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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Nas Campanella |Evan Young
Aimee and Mark Freeman have always been grateful for the support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Thanks to the scheme, their 19-year-old daughter Bianca — who lives with a severe intellectual disability, is non-verbal and needs assistance to do most tasks — was able to start attending TAFE, join a social group and continue to build her own life.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Nas Campanella |Evan Young
Parents with Deaf children often have a choice to make: do they learn Auslan, the spoken word, or a mix of both? Families who choose a bilingual approach need to get well versed in the Deaf world and its culture, which is much bigger and more vibrant than most hearing people realise. While a bilingual approach to raising a child means double the work, families raising their kids in both the hearing and Deaf worlds say they're also getting double the joy.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Evan Young |Nas Campanella
For years, Dan Collins looked after his mother Ros as she got older. But the tables turned two years ago when he acquired a permanent brain injury, forcing his mum — now 95 years of age — to become his full-time carer. "Dan used to call in every single morning on his way to work to … see if I was alright. Now the situation is reversed," Ms Collins said. Dan, now 66, became ill in 2023 after contracting meningitis.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Alison Branley |Evan Young
If you've heard about the big spending pledges around bulk-billing and Medicare this election but still don't feel clear about what that'll mean for your health care, you're not alone. In case you missed it, Labor and the Coalition have both pledged $8.5 billion to give GPs incentives to bulk-bill all patients instead of just kids, concession hard holders and pensioners.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Evan Young |Nas Campanella
Unlike the last election, issues around disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have barely rated a mention on the campaign trail. People with disability feel they're living in limbo and want policymakers to outline a clear plan for the future. On the eve of a new parliament, here are three priority areas advocates want addressed when the dust settles after polling day. Do you have a story to share?
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Evan Young |Conor Duffy
One in three Australian school students are failing to achieve proficiency in maths, according to the last two years of NAPLAN results. A new Grattan Institute report has also found Australia has a "maths problem", which the thinktank puts down to "faddish and inconsistent" teaching. Problems start in primary school and kids fall further behind in high school, according to the report. But how are your maths skills? Have a crack at these questions for Year 8 students and see how you compare.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Nas Campanella |Evan Young
Madeleine Lobsey and her family rarely leave the house — not because they don't want to, but because the world can be a confronting place for them. Madeleine, her husband and their three children are all autistic. "The world just doesn't work for us," she said. "When we're home and it's just us, that's the happy place where we can be ourselves."The Lobsey home is a vibrant haven, where activities like building Lego, board games or baking are aplenty.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Evan Young |Nas Campanella
The death of a man with disability in NDIS-supported housing last month has sparked a police investigation and renewed calls for mandatory provider registration. The ABC can reveal a 42-year-old man died suddenly at a housing facility in the suburb of Acacia Ridge in Brisbane on March 14. The facility was run by a company called Core and Capacity, which was not formally registered with the NDIS, and so was not subject to the same oversight or regulation as providers that have registered.
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Feb 25, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Nas Campanella |Evan Young
Thirteen-year-old Ryan Kelly was born with Down syndrome, as well as profound hearing and vision loss. Years ago, when his mum Rebecca began looking into whether he could get a cochlear implant to help him hear, a doctor questioned why she should bother. "He said, 'What does it matter — can he even talk?'," Ms Kelly said. "It made me feel like he was seen as less than human.
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Feb 18, 2025 | 
abc.net.au | Evan Young |Nas Campanella
A Victorian woman is suing Uber in the Federal Court, alleging drivers broke disability discrimination laws by refusing to pick up her guide dog on dozens of occasions. Uber says it doesn't take ride refusals lightly and is "committed to working with stakeholders" to prevent it. Advocates say the issue of ride refusals due to guide dogs, which is against the law, has become endemic and current policies aren't working.
