NDIA Accountability Project

Autistic son's delayed access to early intervention

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Submission No 137

INQUIRY INTO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME AND THE PROVISION OF DISABILITY SERVICES IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Name: Mrs Louise Williams-Ponce Date Received: 6 August 2018

Inquiry into the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the provision of disability services in New South Wales - Submission

The implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and its success or otherwise in providing choice and control for people with disability.

My 3 year old severely autistic son has not been able to access the NDIS and has been waiting access to the NDIS since 12/10/2017. Clearly the scheme, especially when it comes to early intervention, is heavily flawed and recent government changes to ECEI local providers has further delayed this process.

The accessibility of early intervention supports for children.

If we were dependant on the NDIS scheme for early intervention we would have missed the last year of therapies and supports. The time we have waited equates to 298 days (as at today) or ¼ of my sons life. We have spoken to NDIS and the newly appointed ECEI provider and still do not have any information on how much longer we will be waiting at this point. Changes are urgent and necessary.

The adequacy of current regulations and oversight mechanisms in relation to disability service providers

After the government removed our provider (Northcott) to one, all-encompassing ECEI, namely EACH, we have been placed, once again on another waiting list. If oversight mechanisms were in place then clearly NDIS would have the ability to ensure such children are prioritised accordingly. I have contacted NDIS directly who state they are unable to instruct EACH on their waiting lists and EACH is unable to provide us a time frame. We were two weeks away from attending our much anticipated planning meeting when the decision was made to use EACH and our provider would no longer be an ECEI provider. Oversight? Yes I believe so.

Accessing early intervention is an absolute maze currently and needs to be simplified. How can we make children wait so long to access help when it’s so imperative that they receive early intervention as soon as possible? This reduces their long term capacity to contribute and function in our society and is simply not good enough. As a parent I will always ensure my son is given every opportunity to thrive and access services with or without the NDIS. However, not all parents are able to or willing to do so and as a result their children will be the ones that suffer. NDIS is heavily flawed and needs urgent reviews.