AMIDA
Action for More
Dignity in Accommodation
Planning to meet
Individual
needs
Ross House,
1st Floor,
Telephone: 9650 2722 Fax: 9654 8575
E mail: amida@infoXchange.net.au
Reviewed………………..
Amended………………..
Approved………………..
PLANNING TO MEET THE INDIVIDUAL
NEEDS OF PEOPLE
Every person has different
needs. These are known as ‘individual needs’. AMIDA believes that our service
should meet the individual needs of people.
The main type of work that
AMIDA does is systemic and group
advocacy. This means we work on problems that affect groups of people.
An example of this is
working to have laws changed to get a better deal for all people with disabilities.
Even though systemic
advocacy is about working with a ‘system’ instead of working with a person, in
the end it means that people will have their individual needs met.
HOW
DO WE WORK WITH PEOPLE TO MEET THEIR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS?
·
We make sure there is plenty of time to talk with
people about their request for help. We will make sure you have enough time to
think, talk and ask questions.
·
Everybody has a right to an advocate or support
person if they want or need one. Your advocate should be someone that you have
chosen yourself. We will support your decision to use an advocate.
·
We will talk with you about the different ways we
can work on your problem. We will give you all the information you need to make
a choice about what to do.
·
We will only do work that you agree we can do.
·
We will provide information in a way that you can
understand. This can be in big print or on audio-tape.
·
Sometimes we are asked to help other groups who
provide services to people with disabilities. We only work with them if what
they want is in the best interests of people with disabilities.
·
We will let you know if there are other groups that
can work on your problem. We will support you to work with other groups.
This could include making sure they understand your disability. This could also include clearly telling you about your rights and options.
·
We will keep a written record of the work we do with
you and how it turned out.
·
If you are not happy with the work we are doing or
how we are doing it you can make a complaint to us.
· We will make sure that you know how to do this.
· We will also let you know about other groups who can help you make a complaint.
·
We will keep in contact with you to make sure that
your needs were met by our service.
·
We will encourage you to tell us if they were not.
HOW
DO WE MEET INDIVIDUAL NEEDS THROUGH SYSTEMIC AND GROUP ADVOCACY?
·
We will contact groups working with people who have
different types of disabilities.
·
This will help us plan our work to deal with the
different problems people face.
·
We will find out what the individual needs of people
with different types of disability are and make sure these needs are being met.
·
People with disabilities always have a say in
deciding how AMIDA will work on group or systemic advocacy.
·
As a way of making sure that we are meeting people’s
individual needs we will ask the people we work with how well we did our job
and encourage them to say what they really think.
·
You can tell us what you think at Committee of
Management meetings, at the Annual General Meeting, at Planning Days or at any
time when decisions about our work are being made.
·
Under our Constitution, at least half of the people
on AMIDA’s Committee of Management have to be people with a disability.
Our Constitution
is the set of rules we work under.
·
All of AMIDA’s policies are regularly checked to see
if any changes need to be made. You can see our policies at any time. They will
be made available to you in a way that you can understand, for example in big
print or on audio-tape.