truly, it's not we who have 'attitudes', it is attitudes who have us.

Aristotle was right to say that a civilisation ought to be measured against its service to the most vulnerable, so just how civilised is Australian civilisation, really? Maybe it still has a long, long way to go, judging by its attitudes to things like equal pay for equal work (as long as it doesn't apply to women), a bill of rights (as long as it doesn't apply to the unborn or nearly dead) and disability insurance (as long as the disabled 'deserve' our solicitude). Go figure!

Congratulations Erik on a brave and timely article.

The push for an NDIS as a panacea is driven by the services industry, and it is so refreshing to find someone with the courage to say this.

Good on you.

Vern Hughes

The NDIS proposal is being driven by major institutional players in the disability service industry. The AMA has now jumped on board. Whilst these organisations purport to advocate a NDIS for the benefit of people with disabilities they fail to acknowledge their own self interest. Insofar as more funding will improve the lives of the disabled I am in full support, but the NDIS proposal is fundamentally flawed in that it proposes to fund itself by stripping away the compensation rights of those injured at work and on the road - it will in effect rob Peter to pay Paul. It will also exclude those people who suffer a disability after they turn 65! With an ageing population, that is a potentially large group who will be frozen out, thereby creating another underclass with high needs. Funding will always be the problem - there will never be enough to go around.

As a parent and carer of a person with severe cerebral palsy, I wholeheartedly welcome the proposal to develop a National Disability Insurance Scheme. Such a scheme will go a long way to ensure that people with disabilities (and their carers) will have equitable access to services and supports which meet their individual needs in a timely way. Ideology and rhetoric are no substitute for forward thinking and solution-based action bring on the NDIS.
Robyn Chapman
Sydney