Disability services were already moving online, COVID-19 just forced our hand.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen several disability providers launch online services through a period where lockdowns and physical distancing make the usual group programs impossible.

For some providers, the online effort is a short term ‘band aid’ to stay in touch until things “go back to normal”.

However, for Wallara, the online move has been in development for some time – the combination of the NDIS and the onset of COVID-19 has simply encouraged us to fast-track the process. And today we launched Wallara Online nationally.

It’s the logical extension of a 10-year journey to share the stories of our clients, to provide support, connection and learning opportunities through technology, and to educate the community in order to drive greater inclusion. Indeed, it’s not impossible to envisage a day when our online services might surpass the physical supports we provide, and Coronavirus is just another disruptive force which will see the support landscape forever changed.

First, some personal context.

Ten years ago, after two decades in commercial law and then sports marketing roles with the National Basketball Association and the Hawthorn AFL Club, I joined the team at Wallara. The first thing I realised on commencing in the role was how little I knew about how people with disabilities spent their lives, despite being a carer for a family member myself.

In 2002, our daughter was born in Hong Kong and after the usual developmental milestones were not being achieved we received a diagnosis of “global developmental delay”. At first, when we heard the label “delay” we wondered if that meant our daughter would just need a bit more time to get there. Over time we realised the language of disability can be vague and misleading. It would be more accurate to say that our daughter had a moderate cognitive impairment or developmental disability and was nonverbal.

So let’s fast forward now to 2010 in my first year in the sector, where I developed a deeper understating of this community I was part of. I remember returning home after work in awe and telling my wife how we had clients who were volunteering to deliver meals on wheels, or raising money for breast cancer, and how proud they were to contribute back to their community when they had the opportunity. I also learnt how there were 20,000 adults right across Australia involved in supply chains collectively delivering thousands of products and services.

If you can excuse the pun, I felt totally blind to this group of people and their families, despite being one of them myself. How could this be possible? I thought I was well travelled and knew a few things, but my bubble of self-delusion had been burst.

I remember thinking these were important and powerful stories that had to be told for the clients who were desperate to share their stories, for the amazing staff who worked in this sector often in low paid and challenging jobs, and to help drive greater inclusion so there would be more opportunities for others.

To start capturing and sharing these stories, we created WallaraTV. Today, after 10 years, WallaraTV has produced 200+ videos, including seven 30-minute TV Specials that were broadcast nationally, been hired to produce videos for other organisations, and our clients are now involved in all stages of media production. It has been so rewarding to see it grow and provide our clients with so many opportunities to share their stories and build their media skills.

The COVID-19 crisis allows us to pivot and apply these media resources and ambition to drive social change on a national scale where the usual physical limitations no longer apply.

By physical limitations I mean things like transport. Simply getting to and from a site for physical support can be challenging as soon as they leave the school environment. Our clients share taxis and many families are doing the drop-offs and pick-ups. While some specialist services have set up to offer this service, it’s very difficult to get right.

Another physical limitation is minimum shifts. Under Awards and EBA’s, providers are usually required to pay their staff for a minimum of 2 or 3 hours. So if a client wants only an hour or two of support, then it becomes logistically challenging for staff to be travelling to work these short shifts. To make short shift support sustainable, providers need massive scale.

With online services, there is no need for transport and clients can opt for an hour or even 15 minutes of support if they see value in it.

We know online will never replace physical support and that some disabilities will be better suited to online services than others. But we believe online support could be an essential component of everyone’s support mix, and with no limitations other than access to WiFi, anyone across Australia can utilise it.

The NDIS means that there are now 500,000 people with disabilities with flexible funding who may benefit from this as a valuable part of their support suite. They may choose to access one hour or 10 without ever having to leave home. To add to the flexibility of this model, these hours could be utilised at any time of the day or night. Just like traditional services, online classes could be offered to individuals or groups. They could be educational or social and fun. This technology offers us total freedom to think outside the box and offer creative solutions to our clients in multiple formats.

Our physical sites will always play a crucial role and face-o-face service delivery will always be essential. For example, we run a 40 acre property where we support about 50 clients with low support needs to learn a wide variety of life skills through running a busy and inclusive farm with a café and a nursery that also holds over 100 weddings a year. While demand for the farm is huge, it has limited capacity. We hope the Government will support us with additional buildings to raise that capacity so we can offer more places but in the meantime, virtual delivery enables us to take the farm experience to a potentially unlimited number of people all over Australia.

This is the revolution in support innovation that the NDIS has triggered and the virus has now amplified.

The other exciting opportunity with online service is that it opens up new jobs for people who have disabilities. A traditional support coach needs to be quite active travelling to and from work, providing hands-on support for clients and helping them get out and about in the community. In contrast, an online coach can deliver their service from their own home and that can be very attractive for some coaches living with disabilities. 

Disability services are going through a reinvention and online services will play a major role just as it has with every other sector in our economy.. As this online revolution unfolds, I hope it opens up new ways to educate the general community, raise awareness and increase inclusion.

As one of our clients who has an intellectual disability and uses a wheelchair remarked when he began learning how to edit videos “When I get behind the desk and do this work it’s like my disability disappears”.

I think that’s an inspiring story to hear - And it neatly captures the promise, power and potential of online services.