What is a Disability Support Officer?

A career as a Disability Support Worker

Are you patient, flexible and understanding? Do you relish responsibility and love communicating with a diverse range of people? Can you work as a team, but are also able to work on your own?

If you have all these positive skills and also like a challenge, then have you considered helping people with physical, cognitive or intellectual disabilities to live their best life?

Anyone working in the disability care industry who specialises in the aged care sector can be assured of a long and rewarding career. As a disability support officer you will have lots of great job opportunities to create a long term career in Australia , one that can be extremely fulfilling and engaging.

At NCA, we provide a Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability) – CHC33015 that targets the aged care sector, covering all the skills and knowledge you need to make a positive difference in people’s lives and help them to live their best life.

A disability support officer works with people who suffer from intellectual, cognitive or physical disabilities, supporting them in their day-to-day activities. Your duties may include providing emotional support to individual patients, assisting with personal grooming, encouraging patients to take their medications, implementing care plans, providing companionship, organising social activities and developing programs to help patients develop new skills.

The ability to communicate well and listen are highly regarded skills in a disability support officer, as they aid in developing positive relationships with patients, families, and other allied health workers and health professionals. The ability to think of innovative solutions to complex problems is also a skill that will take you far in the aged care sector.

Do you love thinking outside the box to solve tricky problems? Do you have a can-do attitude and relish achieving positive outcomes? Then a career as a disability support officer might just be the opportunity you have been looking for in your life!

​A disability support officer who specialises in the aged care sector often works in a community based setting, such as a residential care home, but can also provide care in people’s homes. In this line of work you will have lots of opportunities to work throughout Australia. For example, according to the Australian Government, the number of people working as Aged and Disabled Carers (in their main job) grew strongly over the past 5 years and is expected to continue growing over the next 5 years: from 175,800 in 2018 to 245,000 by 2023.

Your tasks will depend on the needs of the elderly person you are assisting, so your day can take many different forms. You might start by helping an elderly resident shower and dress in the morning, take their medications and eat their breakfast. You may then organise an outing, taking them to an appointment in town, and on return to the facility attend a meeting with other health workers to discuss the progress of one or more patients.

If you have passion, empathy, patience and want a very rewarding career, being a disability support officer offers you many benefits. You will receive an enormous amount of personal satisfaction because you will be making a positive impact on peoples lives every day. You will work with a diverse range of elderly patients and with a professional team of allied health and professional health workers, providing many opportunities to improve your skills.

The increasing demand for disability care workers in the aged care sector continues to grow as the number of our elderly population increase; there are numerous job opportunities across Australia for a disability support officer.

Other Disability Care Courses you may be interested in:

Certificate IV in Disability – CHC43115