Disability

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EXPERT OBSERVER
The stated purpose of the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program is to stimulate the economy and create construction jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our research shows home improvements could do much more than just add capital value and a spare room. They can also restore or maintain a person’s ability to live independently – whether they are older, have a disability, are unwell or have been injured.
In other words, these home improvements could transform life for any one of us at some point in our lives. They greatly improve people’s well-being and reduce dependence on carers. This affects a great many people – including <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/aged-care" target="_blank">nearly a million</a>who receive some form of aged care in their own home.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346496/original/file-20200709-26-1fsxe21.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346496/original/file-20200709-26-1fsxe21.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
<a class="source" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/1CD2B1952AFC5E7ACA257298000F2E76?OpenDocument" target="_blank">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY</a>
Our study of 157 people receiving community care found home modifications reduced the overall hours of care they required by 42%. Their quality of life (measured as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/concept.htm" target="_blank">health-related quality of life</a>) improved by 40%.
By reducing care needs and costs, and increasing independence and well-being, home modifications lead to a multitude of government, community and personal benefits. These include lowering the risk of COVID-19 transmission that providing and receiving personal care entails.
<h2>What do home modifications involve?</h2>
<a href="https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/home-equipment-and-supports/home-modifications-explained" target="_blank">Home modifications</a> specifically help residents to live safely and independently in their own homes.
The range of possible renovations is diverse, so costs vary widely. Minor modifications might be installing a grab rail in a bathroom to aid stability, or levelling a step at a front door. A major modification could install a ramp or a lift, widen door frames or provide a new bathroom.
Modifications must be tailored to individual needs, as no “one size fits all” – just like every home renovation.
<h2>Enabling greater independence for longer</h2>
My research measures how home modifications directly influence the amount of care needed to live, and continue living, at home.
The study included 157 Australians aged from 15 to 92 who received community care. Some had arthritis, cancer or a motorcycle injury. Others were born with a disability. All required care in their home.
Hours of care for participants (most of it unpaid care by family and friends) were compared before and after home modifications. The changes liberated them. Home modifications reduced or eliminated their need for help, restored their confidence in caring for themselves and reduced carer stress.
As people’s confidence grew, they were happier to venture out into the broader community. Importantly, relationships improved.
<h2>Stories of lives transformed</h2>
Simple home modifications meant David* no longer had to help his mother shower as she could safely do that herself. His mother was saved the embarrassment of her son being involved in what is normally a private activity. Instead, they could enjoy each other’s company with regular activities like shopping and having afternoon tea together.
Ravi* had a spinal injury as a result of an accident. He was glad to be back at home but was sleeping in a converted sunroom at street level because he couldn’t get to his bedroom upstairs. The only bathroom for showering was a small ensuite, up three stairs.
The house was not suitable for a wheelchair, so his wife had to help him get around their home. The effort required to take care of basic daily living activities left them too exhausted to even think about going out.
An accessible bathroom with a hand-held shower was installed, as well as a ramp at the home entrance. Not only was Ravi able to shower independently again, but he and his wife also regained their energy and interest in going out. He attributed home modifications to enabling them to go to the movies and a restaurant for the first time in the three years after the accident.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346809/original/file-20200710-30-1rh5a4k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346809/original/file-20200710-30-1rh5a4k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Simple modifications can enable a person to go to the toilet unaided. Claire Cunningham, Author provided
Genevieve* needed to go to the toilet often at night, but was unsteady on her feet. She had to wake her husband to escort her safely to the bathroom. Installing handrails from the bedroom to the bathroom, as well as reconfiguring the bathroom, meant she could safely take herself to the toilet at night.
Now that he was getting a good night’s sleep, her husband also expressed relief that he was able to continue his full-time job – he had thought he would have to give it up.
<h2>People regain choice about where they live</h2>
The design of a house can be the single reason that forces a person into an aged care home. A bathroom, kitchen, entrance and exit, as well as how rooms connect, can all dictate whether a person lives independently in later life.
Research shows how home modifications reduce fall risks. Think about an older bathroom where the shower has a hob or is over a bath. Such features commonly lead to falls, which can dramatically shorten lives or send us straight from hospital into residential aged care.
