People with disability should have the same rights as everybody else.

The Disability Royal Commission looked into problems people with disability had experienced.

It helped the government find out what:

• went wrong
• the government should fix.

The Disability Royal Commission shared their Final report in September.

The report explains that the Australian community should respect the rights of people with disability.

The report also explains that people with disability experience restrictive practices more than other people.

Restrictive practices don’t support the rights of people with disability to:

• make decisions
• control their own life
• choose what they want.

The report also explains that providers must follow the rules about how to use restrictive practices.

The Disability Royal Commission explained that governments should only let providers use restrictive practices to keep:

• people with disability safe
• other people safe.

Providers should only use restrictive practices after they have tried other ways to keep people safe.

This includes supported decision-making.

Supported decision-making is when someone helps you make important decisions about your life and how you live.

The Disability Royal Commission also explained that providers should think about the rights of people with disability when they use restrictive practices.

This means they should:

• try other ways before they use restrictive practices

• only do it when people are at risk

• use restrictive practices for the shortest time possible.

Our policy shares rules about restrictive practices that providers need to follow.

It is important that providers support people with disability in a way that is best for them.

This includes:

• focusing on their strengths

• supporting them to understand and communicate what they need

• supporting them to make their own decisions

• supporting them to speak up when things go wrong.

Providers should use allied health professionals to find out why a person with disability does things that puts:

• them at risk
• the people around them at risk.

Allied health professionals help people with disability to get the support they need.

This should include an assessment.

An assessment can help to work out if a person’s behaviour doesn’t have a purpose.

Providers should also use allied health professionals to understand how to safely use the devices that a person with disability needs.

Providers must create policies and rules for their workers.

The rules should explain that providers only use restrictive practices when they are included in a person’s behaviour support plan.

A behaviour support plan is a document that explains what support a person with disability needs.

The policies and rules should also explain how providers need to run Quality Assurance Panels.

A Quality Assurance Panel is a group of people who check behaviour support plans.

They decide if the restrictive practice can happen.

They follow the rules in our policy about restrictive practices.

Providers can only use a restrictive practice if a Quality Assurance Panel has decided that it can happen.

Providers also need to record:

• how they use restrictive practices
• when they use restrictive practices.

This includes reporting restrictive practices to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission).

The NDIS Commission makes sure people with disability who take part in the NDIS:

• are safe
• get good services.

Providers often use restrictive practices when a person with disability shows behaviours of concern.

Behaviours of concern are things someone does that might put:

• themselves in danger
• other people in danger.

Behaviours of concern are how a person with disability might communicate that something is not supporting what they need.

This means that this behaviour is not their fault.