Petition to help Australians with ME/CFS get access to disability services

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established in Australia a couple of years ago to improve the access and quality of lives of Australians with disabilities. Unsurprisingly, Aussies with ME/CFS are routinely being denied access to the NDIS. Emerge Australia has launched a new petition asking the Australian Minister for Families and Social Services, and the National Disability Insurance Agency, to:

1. Partner with the ME/CFS community to develop appropriate guidelines for NDIS assessors.

2. Add ME/CFS to List B of permanent conditions where further assessment is required.

3. Recognise that people with ME/CFS should not be required to have undergone Graded Exercise Therapy or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in order to access the NDIS as these treatments are no longer recommended and may cause harm.

Please sign the petition and share widely!

Edit: This petition is open to anyone, not just Australians.

https://www.change.org/p/the-minist...ronic-fatigue-syndrome-to-list-b-of-the-ndis?

 

Yes, anyone can sign! I’ll edit my post to reflect that.

 

Signed.

 

Signed.

 

Signed and Tweeted.

 

signed

 

Bump.
And signed.

 

There’s a number of problems with this petition.

1. It’s already been tabled in Parliament (paper version) and had a response from government.

2. There is an election in three weeks and the Minister will most likely change, so even if it’s delivered before then he won’t have time to act.

3. It’s asking for mecfs to be added to List B, but Emerge and ME Australia have already been told this not used to make decisions. In Feb we (two ME Australian and Heidi from Emerge) met with them and they said List B isn’t used to evaluate claims, they don’t judge on diagnosis, they look at level of disability.

4. NDIA already said they are holding workshops to consult, this was decided back in February during our meeting.
https://meaustralia.net/2019/03/30/disability-agency-consults-on-me-and-cfs/

 

Just to be clear, are you saying it is not worth signing this petition? If so, is there a simple action that NZ/international PWME can take which will be helpful?

Thanks

 

Up to you to decide, but I don’t think it’s worth signing.

I wish there was, but can’t think of a simple action that international people can do to help. Others might have ideas and I’ll come back if I think of any. Thanks for asking, appreciate the support!

 

Deliver it after the election to the new person. This may also work better because they will want to differentiate themselves from their predecessors.