Of all the home modifications, my research showed those in the bathroom were most central to reducing dependence on others. They provided the freedom to shower and use the toilet without help.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346807/original/file-20200710-26-1qato57.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346807/original/file-20200710-26-1qato57.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Bathroom modifications that allow people to shower while seated greatly reduce the risk of slipping and falling. Claire Cunningham, Author provided
For example, Heath* was 72 with a few overlapping health conditions. He had lost confidence using his shower and toilet on his own. His daughter, who lived five hours’ drive away, was convinced he would fall if he remained at home.
But Heath didn’t want someone coming in to help him shower. He absolutely did not want to go into a nursing home. Home modifications meant he could sit while showering independently and use grab rails to get in and out safely.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346497/original/file-20200709-38-42qd9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346497/original/file-20200709-38-42qd9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
A minor home modification like a hand rail might be all a person needs to continue living safely in their own home. Author provided
<h2>Modifications protect lives in a pandemic</h2>
The ability to take care of our own bathroom needs during a pandemic is particularly critical. The close proximity required to <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/advice-for-people-at-risk-of-coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-people-in-aged-care-facilities" target="_blank">receive</a> and <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-27/disability-workers-caring-for-coronavirus-patients-want-pay-rise/12286278" target="_blank">provide</a> care has been well documented. Who knows how much home modifications have helped to curb the spread of COVID-19 to people most vulnerable to it?
Australia is managing a pandemic while <a href="https://www.ndis.gov.au/understanding/ndis-each-state" target="_blank">rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme</a> (NDIS) and <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/" target="_blank">reforming aged care</a> in the context of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2016-reveals-australia-is-becoming-much-more-diverse-but-can-we-trust-the-data-79835" target="_blank">diverse</a> and <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/1CD2B1952AFC5E7ACA257298000F2E76?OpenDocument" target="_blank">ageing</a> population.
This research into home modifications highlights why renovations could be so much more than a new pool, kitchen island or cinema room. The government has a golden opportunity to reform HomeBuilder and encourage take-up of grants for home modifications. It would be a win for both tradies and the many Australians who may need help to stay at home.
* Names have been changed to protect anonymity.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140639/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/phillippa-carnemolla-385251" target="_blank">Phillippa Carnemolla</a>, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936" target="_blank">University of Technology Sydney</a>
This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/renovations-as-stimulus-home-modifications-can-do-so-much-more-to-transform-peoples-lives-140639" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Renovations as stimulus? Home modifications can do so much more to transform people’s lives

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Young Australians aged 18 to 26 are 1.8 times more likely to receive welfare if their parents ever received welfare. 
Australians like to think we live in a country of the fair go, where anyone with the talent and willingness to work hard can succeed.
But the evidence shows success is still partly inherited. Children with poor parents are more likely to grow up and be poor as adults.
The latest biennial report of the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/australias-welfare-2019-data-insights/contents/summary" target="_blank">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a> highlights the ways in which social and economic position is transmitted between generations.
Research points to several key factors in inherited disadvantage — notably parental disability, family structure and unemployment.
Gender patterns
Understanding the nature and extent of inherited disadvantaged in Australia has been aided by five significant research studies in the past five years. Four of them use data from the comprehensive Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The fifth used tax records to estimate the intergenerational mobility of people born between 1978 and 1982.
Among the results to come from these studies are estimates of the degree to which a 10% increase in fathers’ earnings affect their sons’ earnings. The studies offer a range of 1% to 3.5% – with a higher percentage meaning less social mobility.
One study highlights some interesting gender variations. It found a 10% increase in a father’s earnings associated with a 2% increase in sons’ earnings, but only a 0.8% increase in daughters’ earnings. A 10% increase in mothers’ earnings was linked to a 1.6% increase in sons’ earnings and a 1.5% increase in daughters’ earnings. This suggests girls’ earning trajectories are slightly less determined by their parents’ experience.
Other findings, however, point to certain types of disadvantage being most inherited by women. For example, those raised by a single parent receiving parenting payments are 2.2 times more likely to become a single-parent payment recipient themselves – and women make up <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/apr/19/its-soul-destroying-the-stress-and-stigma-of-being-a-single-parent-on-welfare" target="_blank">more than 80%</a> of single-parent payment recipients.
