Onemda Insight - Autumn Edition 2023
- From the CEO's Desk...
- Meet our Partner
- Research & Innovation Update
- Industry News & Updates
- Onemda News & Updates
- Onemda Services Update
FROM THE CEO'S DESK...
Welcome to our Autumn edition of Onemda Insight.
The commencement of a new year is always full of excitement and anticipation as we recommence programs and activities for the year ahead. It is also a time when we welcome our newest program participants and their families to the Onemda community. This combination brings a noticeable buzz to all our campuses.
Adding to the excitement this year is our ability to expand our service options as we transition into a post-pandemic way of operating. This includes our participants and staff being able to cross over to other campus locations and recommence our many community partnerships, which were heavily disrupted over the past three years.
During the holiday period, our hard-working maintenance team continued to upgrade various program spaces, cleaning up our grounds and conducting vehicle maintenance across all sites. This work included furthering our commitment to creating sensory calming and learning-conducive environments through our biophilic campus refresh initiative, which will see ongoing upgrades to learning spaces across Onemda.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to participate in our annual Family & Carer Survey late last year. Through the many responses received, we have captured a range of valuable insights and ideas to help enhance our services. This feedback is essential for us to understand what is important to you, and how we can improve the overall customer experience.
Finally, our Board recently engaged the services of Ensemble Strategy to develop our new Strategic Plan. Over the coming months, we’ll consult extensively with more than 100 stakeholders, including participants, their support networks, community partners and staff. The overarching purpose of the new strategy is to ensure Onemda remains a relevant, strong, and influential service provider for many years to come, built on the foundation of high-quality learning and life outcomes. The new Strategic Plan is due for completion in June, with an official launch in July.
In the meantime, enjoy our autumn edition and stay safe and well.
Simon
MEET OUR PARTNER...
Partnering with Manningham City Council
Onemda has a proud history of more than 50 years providing disability services in the City of Manningham so it’s
wonderful that over that time, Manningham City Council has become a long-term partner of Onemda, supporting us to support the local community.
Through its community grants program, the Council has provided support to numerous Onemda projects and initiatives over the years, including:
- Celebrations for International Day of People with Disability – hosting music and cultural events for Onemda participants and the wider community.
- Art Show – providing the venue and support for Onemda to host a month-long exhibition of the work of Onemda artists.
- Support to help Onemda purchase program equipment like bicycles, computers, touchscreens and more.
Manningham City Council is also the proud partner and supporter of Onemda’s Embrace Café initiative, which is currently in development. Embrace Café will provide program participants with the opportunity to learn hospitability skills in a training café environment which will be open to the public. Stay tuned for more information on when this café will be opening to the general public!
As an active member on Manningham’s Disability Advisory Committee, Onemda also works with Council and other local people with lived experience of disability to advocate for and support the needs of the local disability community.
This Committee provides advice and support to Manningham Council so people with a disability have a voice in their local area and helps build the capacity of Council to understand and respond to the need of people with disability and their carers.
In December of 2022, this Committee worked with Council to host an Inclusive Connections expo for the local Manningham community – providing an opportunity for people with disability to learn about local services and supports.
RESEARCH & INNOVATION UPDATE
The Benefits of Chat GPT...
In a recent episode of Nights with John Stanley on 2GB, John talked to Bronwyn Hemsley, about new software called ‘Chat GPT’…and how it could improve inclusion for people with a disability. 
Hemsley, a Professor of Speech Pathology at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), says the technology which is becoming popular among high school and university students, has real potential to help those who have communication disabilities to communicate better with others.
Basically, Chat GPT is an interactive Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which has been designed to help assess, sort and assemble information into meaningful communications. It allows you to plug in your questions, information and ideas, and then uses deep learning algorithms to generate questions, answers, suggestions, summaries, reports or even opinion pieces.
Interestingly, the result will be based not just on your input, but on relevant related input Chat GPT has received from other sources. That’s because, like all AI, it learns as it goes. So, the more people who use it, the more information it will be able to access and the better it will be able to evaluate and incorporate that information in its response.
While some have voiced concerns about whether the technology opens the door to plagiarism and cheating, particularly for students or in creative applications, the possibilities for people with disabilities could be promising, providing a clever tool to help build skills in organising input and practicing output, simplify ideas or instructions, and provide a rich source of ideas and resources for those with verbal or communication difficulties.
“For instance, people with stroke or cerebral palsy or developmental disabilities might have had less opportunity to learn or practice good, fluent writing [or speaking], and this might give them a chance to practice their interactions – because Chat GPT will respond to you,” Hemsley says, adding that the technology is able to pivot and evolve its response in line with new instructions.
At the moment, Chat GPT is free to use – you can access the technology via the OpenAI blog here.
If you want to hear the whole interview with Bronwyn, you can listen to it here.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Job Readiness Skills Vital for Market to Benefit from ‘Untapped Talent’
A recent article from ABC has once again raised the challenges faced by young people with disabilities in finding and gaining suitable employment, but says job readiness skills can make a real difference to employability and employer confidence.
The article, which you can read in full here, says young people with disability are three times more likely than people over 25 to be unemployed and cites a recent report by the University of Adelaide, which found 18 per cent of young people with disability do not enter the workforce in the seven years after leaving school, compared with 5 per cent for those without disabilities.
Emma Bennison, Strategic Engagement Manager for disability employment for Life Without Barriers, says in the article that a ‘fear of the unknown’ is a barrier for employers, while inconsistent funding from the NDIS – and a lack of confidence on the part of participants about what exactly to ask for – compounds the challenge.
