Blue Skies

Welcome to Blue Skies for 2011

As Queensland recovers from a summer of flooding and cyclone, the Blue Skies Vision for an inclusive community remains as alive and relevant as ever.  While it outlines clear expectations for accessible places, public places, and local infrastructure and homes, it reminds us that social infrastructure is just as important.

The relationships built and strengthened, and the opportunity to see people with disability as part of recovery teams (rather than passive recipients of support), reminded us that the ways in which people play valued roles and contribute to the life of the community are as richly diverse as the community itself.

The response of Queenslanders has also challenged us to rethink our assumptions about the relationship between vulnerability and resilience.  It is no longer reasonable to equate resilience with independence and self-sufficiency.  Broadening our definition of resilience to include relationship and interconnectedness opens the way to move creative investment in disaster readiness, response and recovery.  It opens the way for investment in capacity building for individuals and family; for grassroots community development work; and for shifting from our traditional deficit based models of intervention to an acknowledgement of the strengths and assets in the community and all its people.

2011 will bring a new push to imbed the Blue Skies Principles and Elements across all government departments including, but not limited to, the reconstruction agenda, all new residential housing development, local infrastructure and planning, education and health reform agendas.

2011 will also see the unfolding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and expectations of a strong, coherent policy and investment response from government.

2011 will see the disability service sector adapt and respond with more contemporary, responsive services, backed by policy that is coherent and supports progress toward fairer, more equitable and comprehensive distribution of resources.

2011 will see key stakeholders in education, health, local government and other fields mobilise around the Blue Skies Scenario aligning it with their own work plans and efforts.

National Disability Services Queensland has invited participants from across the disability sector to be part of a series of conversations to begin to explore the sectors readiness for a national disability insurance scheme and to start mapping the work of building capacity in people with a disability, their families, service providers and the broader community. The conversations will run between September and December.

The first meeting was held on 19 september 2011 and the meeting notes are now available here  – NDIS conversation feedback