Inquiry into Implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Provision of Disability Services in New South Wales
Name: Ms Madeleine Keaton Date Received: 2 August 2018
To whom it may concern,
I have an issue with NDIS which is not life-threatening nor as dire as others may have, but it is important as far as my family is concerned. My nine year old son is on the autism spectrum and though I have got for funding for treatment I cannot access it. He needs to see a psychologist and an occupational therapist, but I cannot get the necessary appointments. All the local practitioners have either closed books or long delays. I have made appointments, but kept getting triaged further into the future as other cases were deemed a priority. I am not arguing against that, but worried that my son may not get the treatment he needs in easonable time. He has learning difficulties and behavioural problems at school and I’m worried that the longer they go untreated the bigger the difficulty in attending to them will become. Another worry is that the funding I have got runs out in October. Before that, there will be a review of the funding in September. If the funding is not used in time I’m concerned it may not be renewed and my son will be denied the professional help he needs. I would appreciate reassurance that if the funding is not used because we can’t get appointments it won’t be cut off on the erroneous assumptions my son doesn’t need treatment or that I am too lazy to secure the necessary appointments. I have spent a lot of time ringing practitioners without success. I have finally got an appointment to see an o.t. on 17th August, but this is most likely the only appointment my son will have before the review in September and possibly even before the funding end date in October.
Yours sincerely
Madeleine Keaton