WILLIAMSTOWN’S Milly Parker told a crowd of more than 5000 at Monday’s Every Australian Counts rally that, bizarre as it sounds, she had won the lottery.
Ms Parker, who has an acquired brain injury as a result of a car crash 19 years ago, addressed one of six simultaneous rallies held across the country calling for action on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“I had no idea at the time, but I was incredibly lucky that my disability was the result of a car accident and that it happened in Victoria,” Ms Parker said.
“I won the lottery because here in Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission exists and I’ve had access to the best medical care, support and services.”
Ms Parker said she wanted a national scheme so that young people with a disability weren’t forced to live in nursing homes and people didn’t have to battle for the basics like a wheelchair or a shower.
“As we speak, someone else has become a person with a disability through an accident, domestic violence or medical diagnosis,” Ms Parker said.
“Most likely they are about to enter the horror of negotiating the unfair, underfunded, broken disability system as it stands, unless they win the so-called ‘lottery’ like I did.”
At Sydney’s NDIS rally, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she would roll out the scheme at four national locations from July next year.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott told Perth’s NDIS he would pledge bipartisan support “for a responsible and timely NDIS.”
Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes told the Melbourne rally that even his guide dog was barking for the NDIS.
“Australia’s disability service system is broken and broke, and we’re the disadvantaged ones as a result,” he said.
“Currently, almost one in two people with a disability in Australia – 45 per cent – live on or near the poverty line. That’s double the OECD average.”