Patterns of transmission
The single-parenthood pattern was among those identified in research <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/11070" target="_blank">published in 2017</a> by myself, Sarah Dahmann, Nicolas Salamanc and Anna Zhu. The importance of family structure is underlined by the fact young adults are more likely to receive a range of welfare payments if they grow up in single-parent families.
The following graph shows the results of our research.
Overall, we found young Australians aged 18-26 were 1.8 times more likely to receive welfare if their parents ever received welfare. That is, 58% of young people whose parents ever received welfare were also on welfare, compared with 31.8% of those whose parent were not.
Young people whose parents received unemployment payments while they were growing up were 1.6 times more likely to receive unemployment payments before age 22, and 1.3 times after age 22.
Intergenerational disability
But the strongest relationship in intergenerational disadvantage involves parental disability.
Our results showed young people whose parents received disability support payments were 2.8 times more likely to receive disability support payments.
Young people whose parents received the Disability Support Pension for mental health reasons were almost three times as likely to be receiving the mental health-related disability benefits as other young people. They were also more likely to need other social assistance payments
The intergenerational relationship between youth unemployment and parental disability, for example, and was just as strong as that with parental unemployment.
These findings do not imply that poor children would have been better off had their parents not received social assistance — only that poor children are more likely to need assistance than non-poor children.
Stretching the rungs
Social mobility is higher in Australia than many other developed countries (most notably the United States). But it remains lower than the Scandinavian countries, and is threatened by any increase in inequality.
A growing gap between richest and poorest grows pulls the the rungs of the socioeconomic ladder further apart, making it harder for disadvantaged Australian children to avoid becoming disadvantaged adults.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123086/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Deborah Ann Cobb-Clark, Professor of Economics, University of Sydney. 
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/disability-and-single-parenthood-still-loom-large-in-inherited-poverty-123086" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Disability and single parenthood still loom large in inherited poverty: Deborah Cobb-Clark

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Providing ramps where there are steps or stairs is just one way to help people with a disability get around.
You would think a city that each year hosts <a href="https://www.valid.org.au/having-say" target="_blank">Australia’s largest conference for people with disability</a> would be the most accessible for all people.
Not according to our <a href="http://deakinhomeresearchhub.com/aig/" target="_blank">research</a> which highlights 119 issues that need fixing if Geelong, Victoria, wants to be a model “city for all”.
Clearly there’s a shortfall between aspiration and reality, which is surprising given that in the last <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/census" target="_blank">Census count</a>, about <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/geelong/assistance" target="_blank">6% of Geelong’s population</a> reported they needed help because of disability. That’s higher than the national figure of 5.1%.
Geelong is also home to the National Disability Insurance Agency, WorkSafe, and the Traffic Accident Commission, so it should be a shining example of what is termed access and inclusion (A&amp;I) for people with a disability.
A city for everyone
The challenge for Geelong is to identify what is a model city for people with a disability.
There are a few examples to consider. Many cities around the world have tackled disability access through technological solutions to help people get around, such as <a href="http://www.ibeacon.com/what-is-ibeacon-a-guide-to-beacons/">personal navigation</a> with smartphones.
Melbourne introduced <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-technology-a-helping-hand-for-melbournes-vision-impaired-20171015-gz14u2">beacons that connect to a smartphone app</a>, to help vision-impaired people navigate their way inside Southern Cross Station and <a href="https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/more/travelling-on-the-network/accessibility/vision-or-hearing-impairment/">some other stations</a>.
Overseas, the city of Breda, in the Netherlands, was this year declared <a href="https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-6630_en.htm">Europe’s most accessible city</a>. It has done several things to improves access, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/28/people-arent-disabled-their-city-is-inside-europes-most-accessible-city">smoothing the centuries-old cobbled pathways</a>, providing ramps, and rolling out digital navigation across the city.
Central to all these efforts is the collaborative design of solutions, working with people who have experience of disability access.
The need for change
In Geelong, more than 100 people responded to a visitor’s survey, and 75 people with experience of disability participated in a series of three workshops and three focus groups.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294946/original/file-20191001-173347-zt3tkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294946/original/file-20191001-173347-zt3tkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Tapping into local knowledge at a workshop at Deakin University. Deakin University, Author provided
We found there are a series of things that could be implemented to improve accessibility and exclusion in Geelong.
Some things are simple, such as providing ramps instead of steps, and adequate restroom facilities; others involve remaking the city and may seem more difficult.
