Addressing Uncertain Times
These times seem troubling, with blame and hostility between religions, between leaders and between communities, where everyone thinks they are right and the only view of the world is their view. This remarkable lack of reflective perception can, for those with disabilities, make their lives even more challenging when intolerance surrounds us. These levels of local, national and international anger, bullying and intolerance can only drain one emotionally to the point where we all try to “tune out” and ignore the clamouring noise.
Those with disabilities are experiencing heightened levels of anxiety, uncertainty, fear and psychological stress. This is often driven by significant policy changes that, for an individual with a disability, impact them directly and challenge their sense of worth and autonomy. For example, in late 2025, major reforms were announced to the NDIS, notably the “Thriving Kids” initiative. This program, launching on 1 July 2026, is for children under 8 with mild to moderate developmental delays or autism, creating early intervention supports outside the NDIS to improve outcomes and ease NDIS pressure. While some autistic children may have mild to moderate conditions and be better served outside the NDIS, the proposed changes have often resulted in fear and anxiety about loss of services, confusion about what the initiative really means (cost-cutting or not) and a perceived loss of control over their lives. This only adds to a person with a disability feeling more exposed, more isolated, and heightened feelings of losing control over their own lives. While the initiative may be well-intentioned, its imposition on families with vulnerable children in an environment of trying to save costs creates the wrong impression.
Surely, what we need to focus on in these uncertain times is a stronger sense of community, an understanding of basic rights to dignity and control over oneself and a sense of inclusion. People with disabilities need to be involved in decisions affecting their lives, as without that involvement, all that is left is a dark sense of exclusion and powerlessness. As Maya Angelou, the great American essayist, poet, and civil rights activist, once observed, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel".
Part of our 2026 New Year wish list should be a commitment to inclusion and understanding towards those with disabilities, rather than isolation and exclusion, making decisions that impact daily lives in a vacuum, without real understanding of what that means at an individual level.