Media release 19 December 2017

Myer-GALFA Grant success for Melba Support Services to improve services for LGBTI people living with a disability

The Sidney Myer Fund and the GALFA Board of Directors are very pleased to announce that Melba Support Services is the recipient of a funding grant focusing on LGBTI people living with disability. The $15,000 grant is a collaboration between GALFA and the Sidney Myer Fund Poverty and Disadvantage Small Grants Program.

Melba Support Services, based in Lilydale in Melbourne’s outer east, will work with Sexuality, Equality, Disability partners to run 12 full-day workshops for disability support workers on the specific needs of LGBTI people. They will also coordinate 25 one-one-one planning sessions with LGBTI people living with disability in preparation for their NDIS packages.

The consortium partners include Pride VIC, Stabilise, and Ananda Training and Consultancy. This project will build on their work enabled by a Healthy Equal Youth grant in 2016 to host a range of forums about the needs of young LGBTI individuals with a disability.

Melba Support Services CEO, Glenn Foard, said “We are delighted to receive support from GALFA and the Sidney Myer Fund for this vital work. As an organisation, we want to support LGBTIQ individuals to exercise choice and control over their lives - a fundamental premise of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We look forward to supporting individuals access the disability supports they require”.

GALFA Director Ruth McNair said “We are very pleased to be focusing on improving services for LGBTI people living with disability, as this group has received very little attention to date from either government or the disability sector. This will complement our previous grant to Inclusion Melbourne in June 2017. They are developing training materials for disability support organisations on the specific needs of LGBTIQ people with intellectual disability.”

GALFA website at www.galfa.org.au

For more information about the Sidney Myer Fund – GALFA grant scheme, or about GALFA, contact:
Ruth McNair (GALFA Director)
M: 0419 120 663
E: r.mcnair@bigpond.net.au