Bennison makes the point that learning job readiness skills are vital to make anyone ‘employable’, so availability and funding for this kind of training and support is vital for people with disabilities, who she says offer a ‘significant amount of untapped talent’.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten confirmed that supporting employment for people with disabilities was a key priority of the Employ My Ability Strategy within Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031, and said his government was committed to ‘changing [the] experience’ for people with disabilities who are looking for work. “We want to help people get into employment and we want to make the NDIS experience better for all,” Mr Shorten says.
To read the whole article, click here. If you want to find out more about how Onemda can support you or the person in your care to prepare for and find employment, please give us a call any time on 9842 1955 or check out the Pathways program on our website.
Disability Royal Commission Update
On March 14, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability released
its 7th and final progress report, covering its activities from 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022.
During the six month period, the DRC reached a number of milestones. It has now conducted well over 1500 private sessions, heard from over 9,500 people and organisations, and received nearly 8,000 submissions. Seven public hearings and 441 private sessions were held, four reports were released and the DRC also conducted a range of community engagement activities.
You can read the latest report in full on the DRC website.
One of the reports published by the DRC late last year was a research report which found that inclusion is critical to ensuring people with disability are safe and supported.
The report examined what can be done to promote a more inclusive society that supports the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
It looked at what can be done in accommodation and community living, education, and in employment settings, finding that inclusion needs to be fostered at a macro level from policies and service delivery, to the ways in which communities are organised and structured. While addressing biases is important, the key is in ensuring individuals feel welcome, know they are safe, and can be confident that their voice is heard and acted upon.
The commissioned report was conducted by the University of Melbourne. You can read more about it here, or access the full report on the Royal Commission website.
The DRC also recently held its Public Hearing 32, which explored forms of redress available to people with disability who are subjected to violence, abuse, neglect, or exploitation while living in group homes or supported accommodation.
The hearing examined what steps should be taken to make sure people can get independent advice and support to pursue remedies. It also looked at whether it would be possible to establish a compensation scheme for people who have been seriously harmed by violence, abuse, neglect, or exploitation, in circumstances where no other redress is available.
For further information or updates on the progress of the Royal Commission you can go to their website – www.disability.royalcommission.gov.au
ONEMDA NEWS
All Abilities Soccer is BACK!
In another exciting sign that we are moving past the restrictions placed on our operations, it’s been great over the past few weeks to be able to re-establish the All-Abilities Soccer Program, with the support of our partners at Bendigo Bank. 
The highly successful All-Abilities Soccer program focuses on teaching soccer skills, promoting health and exercise and provides enormous enjoyment to the Onemda program participants who take part.
Unfortunately, it had to be halted due to the onset of COVID in early 2020, but now it’s back in full swing, led by soccer coach Doc Connor from the Special Olympics, who specialises in teaching soccer to people with intellectual disabilities, and hosted at the grounds of Manningham Blues Soccer Club.
The program is once again proving to be a big hit with everyone who takes part. Currently, groups from Doncaster East, Glenroy and The Basin look forward to their soccer program every Monday, and of course also welcome the opportunities it provides to socialise with friends and team mates afterwards.
Embrace Café Trailer Unveiled
There’s a buzz around the Doncaster East campus every time the café trailer is open for business…and now, with new branding to reflect the ‘Embrace Café’ brand, it’s an even smarter place to grab a beverage. .png)
Embrace Café is part of a new initiative to build skills for employment and will be just the first of many new opportunities to be introduced across Onemda programs.
The Onemda Council selected the Embrace name from suggestions received from program participants and prepared the brief for designer Richard De Silva to come up with a new brand. The final design was once again chosen by Council, before Onemda’s signage partners, SIGMA Sign & Display, took the trailer away to re-skin it with a smart new wrap.
With COVID restrictions now eased, we are planning to launch more broadly to the general public so, if you’re lucky you will be able to grab your favourite beverage from the friendly Embrace Café team soon!
ONEMDA SERVICES UPDATE
It’s great to be back for the year and getting back to a more usual program full of campus-based, cross-campus and
community-based activities. This wider activity has been very much missed during recent times and we are all delighted that government restrictions have now eased to the point where they can resume!
A great example is the resumption of the all-abilities soccer program through the Manningham Soccer Club, which relaunched recently to great excitement. These allow us to extend the range of experiences included in programs and help foster and build social connections and relationships, not just within Onemda but in the broader community.
Creativity has been running high with a range of artistic activities creating plenty of excitement, and it is great to see some of the results starting to appear around Onemda campuses. Opportunities for sharing these endeavours through community art shows and exhibitions, are also being pursued for the year ahead.
At an organisational level, the year has started with the appointment of Martin Withers to the newly created role of Operations Manager. Martin has an extensive background in the disability sector and will bring his considerable operational expertise to ensuring programs not only run smoothly, but continue to develop and improve to deliver the very best outcomes. We were also delighted to welcome Amy Leegan, Manager – Group Services, back from maternity leave to take up the reins of this important role.
No organisation works in isolation, and partnerships will continue to play an important role in providing better programs and opportunities for Onemda participants this year. This includes community partnerships with local councils and organisations like Bendigo Bank, which provide important funding to help us keep our facilities up to date and our programs well-resourced with equipment and technologies, with Box Hill TAFE and other educational partners who provide education and training pathways for program participants, with employment service providers like CVGT and employment partners like Brite Industries who provide work experience and opportunities, and a range of universities and research institutes who partner with us in significant research projects. We have also been continuing to build other community connections, particularly with local schools, which provide an important conduit for students as they consider what they want to do after completing their schooling.
This year will be an important one for our planning and program development, as we review our annual Family & Carers Survey feedback so that our program design and delivery continues to meet the goals and expectations of our community in a very dynamic environment.
