Caring for a person with disability

All carers can access Carer Gateway for services and support. Call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737, Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm and select option 1 to speak with your local service provider. Then explore our 10 tips about what you can do to make life easier if you are a carer looking after a person with disability.

1. Explore the payments you may be able to get

As a carer, you may be eligable for carer payments or other payments for families, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, or young carers. The person you care for may be able to get a Disability Support Pension.

2. Make an emergency care plan

An emergency care plan has all the information about the person you care for in one place. It makes it easy for someone to take over from you in a hurry, or if you need to talk with someone such as a health care professional.

3. Learn how to lift and move people safely

You may need to help the person you care for to move around. It’s important to learn how to do this properly to prevent injuries, either to yourself or to the person you care for.

4. Find out how to deal with challenging behaviours

Some people with disability can sometimes have challenging behaviours such as aggression or violence. You can learn how to prevent or manage such behaviours.

5. Find out how to manage incontinence

Some people with disability are incontinent, which means they can’t hold in urine (pee) or faeces (poo). You can get tips about how to manage incontinence, and you can also get additional support with incontinence products such as pads.

6. You can get advice and additional support for equipment or home changes to help you and the person you care for

You can get a wide range of equipment to help with moving, communicating with or looking after the person you care for. You can even make changes to your home to help them move around and do things for themselves.

7. Get help at home

Your care role might leave you less time to do everything around the house, and you might need extra help at home. There are many services that can help you, from providing meals to cleaning and making home repairs.

8. Think about what legal arrangements you will need to make

You might need to appoint a guardian or power of attorney for the person you care for.

9. Get tips on how to work with health services

If you care for a person with disability, you will probably be working with health services. It’s useful to find out how to talk to health care professionals and plan for appointments.

10. Find out what respite care you could get

Respite care means someone else looks after the person you care for while you have a break.