Victorian LGBTQIA+ organisations Thorne Harbour Health and Inclusion Melbourne have released a set of resources for people with disability in our community to assist in navigating Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The resources were developed in response to feedback from LGBTIQA+ people with disability consistently indicating that they have had poor experiences navigating both the NDIS planning process and working with NDIS registered providers in addressing their specific intersectional needs.

The suite of resources includes Knowing Your Rights: Disability & LGBTIQA+ Australians, Preparing for your NDIS Plan and LGBTIQA+ Clauses for Your Contract.

Community advocate Ruby Mountford was the project lead on the partnership between Thorne Harbour Health and Inclusion Melbourne.

“Unfortunately, the needs of LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities have not been adequately understood or valued,” Mountford says.

“These resources have been developed in collaboration with a group of LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities – built from their collective wisdom and their experiences navigating systems, services and LGBTIQA+ spaces.”

“While we want to see the systems that support people with disability build their capacity to better work with LGBTIQA+ people, we also want to equip our communities with the tools they need to make sure their needs and identity are respected.”

Inclusion Melbourne’s Nathan Despott hopes the resources will help LGBTQIA+ people with disability get the best possible support from the NDIS.

“People with disability can use these resources to learn about their rights and embed them into contracts they sign with people they hire to support them,” Despott said.

Thorne Harbour Health CEO Simon Ruth adds that advocacy for LGBTQIA+ health should have inclusion and intersectionality at its core.

“As we continue to take collective action to advocate for the improved health and wellbeing of our LGBTIQA+ communities, we need to ensure LGBTIQA+ people with disability have the resources they need to protect their rights and get the best possible results when engaging with a NDIS registered provider,” Ruth said.

All three resources are available online at thorneharbour.org/disabilityresources

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