This article from the Derwent Valley Gazette is from the 17th January 1990 and talks about how the “Patients” weren’t ready for the community.
While history would say that this was a false concern, there were some instances were life on the outside was a disturbing and frightening prospect for some Patients, but on the whole the de-institutionalisation program was a success.
It also came about as Australia had obligations to support the Human Rights of people living with disabilities which were signed in 1948. Further Australian signatures remained also on our agreement under the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
It was once described to me that there were three types of Staff at the hospital,
- Staff that understood and wanted to know how they would fit into any new support arrangements
- Staff that understood, but preferred to work elsewhere.
- Staff that are still wondering where or why people have gone.
Looking at the current changes in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and it has some similarities to the changes experienced many years ago as people living with disabilities take up their full citizenship within the community.
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Such an interesting article, particularly in that I was in the first intake of TAFE Developmental Disability students along with 20 or so nurses from RDH. I witnessed first hand the evolution in change from a nursing model to a social/educational model.