The future of the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania’s National Assistance Card has been secured for the next 12 months with a $727,000 Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grant for the Association.
Senator for Tasmania, Catryna Bilyk, recently joined Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten MP, to announce the funding.
The National Assistance Card is a personalized card for people with brain injury, which helps explain the unique areas of difficulty of the cardholder and the assistance they may need.
A trial of the card has been running in Tasmania for people with autism, and the funding will make the card available for people with autism nationally from 2025.
Minister for the NDIS, Bill Shorten, said the card helps bridge the communication gap between people with disability and other members of the public.
“When you see a mum struggling with a child who’s acting out, don’t assume that that’s a bad mum. You don’t know if the kid’s got some sort of developmental delay, which means that they’re just overloaded and tired when they’re in the shops.
Left to right: Senator Catryna Bilyk, Minister for the NDIS Bill Shorten MP, Brain injury ambassador Paul Pritchard and Executive Officer of the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania, Marie-Clare Couper. “I think that what the card does is it just provides us another opportunity to stop and not judge and see how we can help, rather than just thinking don’t know, don’t care, not my business,” Mr Shorten said.
Senator Bilyk said she was proud to have advocated for the National Assistance Card and to have worked with Minister Shorten to secure its future.
“Whether it’s for people with brain injury, people with autism, or their carers, the National Assistance Card is such a valuable service,” Senator Bilyk said.
“It gives people peace of mind that—in situations where they may be distressed, anxious, or just have difficulty explaining themselves—they can pull out the card to show a shop assistant, a first responder, or even a member of the general public, what their disability is, how it affects them and what help they need.
“I went in to bat for this service, because I know how much it means to the people who use it.”
Brain injury ambassador, Paul Pritchard, said just knowing he has the card when he needs it makes a difference.
“I live with seizures. If I do have it, then someone will know that I have brain injury,” Mr Pritchard said.
“Also, I’m often assumed to be drunk because I fall over quite a lot with my hemiplegia. And I’m slow and often forgetful, so just to be able to show that card is actually really important for me.”
Executive Officer of the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania, Marie-Clare Couper, said the funding would allow the National Assistance Card service to not only continue, but to be expanded.
“As a practical and innovative tool to assist people with disability in the community, the National Assistance Card was initially launched for people living with brain injury, and in 2025 we will be launching it to the national autistic community,” Ms Couper said.
“If we’re successful in securing future funding, we hope to respond to the many requests to expand the Card to support other disability types.
“The Brain Injury Association of Tasmania is grateful to Senator Bilyk and Minister Shorten for recognising the work BIAT does, and the value of ILC projects such as the National Assistance Card.”