But the response from people with disability was typically modest, with one participant saying “we don’t expect the Taj Mahal”.
In all, we recommend six priority areas for action.
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Deakin University, Author provided
A number of problems continue to undermine efforts to rectify city-wide problems and these must be addressed. These include amendments to legislation to define and ensure “access” and “inclusion” are within the planning framework.
There also needs to be significant change to the business-as-usual approaches to housing, instead prioritising the supply of public and community housing in general, but especially for people with disability.
On employment, we need to co-design workplace arrangements so both the needs of people with disability and employers are met. This is key to ensuring those with a disability who seek work are able to attain it.
Access to information
One action identified was to build an Inclusive Geelong Visitor Centre (IGVC) run and managed by people with disability, with accessibility support staff. The centre would provide accessibility information and serve as a landing pad where people can gather information before exploring the city.
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It helps to know where to go to find information on disabled access and services. Deakin University, Author provided
Many participants noted this idea has been discussed in various forums for the past 30 years, but nothing had ever happened.
Projects like this are often seen as luxuries that are more symbolic than tangible. Our analysis shows that if implemented in coordination with a series of other actions, such as providing disability support services and empowering people with disability to lead conversations, it could encourage further change and reform.
In isolation, an IGVC was evaluated by the community as having a high impact rating (10/10), but a low feasibility rating (3/10). The low perception of feasibility perhaps explains why this project has never come to fruition.
At a bare minimum, an IGVC must have a full suite of accessibility support services and provide spaces for all abilities where people can access up-to-date information and plan activities for the length of their stay.
The centre would allow people with disability to make informed choices about accessible travel, accommodation, services, and other aspects of urban participation.
It should be staffed by qualified support workers and people with disability, connect people to different support agencies and work with providers to bring accommodation up to accessible standard.
But no meaningful impact can be realised by isolating any actions from the list of fixes. There needs to be consideration of how all other factors relate to issues of accessibility and inclusion across multiple scales.
These lessons are not just for Geelong, other cities could also follow these steps to make themselves more inclusive and accessible.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124420/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
David Kelly, Human Geographer, Deakin University
Richard Tucker, Associate Professor, Associate Head of School (Research), co-leader of the research network HOME, Deakin University
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-our-cities-more-accessible-for-people-with-disability-is-easier-than-we-think-124420" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Increasing accessibility for those with disability isn't that hard: Deakin University

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UNSW researchers have released a free app designed to give people with disabilities and older Australians the product information they need to modify their homes and stay in them for longer.
Known as DIYmodify, it will help consumers make decisions around purchasing five common home modifications including grab rails and handheld showers.
“Overwhelmingly, people want to stay in their own homes rather than go into care,” remarked UNSW associate professor Catherine Bridge, director of the HMinfo Clearinghouse.
“Our aim is to keep people better informed, safer and able to stay in their homes for longer,” she said.
UNSW research shows more than 15,000 DIY home modifications are undertaken by people with disability and older Australians each year in NSW alone.
The HMinfo Clearinghouse analysed consumer sales data from the largest national hardware chain by monitoring the sale of five products: grab rails; handrails, hand-held showers, shower infills and small ramps.
“When people complete their own home modifications, they can choose the products they want and have control over the process – the DIYmodify app is designed to assist them with this and shows that grab rails and ramps can be installed in a way that won’t make their home look like a hospital.”
The app was co-designed with input from people with disability and seniors to ensure the highest level of accessibility for people with cognitive, vision and physical impairment, as well as non-English speakers.
“We’re giving people information at the time they need it, presented in a way that is understandable to them. For example, many people don’t know that they can add a ramp to their shower, to raise its level and it will only cost them $100 rather than $2000,” Bridge said.
DIYmodify will be launched on 19 May by the NSW Minister for Disability Services, Ray Williams. It is available for both iPhone/iPad and Android devices. 
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New app to help people with disabilities choose home modifications

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/74926/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">GUEST OBSERVER
 They’ve saved a deposit of A$70,000 each and want to buy the same type of apartment in the same block.
Lee is able to buy off the plan with a mortgage and receive a First Home Owner Grant. Sarah is not.
What’s the difference? Sarah could be any one of 660,000-plus Australians with an intellectual disability.
<h2 class="caption">Barriers at every turn</h2>
People with intellectual disability face so many barriers to finding a home of their own that it’s hard to pick one.
