Tell Us Survey
When JFA Purple Orange first started, we were concerned not enough was known about the daily lives of people living with disability, and their families.
We knew things could and should be improved, but that wasn't going to happen without real understanding. So we decided to go and find out about people's experiences, and we called it the Tell Us Survey.
This video summarises what we found out.
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This version has an audio description track.
Video Transcript
When JFA Purple Orange first started, we were concerned not enough was known about the daily lives of people living with disability, and their families. We knew things could and should be improved, but that wasn't going to happen without real understanding. So we decided to go and find out about people's experiences, and we called it the Tell Us Survey.
We ran the survey in 2007, and we asked about people's homes, their work, their education, their access to community. We asked about their health, their support networks and memberships, and their families and friends. We also asked about planning and decision-making. We asked about people's proudest moments, and their hopes for the future.
Here are four things that we learned from the 800 people who took part. One, people told us their priorities for where disability funding should be spent-- for example, on support for people to live in their own homes by themselves, or with family and friends. We found out that people didn't like group homes, and we couldn't find any young people who were happy living in aged care facilities. And yet, that's what was happening.
Two, we learned how right it is that people have choice and control over how they live their lives, and yet people told us this was missing. Three, we also learned how important it is that people be treated with respect, that they have a proper budget to manage their supports, and that they're included in the community and have opportunities to make natural connections with people. But again, these things were missing.
And four, we learned about the many difficulties people have going out into their community, because of the lack of accessible public transport and other community resources that most people take for granted.
We ran the survey again in 2011. More people took part, and reported many of the same issues. This has to change.
These research findings formed the foundation for many of our policy submissions to government-- for example, about the National Disability Strategy-- and also about the Productivity Commission's work in 2011 to design the NDIS. We like to think that through our reports, the survey participants had an impact in the design of the NDIS, particularly in terms of its main values-- that people have control and choice, and are involved in community life and the economy.