Brimbank residents with a disability will wait another three years for the national disability insurance scheme, but the Keilor Downs parent of a boy with autism can still see the bigger picture.
While Despina Havelas is disappointed her 15-year-old son, Kon, will have to wait until October, 2018, for funding, the part-time carer and driving force behind Autism Angels since its inception in 2008 says she looks forward to a more “unified system”.
Under the current system, many people wait on long lists for services that are allocated blocks of funding, she said.
“It’s a better system [under the NDIS]; you’re managing your own funding.
“We’ll have better access to funding, more competition from services and better quality of information. The services will engage Kon and we can engage people to guide us through the system.
“Ideally, it would be great if it came earlier than later,” Ms Havelas said. “The only advantage I see [to being later] is we’ll learn from other areas and the mistakes that happen.”
