Specialist disability accommodation is designed for people with an extreme functional impairment, or very high support needs.
Do you have an extreme functional impairment?
This means you have a lot of trouble doing daily tasks on your own or sometimes may not be able to do them at all.
We’ll confirm you have an extreme functional impairment if you need lots of support from someone else to complete daily tasks. This is on top of any assistive technology or other home modifications you have. These daily tasks include:
- Mobility – such as walking, climbing stairs, getting in and out of a bed or a chair, carrying or moving items, and getting out of the house.
- Self-care – such as washing yourself, going to the toilet, getting dressed, eating, drinking, talking and taking medication.
- Self-management – such as housework, following routines, making friends and relationships, maintaining boundaries and managing your behaviour.
Do you have very high support needs?
This means you need a lot of person-to-person support for a significant part of the day. You need this support with you, or you need to be able to get this support straight away. We also need to know that either:
- Your family or friends can’t give you this support or maintain the level of support you need. For example, you might not have enough informal supports, or your usual informal support network can’t support you anymore.
- Specialist disability accommodation will help reduce any safety risks to you or to others around you. For example, if you’ll need help right away to leave your home in an emergency. If you have behaviours of concern that are a safety risk to you or others around you, you’ll need to give us a current behaviour support plan or a restrictive practice plan.
You may also have very high support needs if you have lived in a place like specialist disability accommodation for a long time. This may mean it’s hard to move to other housing options.
How do we work out if you have an extreme functional impairment or very high support needs?
We review lots of different information to confirm if you have an extreme functional impairment or very high support needs.
This helps us understand your current circumstances, strengths, barriers and daily support needs. Don’t worry if you don’t know all of this straight away. We’ll help you work it out.
We may also ask for other assessments if we need more information to make a decision, such as:
- allied health professional reports
- reports about your daily support and housing needs.
We’ll include funding in your plan to assess your home and living needs if we need more information.