YDAN joins several Disability Organisations in an urgent call for support. We have just lost most of our DSS (Department of Social Services) funding and many of our services will cease on the 30th June 2024, unless we receive immediate funding from another source. Service closures include our Disability Empowerment Project, which supports young people with disability to learn how to self-advocate, and UNLEASHED, a program supporting young people with disability to prepare for meaningful and accessible employment.
We need your help to tell the state and federal government that young people with disability have been forgotten.
Collectively, WA received less than $5M of the $90 Million allocated nationally over three years. At the very least we expected funds that were proportionate to our population and possibly more, given the high cost of regional service provision in WA. That is, with nearly 11% of the population, this should have represented $9.9M of $90M. None of the grants awarded in WA directly support youth with disability, with Kiind being the only funded service to support parents of children with disability. The unique lived experiences and challenges of young people aged 12-25 have been ignored.
Below we have detailed some ways you can help our campaign:
Sign Our Petition
Follow this link to sign our online petition on Change.org here. Signing and sharing our petition is a quick and easy way to show your support for YDAN.
Contact State and/or Federal Members of Parliament
We have drafted a letter (click to download letter) that you can copy and email to any/all of the following politicians. Please feel free to edit and add in your personal experience of support from YDAN. You can also write your own email and let politicians know what the impact of these closures will mean for you, your family, or your community.
State
- Minister for Disability Services, Hon Don Punch, minister.punch@dpc.wa.gov.au
- Ms Merome Beard MLA, Shadow Minister for Disability Services, northwest@mp.wa.gov.au
- Mr Shane Love MLA, Leader of the Opposition, mooreelectorate@mp.wa.gov.au
Federal
- Minister for Social Services, The Hon Amanda Rishworth MP – Minister responsible for DSS and the Information Linkages and Capacity (ILC) Building grants program, amanda.rishworth.mp@aph.gov.au
- Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, The Hon Bill Shorten MP – Minister responsible for the NDIS, bill.shorten.mp@aph.gov.au
- Minister for Youth & Early Childhood education, The Hon Dr Anne Aly MP – Minister responsible for Young people, Anne.Aly.MP@aph.gov.au
- Your local federal Member of Parliament – Click on this link, insert your postcode and it will show who your local federal member is: https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members
If you have been assisted by YDAN’s advocacy services, perhaps you would like to share your story to raise awareness in the community of how valuable these services are to people and their families.
Share Your Story:
If you wish to share how much YDAN means to you or the impact YDAN has had, there are many ways you can share this feedback.
Fill in our Feedback survey:
Click on this link or enter the url https://forms.office.com/r/cvYhsx9RyA to complete our short survey and provide a few sentences explaining what YDAN means to you or explaining the interactions and impact YDAN has had for you, your workplace, your family or your community. You do not have to provide your name or relationship with YDAN so we can use your anonymous quote to support our campaign.
lf you would like other ways of share your feedback directly with YDAN, you could also email hello@ydan.com.au, record a video or voice recording to send to us, or comment on our social media posts.
Word of Mouth
Tell others in your life about YDAN, share our social media posts and you could also consider sending a letter to your local newspaper or media.
Letters to Editor at The West Australian can be sent to:
- Postal Address PO Box 1959, OSBORNE PARK DC WA 6916
- letters@wanews.com.au
Thank you very much for your support to campaign for YDAN to continue to advocate for young people living with disabilities in WA and delivering valuable services in the community.
YDAN would like to thank Development Disabilities WA, in particular Mary Butterworth and Lydia Gallant for their support with this communication.