Safeguarding the disabled

In the past two years the disability services sector has increased its focus on preventing abuse to people with disability, according to Enable South West quality assurance and service development manager Michael Finn.

On September 5 Enable South West will partner with National Disability Services to host an interactive forum for people with a disability, families, carers or those affected by someone who has a disability.

He said abuse came in many forms ranging from discrimination to exploitation and Enable could advocate or give the client tools to seek help.

Mr Finn said it was important people knew the right steps to take. This would give them the confidence they were making informed decisions.

The Enable South West building on Beach Road just underwent a major upgrade and now the building has the capacity for training sessions to be accessed via video link and telephone from clients throughout WA.

“Our recent Lotterywest grant will also allow for an upgrade to our teleconferencing capacity across the region and to offer training and other similar opportunities to areas outside of the Greater Bunbury area,” he said.

Mr Finn said the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office has developed practical resources and information on safeguarding vulnerable people and the forum will be the opportunity to deepen knowledge around those areas.

The forum will be held at Enable WA, 104 Beach Road, Bunbury, from 9.15am to 4.30pm. To register phone 9208 9876 or email [Mailto:sectortraining@nds.org.au|sectortraining@nds.org.au] .