December 2024

This is a banner image with young men with Down syndrome. It reads December Community News

CEO update

Welcome to DSA's December e-news!

As 2024 comes to an end, we reflect on a fantastic year for DSA. We've built on past successes, expanded our team and grown our community impact.

This year, we were proud to be recognised as a national Disability Representative Organisation leading a new consortium. We're representing people with intellectual disability, their families and supporters, with a focus on intellectual disability caused by chromosomal variations. This is an important recognition of our work and will open up more opportunities to drive change for people with Down syndrome and intellectual disability.

We're thrilled to show you more about DSA's role and the work we're already doing to support people with Down syndrome and their families in our new video:

This is a still from Down Syndrome Australia's organisational video

This video, along with the others further down in this newsletter, is part of DSA’s first-ever digital Annual Report, Together We Can: Strengthening Our Community. It is filled with highlights, infographics and even more videos to showcase our work and impact.

View our Annual Report

The Annual Report is best viewed on desktop computer.

Looking ahead to 2025, we are excited to keep building on what we’ve achieved, making a bigger impact with our advocacy, navigating significant changes to the NDIS, and creating even more opportunities for our community through our projects.

Thank you to our members, funders, partners, staff, volunteers and other supporters for making all of this possible. We wish you and your family a safe, happy festive season and a great start to the new year!

Please note: DSA will be closed from Monday 23 December to Monday 6 January.

Sincerely

Darryl Steff
CEO, Down Syndrome Australia

This is a photo of Down Syndrome Australia CEO Darryl Steff

DSA Updates

Advocacy Work

The Federal Government continues to reform disability supports ahead of the election next year. The Department of Social Services has been consulting with the disability community about Foundational Supports. These supports will be outside the NDIS and are designed to help people with disability, along with their families and carers. This includes things like information and guidance, peer support and capacity building.

After speaking with our State and Territory partners and consortium members, DSA is preparing a submission on Foundational Supports. We want to ensure these supports improve inclusion and increase social and economic participation for people with Down syndrome (and those with chromosomal variations). Keep an eye on our website after 5 December to read our full submission.

In other news, the Government has announced a second change to the NDIS Act. These changes aim to improve the quality and safety of NDIS supports and will affect NDIS providers. We’ll be working with other Disability Representative Organisations (DROs) to ensure that these changes help people continue to access the supports that work best for them.

The NDIS also announced snap changes to music and art therapy. We know this is a concern for many people in our community who benefit from these therapies. DSA is working with disability sector organisations, and supporting the advocacy of music and art therapy peak bodies, in response to the announcement.

Advocating for Change Video

We are delighted to share our key advocacy priorities and the recent progress we’ve made for people with Down syndrome in our new "Advocating for Change" video. Click the image below to view it.

This is a still from Down Syndrome Australia's advocacy video

If you have any advocacy questions, please email info@downsyndrome.org.au and mark your message “Attention: Advocacy.”

This is the cover of the latest version of Down Syndrome Australia's Voice magazine

Check Out the Latest Issue of Voice!

In this issue of Voice, we’re celebrating some of the amazing events, people and stories that made the World Down Syndrome Congress in Brisbane this past July unforgettable.

For those who couldn’t attend, we hope this issue offers a glimpse into the magic of Congress. For those who were there, we hope it brings back some wonderful memories!

Read Voice

You can also watch some highlights from Congress in this video:

This is a still from Down Syndrome Australia's Congress video

This is a photo of our newest members of the Down Syndrome Advisory Network

Welcome to Our Newest DSAN Members!

We’re delighted to introduce the newest members of the Down Syndrome Advisory Network (DSAN):

Annie Lee, ACT
Chris Bunton, NSW
Matthew Marshall, TAS
Anna Gray, WA

The DSAN plays an essential role in providing advice directly to the Down Syndrome Australia Board. Their work ensures that people with Down syndrome have a voice on the important issues that affect them. We're sure our newest members will shine in their role!

Learn about our DSAN members

Support and Opportunities

This is a photo of an older female reading a letter

NDIS Letters: How to Get Support

The NDIS is currently implementing a number of changes, which means some people might be receiving letters, phone calls or emails about eligibility or other matters.

There is information on the eligibility process here, and a guideline here which may help to understand the process.

We are conscious of the distress that these communications can cause and are working with the NDIA on their approach.

If you’ve received correspondence from the NDIS and need assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local State or Territory Down Syndrome organisation, or call our info line on 1300 344 954.

This is a photo of three people in a meeting setting

Join the Evidence Advisory Committee

The Department of Social Services is looking for members to join the Evidence Advisory Committee. This is a paid role, perfect for people with experience in research, academia, or those who meet other criteria.

If you’re interested, view the link for more details and learn how to apply.

Learn more

This is an image for the webinar "The power of together"

Webinar: Improving the Health of People With Intellectual Disability

Join the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health for an informative webinar to learn how GeneEQUAL builds more inclusive and respectful health care and education.

The GeneEQUAL team will talk about how they co-produced the GeneEQUAL Toolkit, and how healthcare professionals can use the toolkit to improve the health of people with intellectual disability.

Who is it for?

Healthcare professionals
Healthcare workers
Disability support workers

When: Tuesday 10 December, 5.00pm AEDT

Where: Online

Learn more and register

This is a banner image with Bus Stop Films' and the Disability Employment Summit 2024 logos.

Bus-Stop Films Survey: Share Your Thoughts!

After the success of their recent Driving Change Summit, Bus-Stop Films is running a survey to gather feedback from people with disability about working, or wanting to work, in the Australian Screen and Advertising Industries.

The insights will help policymakers understand how to better support job seekers who are Deaf, neurodivergent or have a disability, and remove barriers to employment. If you or someone you know has experience in this area, Bus-Stop Films would love to hear from you.

Bus-Stop Films Employment Survey

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Down Syndrome Australia is the national peak organisation for people with Down syndrome and their families. We work closely with the State and Territory Down syndrome associations to provide advocacy, support, and information.

Down Syndrome Australia is proud to receive support from the Australian Government's Information Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Grant program, in order to deliver a wide variety of projects to support people with Down syndrome, their family and supporters.

Please get in touch if you have feedback you would like to share with us.

You can reach us via email at info@downsyndrome.org.au

Down Syndrome Australia and its members acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Down Syndrome Australia, 552 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, VIC, 3051

You are receiving this email because you have signed up for updates from Down Syndrome Australia. If you've had a change of mind, you can update your preferences by clicking Unsubscribe