Check for Degenerative Disabilities

SGP KP Publishing

Exported on 2025-04-03 04:44:42

Table of Contents

1. Recent updates ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. Before you start ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. Understanding degenerative disabilities ………………………………………………………………………..
4. Next steps ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This article provides guidance for a local area coordinator, early childhood partner and all NDIA staff (planner, payment officer, internal review officer, complaints officer, participant service officer, access officer, quality officer, technical advisor, SDA officer, NCC officer, provider support) to understand:

• what a degenerative disability is
• why we need to identify them
• how do we identify them
• what we do differently.

1 Recent updates

October 2023 Current guidance.

2 Before you start

You have:

• read article Complete personal and environmental circumstances case
• read article Create Personal and Environmental Circumstances case
• read article Record Capacity Building information
• read Guide - Conversation style guide.

3 Understanding degenerative disabilities

What is a degenerative disability?

A degenerative disability is a condition which causes a progressive and irreversible loss of a person’s function.

This means the things the person can do changes and declines over time. For some people, and conditions, this change happens quickly. For others, this happens slowly over a long time.

Some examples of degenerative disabilities are:

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Rhett Syndrome
• Motor Neurone Disease.

Check out our disability navigator for more detailed information.

Why do we need to identify degenerative disabilities?

We aim to prioritise people with urgent needs, like degenerative disability. We need to identify them so they can get the right help as soon as possible.

We make quicker decisions about the participant’s eligibility. We do this within 2-5 business days.

To learn more, refer to article Consider priority eligibility decision.

How do we identify degenerative disabilities?

We identify degenerative disabilities by:

• listening to people
• checking any reported conditions
• checking any evidence of disability.

Record support coordination information

Use your interpersonal skills in a guided conversation and listen carefully to the person’s answers. Explain to the person we need the right information before we make an eligibility decision.

This will help you select the most appropriate responses for the Capacity Building questions in the Personal and Environmental Circumstances (PEC) case capacity building questions in PACE. This includes recording an answer to the question Is the Disability stable?

Note: The PEC case Steps and questions are dynamic and may change. This will depend on the person’s situation and age, as well as the response options selected for some questions.

4 Next steps

1. Read article Record Capacity Building information to continue with the PEC case.