Launch of One Stop Shop for Disability Knowledge

A “one stop shop” for disability knowledge has been launched to help people navigate the new disability market under the NDIS.

The Centre for Applied Disability Research (CADR) has launched a new Disability Knowledge Clearing House in a bid to assist NDIS participants access the right supports and help service providers innovate and focus on better outcomes.

The Clearing House, designed to become the most comprehensive collection of disability research and resources for the Australian context, is a hub for those seeking to learn, collaborate and better connect research evidence to policy, practice and life experiences.

The general manager of sector development and research at non-government peak body National Disability Services, Gordon Duff, said the hub will help people with disability learn what works under the new system.

“The NDIS is building a new disability market where people with disability and their families will have choice and control over the supports they receive,” Duff said.

“They need to know what works, for whom, under what circumstances and at what cost. The service providers they choose need reliable, research-backed evidence to innovate and focus on better outcomes.

“The Disability Knowledge Clearing House is designed to be a one stop shop for disability knowledge.”

The Clearing House is a repository of links to a wide range of disability research, evaluation and other resources.

Key features of the Disability Knowledge Clearing House include:

• The contents of the 2014 Audit of Disability Research. They will be added progressively over time to complement a wide selection of other material.
• The opportunity for users to browse and find material relating to specific disability groups, support types, locations and formats, and organised by nine key domains of inquiry aligned to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRDP).
• A growing collection of Research to Action Guides, intended as accessible summaries of “what works” across priority topic areas determined in consultation with key stakeholders.

Duff said it will assist NDIS participant’s access the right supports and disability service providers to deliver best practice evidence based services.

“This resource comes at a crucial time with the roll out of the NDIS,” he said.

“The 2014 Audit of Disability Research found that there is no critical mass of research on topics of priority to the National Disability Strategy and the NDIS.

“We need to create a mature research base with focus, depth, quality and coherence to support once in a generation disability reform.

“We encourage exploration and feedback to support the aim of building the most comprehensive collection of disability research evidence and resources for the Australian context, and putting that evidence into practice.”