Article: The Information Project: Turning Confusion Into Confidence For People With a Disability

The Information Project: Turning Confusion Into Confidence For People With a Disability

In 2019, NPY Women’s Council went out bush to listen. We sat with Anangu living with disability and their families and asked a simple question: what do you need?

The answer was clear. People told us that existing disability and mental health resources were not working for them. Information was too complicated, written in difficult English, mostly online, and often came from non-Aboriginal perspectives. Communities wanted to know more about issues that affect them directly — brain injury, dementia, NDIS and mental health — but in a way that felt relevant and easy to understand.

In response, an Anangu committee was formed to guide the project. Together, Tjungu developed a collection of resources that reflect community voices and priorities. These include short video clips, animations and brochures - all supported with QR codes for quick access.

The project has been very successful. Families say they feel more informed, more confident and more able to make decisions about care and services. The project has also gained national recognition — with Tjungu staff now sitting on advisory committees to ensure Aboriginal voices are shaping resources for remote communities across Australia. Thanks to its success, the Department of Social Services has extended funding, ensuring more people with disability and their carers can access the right information, in the right way. This work is breaking down misinformation, creating choice, and putting power back in the hands of families.

Opening Doors to Education in Remote Communities: Joyleen’s Story

The Youth Service is breaking down barriers to education for young people in remote communities. Through its Boarding School Support Program, funded by Uluru-Kata Tjuta Traditional Owners, the service provides the practical, emotional and cultural support students and their families need to access secondary schooling options where funding models, and the numbers of teaching staff may fail to meet local needs.

Allied Health Intensives: Putting Families at the Heart of Disability Support

For children living with disability in the NPY lands, access to allied health services like speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy is often limited by distance and availability and living spaces that may not make it possible to receive the preferred at-home support. NPY Women’s Council has developed an approach that bridges this gap - bringing families and professionals together in Mparntwe for intensive blocks of therapy designed around each child’s NDIS goals.

These allied health intensives are more than just appointments. They are whole-family experiences. Parents and carers are supported to travel and stay with their children, because NPY Women’s Council knows that families are the most important part of a child’s journey. By being involved directly, families learn strategies, practise skills alongside therapists, and return home with the confidence to continue therapy every day.

Behind the scenes, these intensives take months of planning and coordination. Support Coordinators work to bring together multiple professionals, fund travel and accommodation, and make sure families feel safe and cared for throughout the process.

The results speak for themselves:
• Children are making measurable progress toward their NDIS goals
• Families feel more confident and skilled to support their children at home
• Therapy strategies are embedded in daily life, not left behind in the clinic
• A fun, connected environment enhances learning, comradery and discovery in families supporting children

This collaborative, family-centred model shows what’s possible when services are designed with care, cultural understanding and strong coordination. By creating space for children and families to learn together, NPY Women’s Council is bringing about lasting change. This program was a partnership between NPYWC and SA Inclusion Australia.

NPY Women's Council is grounded in, and continues to live and work on, the sovereign Lands of the Arrernte people, and the Aṉangu and Yarnangu people - the rightful custodians of the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands.

The Information Project: Turning Confusion Into Confidence For People With a Disability

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