A while ago, I shared that I was working on a project about Peer Support (see: http://silentsigns.net/2019/03/26/peer-support-practice-review/#.XRwtp-gzbIU).
Well that project has finished and I would like to share with you some of the exciting and amazing things that came out of that project!
This project is funded by the National Disabilty Insurance Agency (NDIA) who engaged the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) to review and build organisational capacity of disability support organisations (DSOs) to provide peer support.
There were many stages of this project and my job (at the SPRC) was to conduct a review of what resources and information are out there to help people and organisations provide peer support for people with disabilty and their families.
We wrote a (Stage 1A) report which includes the gaps and prioirty groups we identified that need more support and resources. This includes people from diverse communities, Deaf people who use Auslan, people from Aborignal communities and people who live in group homes.
After our report, ANZSOG and many disabilty organisations around Australia worked hard to create new resources that filled in the gaps. SPRC then conducted user-testing of some of the new resources.
You can find SPRC’s reports and more information here: https://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/peer-support-practice-review/
New Resources Launched!
The new resources co-desgnised and developed by ANZSOG and disability organisations around Australia have been launched at a workshop (organised by NDIA) on 26th June 2019.
It was great to catch up with different people I have worked with on this project and it was also great to have Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreters available for the workshop.
The resources launched include new resources or modifications of exstising resources into other formats like:
- Easy- Read
- Auslan videos
- Different langauges such as Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese.
Most of the resources are uploaded into the Peer Connect Website where you will see “Easy-Read”, “Auslan” and “Resources in Other Languages” on the home page!
Most resources are availabe here: https://www.peerconnect.org.au/
I am grateful to have been part of this project. It has been fun, rewarding and stressful, but I am thankful to have inspired more focus for Deaf/Auslan and more diverse/ different language resources.
THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of this project, especially Eban, Karen, Laura, George and everyone else.
Check out