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Many in the disability community are likely worrying about the rising cost of fuel, and its impact on their daily lives.
The cost of fuel is impacting on the disability community’s access to transport services - supports that allow them to travel to medical appointments, work or community activities, according to the CEO of Women with Disabilities Australia.
Powerd spoke with CEO of disability support organisation Berry Street Yooralla, Terry Symonds, who believes the current fuel shortage is threatening the well-being and human rights of people with disabilities, who face increased isolation and a loss of access to essential services when support workers cannot afford the commute.
We know from everybody's experience during COVID that there are mental health consequences if people are unable to get out and connect with family and friends in the community. It took quite a long time for disability services to be recognised as essential services
Terry Symonds
CEO of Women with Disabilities Australia, Sophie Cusworth, argues that the fuel crisis is having a disproportionate impact on people with disability and their ability to access support.
“We are seeing that higher fuel costs are affecting travel for disability support providers, meaning people with disability might be losing supports or being charged additional fees that they might not have funding for,” Ms Cusworth explains.
Some providers might be scaling back or canceling regional services, and then some of the measures that are put in place…like free public transport might [be]…inaccessible or unavailable…this has really tangible consequences for people.
Sophie Cusworth
The CEO of Berry Street Yooralla claims the government should look at a previously proven solution to address the impact of the fuel crisis on disability support services.
“During COVID, organisations like ours received extra funding…towards the costs of staff to maintain services.. We think that's what they should be looking at now,” he says.
Other disability support providers are already putting in place alternative measures.
CEO of Hireup, Peter Willis, says transport is not simply a “nice-to-have” option for people with disability, it’s how they stay connected to their community and live independently. He explains that while pricing frameworks take time to respond, Australia’s largest NDIS-registered online support provider has chosen to act, absorbing the increase to support its workers and maintain continuity of care.
When fuel costs rise, the risk is that transport shifts become less viable for support workers to take on, which can create real gaps in support. We didn’t want that to happen. So we’ve chosen to step in and support both workers and clients.
Peter Willis
From today, support service Hireup will increase its transport allowance for support workers by up to 50c per litre for shifts involving client transport, self-funding the change, according to a press release. The aim is to help ease cost pressures on workers while ensuring people with disability can continue to access essential transport-based support.
Powerd will keep you updated on this story as it unfolds.