Back in the time of the dinosaurs was a British television programme named "Not The Nine O'clock News", a satirical sketch comedy show on BBC2 sending up the much more serious "Nine o'clock News", which was delivered each night on BBC1. "Not The Nine O'clock News" helped launch the careers of Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson (before she married Billy Connolly and became an extremely serious psychotherapist).
This post bears absolutely no resemblance to that comedy show, but I did take advantage of the title. Unless I get a wriggle-on, I may have to rename this narrative "The Late News" as we are rapidly approaching the end of April and I am perilously behind in my own reporting schedule. However, I am pleading forgiveness for my neglectfulness of Heavenly Beverley, as I have spent the last couple of weeks engaging (!) with the Housing Authority, Centrelink, the NDIA and other unexpected occurrences.
And so, without further ado, here is the news, brought to you by Kate the Beverley Blogger.
Our Autistic Superstar, Alex, has been front and centre in this month's headlines. I was contacted by the Housing Authority, the state owners of Alex's unit, which he has called home since the middle of 2017. Apparently, they were trying to contact him about an "accommodation review". I asked for the information that was required, reminded them to contact me first in all circumstances (again) and promised they would send me an email that would confirm the date all this paperwork was due. End of story...or so I thought.
The next act in this saga began with a call from Pascal, Alex's Supreme Saturdays Defender, outlining a Housing Authority letter sent to Alex with some gobbledygook that his income was too high to remain in his unit. Needless to say, Alex thought he was going to be immediately evicted from his home and descended into panic mode.
A quick change into armour and I prepared to defend Alex's honour (and unit). The contact person who had been assigned to him had gone on leave and was not due back until after the paperwork was supposed to be submitted. As the required documents were all ready to GO, I resubmitted them to our absent operative's co-worker, along with seven further attachments providing supporting health evidence why Alex should stay put in his Housing Authority home.
Within minutes, I received an email to call the unfortunate staffer who had been seconded to deal with this case. I returned her call and had a most satisfactory conversation with her - that Alex was far too complex for her abilities, that all would be placed on hold until the original worker's return, that the chances of Alex being evicted were about as good as Buckley's and that any Appeal would throw out a move to separate Alex from his unit, due to his myriad conditions.
(Interestingly, I received a call from another arm of the Housing Authority this morning asking to carry out a routine inspection of his unit to make sure it was up to scratch!)
Following on from this episode, Alex successfully concluded his CPAP trial with flying colours, with his apnoea spells reduced to almost zero (down from 41 every hour). Both his respiratory and cardiac specialists recommended he continue on long term CPAP therapy to provide substantial and consistent improvements in his quality of life, increasing his daily functionality and reducing his anxiety. A supporting letter has been provided to the NDIA for funding of his device along with the invoice and we are now waiting to be reimbursed.
Further to the acquisition of Alex's CPAP machine, I discovered the existence of the "Essential Medical Equipment Payment", available through Centrelink for those of us on pensions to receive an allowance of $170 a year towards additional costs for running such medical equipment, for example CPAP. I had never heard of this payment before...what a surprise. So I quickly applied online to Centrelink, completed the registration and then printed out the Medical Confirmation document that needed to be filled in by the quack, because my word is naturally not good enough.
When I tried to complete the same process for Alex as his nominee, the option of the payment did not appear. Repeatedly. Once again, stymied by an agency that directs us hapless fools online and then doesn't deliver. The upshot is that I will either have to ring Centrelink or visit an office. Either way, this procedure promises to take some time as there are never enough staff in call centres or in person to facilitate such enquiries in a swift manner.
Finally, I think, after three years and six months, I have finally had a breakthrough with a new Local Area Coordinator. Thoroughly fed up with a litany of substandard LACs' performances elsewhere, I have been transferred to the Subiaco office and assigned to a lass named Charmonique. Not only is she young, energetic and enthusiastic, she also appears to have the proactive and intelligent brain I have been seeking. Having had our "Change of Circumstances" review approved, we are now full systems GO to a complete revamp of Alex's entire NDIS Plan, including language he understands, funding terminology I understand and the implementation of SMART goals, which have been mentioned repeatedly in Alex's Plan, without ever actually been stated.
For those of you who may also been wondering what SMART goals are, here is an explanation -
"SMART Goals - A NDIS Goal Setting Template
A widely used technique, the SMART method is an anagram outlining a road map for effective goal setting. SMART goals bring structure and trackability to your goals instead of vague resolutions that are easily forgotten and not easily measured. We’ve outlined SMART goals below and some questions you may like to ask yourself as it relates to you and what you hope to achieve from your NDIS plan.
S = Specific: Specific, sensible and significant
Questions to ask:
- What do I want to accomplish?
- Why is the goal important?
- Who in involved?
- Where is it located?
- Which resources or limits are involved?
M = Measurable: Meaningful, motivating and having some quantifiable objective or objectives.
Questions to ask:
- How much?
- How many?
- How will I know when it is accomplished?
A = Achievable: Agreed, attainable.
Questions to ask:
- How can I accomplish this goal?
- Do I have control over this goal?
- What constraints need to be considered?
R = Relevant: Reasonable, realistic and results based.
Questions to ask:
- Is this goal worthwhile?
- Is this the right time?
- Does this goal match our other goals?
- Is this my goal or for someone else?
- Is it applicable in the current environment?
T = Time bound: An end point for reaching the objective or objectives.
Question to ask:
When? One month, six months, 12 months, life of plan?
The NDIS aims to give participants independence and control, which puts responsibility for goal setting on the shoulders of the individual. There are many NDIS goals examples available online to help you work out what is important to you. This information is one of many NDIS goal setting templates available. It is of course up to the individual and their supports to use this (or any other framework) to develop their own meaningful goals as they see fit."
I must admit that I have been doing a bit of a happy dance after these meaningful developments with the NDIA/S. I think I could have even flung myself into the Watusi Quickstep if I had not contracted Covid19 from somebody in the last few days.
In one way, Covid has been a gift the last couple of days. Apart from feeling like I have a bad cold and losing my voice, I have had to slow down. My frenetic activity has lessened because I am tired and achy. I am annoyed that I can't open the Gallery this week, but that too, is a kind of blessing for my body.
What I will be undertaking this weekend is being incognito behind my mask as I attempt to record the antics of about forty "Plein Air" artists in their natural habitat around Beverley, led by the magnificent Alan Pickering. This will be the perfect weekend to check out Heavenly Beverley, (speaking in the hushed tones of David Attenborough) as up any tree, behind any bush or under any bridge, you might surprise a Pride of "Plein Air" Painters!
Pith helmets and safari clobber are both encouraged.
