Inquiry into Implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Provision of Disability Services in New South Wales
Name: Name suppressed Date Received: 25 July 2018
Partially Confidential
25th July 2018
To whom it may concern
My son was diagnosed with severe OCD in 2014. He is a very bright and loving young man who has a permanent condition that he will always struggle with. He is on daily medication to assist him to be an active participant in school and after school sports. He is currently completing Year 12 and will enter the workforce and/or external studies in October this year.
I am also receiving the Carer’s allowance for him. It took 17 months before it was finally approved. I note that the FAO is a different department to the NDIS but surely if I have been given approval to receive the Carer’s allowance as my son has a permanent disability wouldn’t you think that I should not have to go through this entire process again. It is not only physically exhausting to have to fight for something that my son is entitled to but it is financially draining and all I am trying to achieve from the NDIS are better options for my son to join the workforce and be an active member of society.
After discussions with his school in early October last year they suggested that he was eligible for the NDIS as we had documentation showing that his condition was permanent and that he was continuing to see his psychiatrist and psychologist on a regular basis to manage his condition. This would allow my son to access driving lessons, external studies and other things to assist his transition into the workforce and external study options.
25th October 2017 - I spoke to and set up our files for NDIS. She said a letter would be sent in the mail which needed completing and then return to . She said that once my son was approved I would log into My Gov and attach the NDIS link (my son would show under my name as I am the primary carer). 28th February 2018 - I called the NDIS to find out status of my son’s eligibility. I was told it is in the system and I will be contacted in due course.
1st March 2018 - I sent an email to the NDIS
“Hi; I forwarded an email on 22nd December 2017 and have not received any further information to date. Could you please advise what is happening with my son’s assessment.”
I received the following reply from :
“ s medical evidence has been attached to his application and it is currently awaiting assessment. An assessor will be in contact as soon as an access decision has been made.”
6th April 2018 - I again called NDIS and spoke to . She said that as my son’s condition wasn’t permanent he would not be able to access the NDIS. I explained that it was permanent and I couldn’t understand how they could come to that conclusion. She said that if I could get a letter from my GP stating that his condition was permanent and send it to her she would add it to the file. I said that I would do it but it would take me about 4 weeks to get this from my GP. She asked me to re-apply with the letter but as I said I had already applied on 25th October last year (almost 6 mths ago), provided numerous documentation from my son’s psychiatrist and psychologist I was not going to re-apply again. She then said that was fine she would keep the file open so that the letter could be added.
10th May 2018 - I emailed letter from my GP to NDIS confirming that my son’s condition was permanent. from called and said that she had received the letter and asked me to call back on . I did and was told by a gentlemen that he did not know
29th June 2018 – I sent another email to the NDIS
“Hi, I am just enquiring as to the progress of my son’s claim for access to the NDIS. He is currently in year 12 and I am trying to obtain assistance prior to him completing his HSC in October this year. I would appreciate if you could provide me with an update.”
I received the following response:
“Good afternoon Thank you for your enquiry. As per the acknowledgement letter sent, the Internal Review Team are currently experiencing a high volume of review requests.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide a timeframe for an individual review as each review takes a varied amount of time. The team are endeavouring to complete the reviews as quickly as possible and you will be advised of the outcome as soon as practicable.
Should you have any further information to submit for the review proceedings, please attach the documents to a reply email, alternatively, if you have supplied all the information, please respond to this email advising that you have no further information to submit.”
25th July 2018 - I again called the NDIS and spoke to redacted asked if he had any timeframe for when
my son’s application would be assessed. He had no idea and could give no timeframe. I told him that
I am already receiving a carer’s allowance from FAO which took me 17 months to get assessed and I
could not understand why my son would not be accepted into the NDIS as he has a recognised
permanent condition. It was also frustrating because my son will be leaving school in a couple of
months and I don’t even know what he would be entitled to from the NDIS and no one will tell me
until he is approved. I don’t have the funds to provide driving lessons and further study for him when
he leaves school and his school has advised me that under the NDIS scheme he would be entitled to
financial assistance for these and other things. redacted said he would get someone to contact me to
discuss what redacted might be entitled to.
It is now 9 months since I put in an application for my son to the NDIS. To date I have no idea when he will be assessed. I don’t know what else to do but continue to wait.
I note that a fraud squad of 100 officers is being created to catch people ripping off the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Maybe they should be providing more staff to be able to assess these applications. After 9 months my son can’t even get into the NDIS.
Under the circumstances I would appreciate if my application could be processed without further
delay. I can be contacted on redacted if you need to discuss the above.
Yours Sincerely