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Over the past several years, a noticeable shift has occurred in how NDIS providers engage participants when designing their services. Sometimes, it can seem like a mammoth task to weave engagement into existing organisational processes. Engaging people with disabilities can appear overly complex.
However, by defining service engagement well, and adopting the correct methods, improving service engagement can lead to better outcomes for all parties.
What is stakeholder engagement, and why is it important?
The principles of service engagement are embedded throughout the Practice Standards developed by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Anchoring these principles is the philosophy of “person-centred support”. One way a provider can ensure their services are person-centred is upholding the legal and human rights of people with disabilities, and getting input with participants about the method and quality of support they receive.
Another key part of the Practice Standards, is exploring how participants can exercise choice and control. Under the social model of disability, a key aspect of disability is the inability to exercise choice and autonomy over one's life. Consequently, the Practice Standards focus on active decision-making and giving individuals choice, which can be embedded through stakeholder engagement.
Furthermore, the Practice Standards emphasise that maintaining a person’s dignity should be a non-negotiable in service provision. To maintain a person’s dignity, they must have choice and control over how services are delivered.
Service engagement is also reflected in the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, formulated by the United Nations. Article 3, which details the general principles of the Convention, echoes the Practice Standards when discussing the importance of dignity for people with disabilities. Article 4 also encapsulates the need to include people with disabilities in developing policies and procedures, legislation and laws, inclusion in the private sector, consideration within research and development, and the provision to include accessible information within all areas of society.
An extension of these principles is included within Article 8, Awareness Raising, which explicitly defines promoting the awareness, capabilities, and contributions of people with disabilities. Article 8 notes the importance of highlighting and recognising the skills, merits, and abilities of people with disabilities and their contribution to the workplace and the labour market.
However, beyond these basic definitions, engaging people with disabilities as providers makes economic sense and is a good business practice. It provides the opportunity to review and improve services, offer a new perspective and educate employees and decision-makers throughout an organisation.
Define the purpose of engagement
There is a difference between providing feedback on how a service operates, and actively engaging people with disabilities. Providing feedback only evaluates the overall performance of the service. Active engagement provides the opportunity for people with disabilities to contribute insight into how a service is developed, designed, delivered, and implemented, as well as assess its performance.
Ways of engagement
An organisation must be clear about why they engage people with disabilities, and how their contribution will be used. The intent should be to collect valuable information, not just to meet the requirements of an audit. Therefore, the organisation must consider who is best placed to provide this input, why they are engaged, and how their contribution is used.
Providers should ask participants value-based questions to ascertain what skills, capabilities, and values are necessary to them. The information can be used to identify any gaps in how the service is designed and delivered.
Some examples of these can include:
- Do you feel supported by us to access the supports you require?
- Do you feel your values and beliefs are respected?
- Do you know how to make a complaint, or raise a concern if needed?
Organisations can also get advice on how staff are recruited and trained, which could also lead to more people with a disability being employment in the future.
Invite people with disability to attend trainings and meetings
Increasing opportunities for those with disabilities to present during in-house training and skill-building sessions is a practical measure that can allow all levels of the organisation to participate in the engagement process. Several organisations have also embarked on ‘lived experience quality checks’, where people with disabilities join staff for regular meetings to assess how the organisation operates and provide input into its strategic direction.
Make reasonable adjustments
Providers must consider what adjustments must be made so that people with disabilities can engage with the organisation. This includes (amongst other things) adjustments to physical environments, how information is delivered, ensuring personal care requirements are met, and allowances for additional time. These are often the most significant barriers for people with disabilities.
Utilising methods that enhance supported decision-making should also be included. While this requires more time and resources, it is essential to gather input from as many people as possible. The NDIA’s Supported Decision Making Policy underscores why this is so important, and provides helpful information about how to incorporate it within your organisation.
Using stakeholder engagement to improve corporate governance
People with disabilities are significantly underrepresented at a corporate board level. This has left those with disabilities with few opportunities to influence the long-term strategic direction of an organisation.
This lack of representation exists in part because of benevolence bias, where the general community perceive people with disabilities as people worthy of charity or pity, rather than influential decision-makers. This bias can exist within the disability sector, too.
The disability sector must be a role model to the rest of the community and offer more opportunities for people with disabilities around the board table. However, there are no quick fixes or easy solutions to ensure the diverse range of experience and expertise amongst the disability sector is represented.
If you are unsure how to contribute to this ongoing conversation, The Australian Disability Network and the Australian Institute of Company Directors offer additional information, and a program specifically designed to increase the representation of people with disabilities on corporate boards.
Conclusion
Engaging participants in service design and delivery is a crucial part of enhancing organisational performance. Asking the right questions can ensure your organisation complies with a human rights framework and NDIS Practice Standards. Engaging participants well can also ensure that your organisation avoids tokenistic behaviour, receives the necessary information to improve its overall performance, and ensures the contributions of people with disabilities are heard.
If you are keen to know more about stakeholder engagement and how it can improve service delivery, come along to DSC’s workshop, which offers a deeper dive into this topic, and practical tips for your organisation.
