There's a conversation that's been on my mind a bit. I can't remember the exact context, but it was Senators @Jordonsteele and @Anne_Ruston discussing #NDIS Independent Assessments in a televised setting recently.

#Auspol #Disability

I won't try to quote directly, but essentially, Steele-John made a point of putting Ruston on the spot with the sorts of uncomfortable personal questions #PWD can expect from Independent Assessors if the new #NDIS legislation goes through.

Senator Ruston was clearly irritated and called this out as a stunt, flat out refusing to answer the questions, and pointing to the fact that a nationally televised setting is hardly the same thing as a one on one conversation with an allied health professional.

On the surface, it might seem like she had a point. We all tell personal things to health professionals all the time, after all. Embarrassing things about our bodies, information pertinent to sexual health, etc ...

But what was missing from that conversation was any acknowledgement that #PWD often have have a very different power dynamic with their health providers than the average person who needs a check up.

Most people are not navigating the health system with the implicit knowledge that your doctor gets to decide whether or not you get to have enough money to pay the bills, or eat, or live independently, or shower, or have a clean house, or be able to leave the house.

Most people can go find a new doctor or allied heath professional if they don't like the services of the first (particularly politicians who can afford private health). No health professional knows everything about every condition and some doctors just aren't that great.

Finding health professionals who are actually knowledgeable about a particular disability, and comfortable with complexity of disability, is an additional difficultly for many #PWD when it comes to choosing the right providers.

I'm guessing most people in the health profession would not like to admit this, but treating abled people with straightforward ills seems to be the preference of many. #PWD with our co-morbidities and interacting conditions can be complicated, unpredictable and inconvenient.

With Independent Assessments, not only are #PWD far more dependant on the opinions of a stranger than the average person visiting the doctor would experience, we don't even get to choose the health professional making these life-changing decisions on your behalf.

We are essentially being forced into dependence on a health system lottery where we know the odds are stacked heavily against us, and that's before we even start talking about independent assessments being paid for by a government with a clear goal of cutting costs.

And what disabled people understand, that many abled folks may not, is that most health professionals are blithely unaware of the power they hold over you as a disabled person. There's no sensitivity to the fact that they can literally destroy your life with the stroke of a pen.

It's as though they see themselves and their decisions as peripheral rather than integral to your wellbeing.

And well they might. They have not experienced what being on the other side of the doctor/PWD relationship feels like.

In fact, it's unlikely another human being has held so much power over them since they were children. They simply can't fathom it. The impact of their decisions and opinions is entirely abstract to them.

And that is a large part of the problem with this government and their #NDIS reforms. The people making the decisions simply have no concept of what it means to have your power taken away from you by a system, because the system has always worked for them. Empowered them.

We need more #PWD in politics and government. More #PWD running the NDIA. More #PWD working at DHHS. More #PWD working in allied health.

We need seats at the table at every level of decision making.

We need *real* consultation and co-design.

#HandsOffOurNDIS

#DisabilityRC @DRC_AU @EmergeAus @NDISDeane @NDIS #Auspol @bluntshovels @FrancesPWDA @PWDAustralia @WWDA_AU @CydaAu @dana_advocacy