Disability, the NDIS and Support for people

Last week, we promised to describe plan management in more detail. Rather than approach it in the way many people do, we decided to look at it from the inside out. By recognising it from a plan manager's perspective, we can see things that we wouldn't usually observe in the system. One of the most important things that a plan manager should offer is providing advice, keeping things in good order but most importantly, not taking over the decisions of the participant. Plan manager should be about helping people to get ahead, rather than holding them back. We've added a fresh new sound to our podcasts, hope you like it. It's a teeny-weeny bit longer than usual, but I think you'll agree that it's worthwhile.

There is a lot published about plan management. But judging by the questions we get asked, we suspect that all that material isn't actually explaining what plan management is about and what it means for you, and whether you should even care about it at all. This is a bite-sized chunk of information to describe what plan management is and how you should approach it.

We interview Billy, a street artist at creativity unleashed. What does he find special about art? What makes him tick? And how can it help us in our every day lives?

'It takes only seven seconds for us to judge another person when we first meet them,' says Linda Blair, clinical psychologist and author of Straight Talking. 'It's not a conscious process, so we don't even realise we're doing it - but it goes back to our primitive roots when we couldn't afford to make wrong decisions.'

We love meeting people at expos. They are a chance to talk to people who have overcome the odds to do what they love. Their inspiration gives us ideas about how to help people achieve their goals and live an ordinary or even extraordinary life. This episode is about some of those people that we met at the Nepean Disability Expo.