continue to have Australians willing and able to meet the demand for carers in the future.

Let’s guarantee super for Australia's primary carers.

Take Action Now: Sign Our Petition

Help us guarantee super for Australia's unpaid carers: Cost of Caring

20/09/2024

Do you or someone you know struggle with treatment for headlice?
Do you struggle with coordination to comb hair?
Are you vision impaired and unable to see the lice and or eggs?
Are you battling to get on top of an outbreak?

If you answered yes to any of the above check out Healthy Heads for amazing service

Healthy Heads is a small business in Daw Park, SA that specialise in lice treatment. Offering appointments to both treat and comb hair to ensure all lice and eggs are removed.

The services are inclusive and offer the services to people of all ages.

Healthy Heads provide an effective lice treatment & removal service for children and adults. COMPREHENSIVE HEAD LICE REMOVAL & PREVENTION PRODUCTS. BOOK TODAY

10/09/2024

My niece is currently looking for Speech Pathologists that could possibly take a minute of your time to fill in this brief survey for her year 11 assignment.

Thank you so much she greatly appreciates it

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JQGQLY7

22/08/2024

🗣️ SAM TRANSLATES: The New NDIS Act passed yesterday
🔔📢Here's what you need to know will change in about 5 weeks when it becomes law.📢🔔
1. Exclusion of Certain Supports/Services
The NDIS can now not pay for s*xual services, alcohol, or illegal drugs. (under the criminal code act definition s*xual services means s*x workers and p**n so it likely means s*xual aids or therapy are ok, unless they’re included on the “OUT” lists in the NDIS Rules, which are not final yet)
👍 The Upside: ✅No more ouzo shots (jk, I don’t personally know anyone buying booze or drugs with NDIS funds, but I do know it happens)
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ Some people will be restricted by this, and we will see some significant behaviour downturns and potentially greater restrictive practises instead). You can all blame Pauline Hanson for the 🍆 stuff)

2. There needs to be an IN and OUT “NDIS Supports” list but you can challenge that list
➡️ The NDIS CEO can now approve supports from the OUT list and add stuff to the IN list for an individual, but ONLY if the thing replaces other NDIS Supports AND is the same cost or cheaper AND is as good or better for you AND you get approval by an as yet undetermined process.
👍 The Upside: ✅ You might still be able to get supports that better fit your needs, even if they are in the naughty list.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ You’ll no doubt have to do more paperwork to prove you need a certain support and that it meets that criteria above, adding to your paperwork burden and stealing all your spoons AND, if the NDIS come back with a no, it looks like you can’t appeal that decision.

3. More Transparency in Rules and Rule Making
➡️ The Government must be more open about changes to NDIS rules. They must also involve the community, and get a majority of the States to agree.
👍 The Upside: ✅ It will be easier to know when you’re breaking the law.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ Keeping up with these changes and being involved might take up more of your time, which can be tiring if you’re already burnt out and busy managing your own life.

4. Notice of Impairments
➡️ You’ll get a written notice explaining which of your impairments/disabilities qualify you for NDIS supports.
👍 The Upside: ✅ This gives you clear information about why you’re eligible, which can help you know to ask to add other disabilities, if needed.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ It will no doubt feel like you’re being boxed into specific categories, which will likely limit the supports you can access. Adding other disabilities will surely also mean more (expensive) appointments and paperwork for you.

5. Written Requests and Reasonableness in Compliance
➡️ If the NDIS asks you to provide documentation, you must provide it. This might include evidence of claims, or disability related reports etc. They can suspend your NDIS Plan if you don’t respond (after giving you fair chances).
👍 The Upside: ✅ This helps keep those who are more vulnerable safe from predators who are draining their plans.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ More paperwork. More paperwork. More paperwork. And who knows how long it will take to process stuff

6. Inclusion of Indigenous persons in board appointments
👤 The NDIS board must include at least one Indigenous person.
👍 The Upside: ✅ This helps make sure Indigenous voices are included in NDIS decisions.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ None. This is the right thing to do.

7. Regular Updates on NDIS Statistics and $$$$
➡️ The NDIS has to publish monthly updates on spending and the number of people in the scheme.
👍 The Upside: ✅ You can see how the NDIS is tracking, and if these law changes actually make a difference to scheme sustainability or not.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ These updates show problems like budget cuts or changes in priorities, and you might (rightfully) freak out about how it could affect your support in the future.

8. "Whole plans" are now what's "reasonable and necessary", not individual supports and services.
➡️ The NDIS will now be able to use a tool/tools which are not yet made to decide a total funding package. The way all this happens is to be designed with community consultation.
👍 The Upside: ✅No more haggling over each little thing. This *should*, in theory, increase plan flexibility.
👎 The Downside: ⚠️ We worry about the tools they'll use, who will use them and that people won't get the funding they need to live good lives.

Other Changes:
• Debts raised against you can be waived if they weren’t intentional or were caused by someone else, but not just because you can’t afford to pay.
• Claims for expenses from more than two years ago cannot be made, to prevent the shonkies cleaning out old plans.

You’ve all got until 5pm Sunday night to submit your thoughts about the OUT and IN Naughty and Nice transitional NDIS Supports Lists, so get on it! You can do a short survey, or email them your rant. DO IT!
A version of those transitional lists will be law in about 5 weeks, and will remain as law until the majority of States agree on a permanent version, designed with consultation (not co-design) with the disability community.

I AM NOT A LAWYER – and I’ve had one night to review all this and consult with people who are smarter than me, so this will not be 100% accurate! And everything here is paraphrased in my words – it’s not legally correct or advice! I will do my best to refine this over the coming weeks, in all my spare time. lol. lol. lol.



Pic desc: a photo of the Senate chamber, all in red carpet and wood, with no-one in it.