Adequate supports for people with disability are necessary to ensure they enjoy their human rights and to enable them to realise their full potential. Older people with lower levels of needs, or who are ineligible for the NDIS due to their age, are left to navigate a complex support system without assistance.

The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) and the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) developed this paper to:

A. Provide an overview of key issues relating to current services in Australia for older people with disability.

B. Explore definitions of disability-related and ageing-related needs.

C. Provide key statistics on unmet needs of, and reliance on informal support for, older people with disability.

D. Describe the Australian policy ecosystem’s failure to meet the needs of older people with disability.

E. Start a solutions-focused discussion on how to meet the needs of older people with disability.

By publishing this Discussion Paper, OPAN and AFDO hope to:

• Promote the rights and needs of older people with disability. 
• Educate governments, service providers and key advocacy organisations on key issues and statistics relating to older people with disability. 
• Improve the quality of the discussion around meeting the needs of older people with disability through the current aged care reforms, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Review, Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021 -2031, and other federal, state and territory reviews.
• Motivate readers to want to know more about the experiences, needs and appropriate supports for older people with disability.