A Disability Support Worker provides personal, physical, and emotional support to people with a disability who require assistance with daily living.Disability Support Workers may provide assistance with showering, dressing, preparing food & eating; and often facilitate or assist with outings and other social activities.

The level of assistance required will depend on the ability and health of the client. Support may also include assistance with self-medication and arranging activities to enhance the clients physical, emotional, and intellectual development.

Support workers may also assist with housekeeping tasks including vacuuming and cleaning, as well as shopping and running errands.

Mentoring is an extremely powerful and effective resource for people of all backgrounds, walks of life and indeed during a wide-range of circumstances in life.

A disability mentor provides advice and guidance as well as personal support to enable you to make your own informed and independent decisions.

People with disabilities, who have engaged in a mentoring programme, are more likely to feel supported and reach their desired goal. Their self-esteem and self-awareness rise, along with their confidence to achieve. They feel more motivated and enlightened, shrugging off their disability as a challenge that can be overcome. Mentoring can also help with stress related issues, helping you to create coping strategies and make decisions.

A Support Coordinator plays a valuable role in ensuring NDIS participants can access all the supports they’re entitled to. Their role is varied, but their main duties include;

- Helping participants understand their NDIS plan.

- Working with participants to plan and coordinate their supports.

- Establishing and maintaining supports.

- Setting up service agreements and service bookings.

- Understanding what support providers can and cannot charge for.

- Anticipating barriers to accessing support and creating plans to tackle these.

- Providing the NDIA with reports.

- Coordinating with participants, their support workers, and their family members to help participants exercise choice over their supports.

- Supporting participants in finding ways to be independent.

- Planning for unexpected events, such as moving homes, changes in support levels, and unexpected hospital visits.

- Creating plans to help participants avoid and/or mitigate crisis situations.

- Submitting requests for plan assessments.

- Using the participant’s preferred language and communication method.

NDIS participants should actively participate in their own support coordination. It is a support coordinator’s job to help them express their preferences and to make decisions to best support their living situation.

A good support coordinator understands that their role is to empower participants to express their own wants/needs, rather than making decisions for them.

Short Term Accommodation, including Respite, is funding for support and accommodation for a short time away from your usual home. It covers the cost of your care in another place for up to 14 days at a time. You might have a short stay with other people, or by yourself. It’s often funded when your usual carers aren’t available, or for you to try new and exciting things.

For more information about short term respite options, the NDIS have compiled a useful factsheet here

Medium Term Accomodation or Respite is funded by the NDIS as somewhere for a participant to live if they cant move into their long-term home because for whatever reason, their disability supports aren't ready.

Generally, medium-term respite is funded by the NDIS for up to 90 days; and only covers the cost of your accomodation. Funding for medium-term accomodation doesn't include day-to-day living costs such as food, utilities or personal care supports.

Other disability supports are funded separately if you need them while you stay in medium-term accomodation.