Supporting Disability Support Workers - Workbook - IDEASWA

ConfidentialityPeople with a disability and their families often have a lot of differentpeople come into their lives for a wide range of reasons. This caninclude providing respite to the family, providing therapy services to theperson with a disability, providing tutoring, and more. They often havemuch more external assistance than most of the general population. Thevariety of workers coming into a person‟s home can sometimes makethem feel exposed and that their life is continually being assessed bystrangers. When working with a person with a disability and their familyit is important to respect their need for their personal business toremain personal or confidential. All workers, both paid and voluntary,are bound by a confidentiality agreement, that means that workers arenot permitted to disclose (tell) another persons personal information tosomeone else. The association that you work for, and all other DisabilitySupport Workers, is bound by a Confidentiality Agreement, you shouldhave signed one when you commenced with the association. This isstipulated in one of the principles of the Disability Services Act and theDisability Services Standards.Disability Support Workers are not permitted to: Tell another person the personal information of the person theysupport Discuss the person they support with another Disability SupportWorker, family member or acquaintance Leave notes of a personal nature about the person they supportand Leave personal files in an area where they can be accessed bysomeone else.The exceptions to this rule are governed by the National PrivacyPrinciples 26 and include: If they are under 18 and you have parental or guardianpermission If the person is over 18 years old and gave you their consent If they are over 18 years old and have a nominated guardian andthe guardian has given you permission If the information you have will be likely to cause harm or injuryto the individual or to another person if it is not disclosed or If you are required to give the information as the result of a courtorder.If there is more than one Disability Support Worker for a person, theremay be a time when you feel it would be beneficial to discloseinformation about the person you support. This could be a personalaccomplishment. There is a fine line about disclosing information and ifyou are unsure of the procedure to follow in any circumstances, yourcoordinator will be able to give you some guidance.Supporting Disability Support Workers 36