Rates of unemployment and underemployment are high. Only 23% are wage or salary earners, and around one-third of these work for less than 15 hours per week.
And pay rates, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission, are “extraordinarily low”. In other words, a mortgage is largely off-limits.
For most, family support then becomes a precondition for acquiring a home. But, if family earnings have been negatively affected by their supporting responsibilities, financial assistance may not be possible.
If funds are available, one option is to create a family trust. For Sarah, a family member could acquire the apartment and act as a guarantor on a mortgage. However, unlike Lee, Sarah couldn’t get the first home owner and stamp duty concessions, which are not available under a family trust arrangement.
On the other hand, she could get Commonwealth Rent Assistance, as she would count as a renter not an owner.
Another option is for Sarah’s family to set up a “special disability trust”. This would enable her to have access to first home owner concessions, although that would require confirmation from the revenue office of the relevant state or territory.
Even then, opening a special disability trust is onerous. It requires specialist legal and accounting advice. Annual fees and reporting requirements would quickly outweigh any first home owner concessions. Further, the beneficiary can’t pay rent to the trust, which would otherwise serve as a proxy for servicing a mortgage.
A third option is to help Sarah buy a home in her own name. However, many people with intellectual disability are unlikely to reach the threshold of mental competency required under current law. The person may then need to be placed under guardianship or trusteeship.
This raises a host of human rights concerns and has the potential to further disempower the person. First home owner concessions may be available to guardians on the person’s behalf, depending on the state or territory. But, again, discovering this information tends to require specialised legal advice.
Victoria has the unusual option of appointing “supportive attorneys”. The supporter doesn’t take over decision-making, but instead helps the person by gathering information. This can be a way to avoid removing legal capacity. Yet, it appears, supportive attorneys cannot assist with the acquisition of property.
In short, all options come at a significant cost to the person or their family.
The one measure that is possibly useful for Sarah – claiming rent assistance for a property owned by a family trust – appears to exist by accident rather than design.
<h2 class="caption">Unequal and a waste of taxpayer dollars</h2>
The lack of support for acquiring a home drives people with intellectual disability into group homes, either state-run or for-profit.
While these facilities may be acceptable for some, for many they perpetuate what Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell describe as “social apartheid”. They also make people vulnerable to abuse and marginalisation.. Nowhere is this more evident than on the ABC’s Four Corners report this week.
Group homes are also expensive. In New South Wales, the average total cost to house a group-home resident, according to the Social Policy Research Centre, is $137,000 per year. That is $2,634 per week.
Ask most people with intellectual disability and their families to suggest better ways to spend $137,000 per year, and I’m sure they’ll have suggestions for wiser public spending.
Current mindsets are fixated on congregate-care models, such as group homes, as well as highly professionalised models that cost enormous amounts.
Social housing is another option, but Sarah would have to join the nearly 200,000 Australians on a waiting list. Even if she did manage to get a home this way, it is questionable whether being congregated with other disadvantaged groups will improve her chances of social inclusion.
No wonder people are seeking alternatives.
<h2 class="caption">Low-cost and no-cost solutions</h2>
As a starting point, state and federal governments could easily provide clear information about the various options available to people with intellectual disabilities who wish to acquire a home. People shouldn’t need law degrees to know their options.
Procedural equality could be improved by giving access to first home owner concessions to people with a disability who acquire a home through a family trust. For those needing funds for a mortgage, government-subsidised co-ownership schemes could be a great help.
These solutions should not replace efforts to improve employment rates, access to mortgages and all the typical pathways to home ownership. To help open up these pathways, people with intellectual disability would need to be able to buy a home with support and safeguards.
Funds should be re-invested from congregate care to the ongoing costs of supporting people with an intellectual disability to live in their own home.
Housing policy has tended to overlook home ownership for people with intellectual disability, which suggests the “soft bigotry of low expectations” is at play.
Barriers to housing for people with intellectual disability don’t seem to have been driven by malice. Instead, these barriers emerged from countless decisions not to afford them equal opportunities. Each barrier on its own seems unfortunate; together they appear tantamount to neglect and discrimination.
Piers Gooding a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, University of Melbourne and author for The Conversation. He can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/piers-gooding-207492" target="_blank">here</a>.
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