DOCUMENT 8 FOIOFFICIAL24/25-1770 SGB Knowledge Article Template For Internal Use Only
The contents of this document are OFFICIAL.
Understand disability requirements
Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE.
This article provides guidance for all NDIA staff and partners to understand:
eligibility under the disability requirements how to weigh evidence of disability.
Recent updates
3 October 2024
Updates to reflect legislation changes from 3 October 2024:
Applicants may now meet both disability and early intervention requirements, instead of just one.
The disability requirement has changed from lifetime supports under the NDIS to NDIS supports for their lifetime.
Before you start
You have:
read and understood Our Guideline – Applying to the NDIS (external), including
section Do you meet the disability requirements? read article What evidence of disability is required? read article Check eligibility – age and residence requirements.
Overview
To be eligible for NDIS, the person must meet the requirements for:
age residence disability, early intervention, or both.
Disability requirements
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To meet the disability requirements, we must have evidence of all of the following:
their disability is related to an impairment their impairment is likely to be permanent their permanent impairment significantly reduces their functional capacity to
undertake one or more of the following activities: moving around, communicating,
socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks their permanent impairment affects their ability to work, study or take part in social
life they’ll likely need NDIS support for their lifetime.
Check eligibility for disability requirements
Use these articles to check evidence for a decision:
Check eligibility – DIS – disability caused by an impairment Check eligibility – DIS – likely permanence Check eligibility – DIS – significant functional impact Check eligibility – DIS – social and economic impact Check eligibility – DIS – NDIS supports for life.
Additional considerations
Use these articles before you check evidence for a decision.
Check if there is evidence of a condition on List A. Go to Check eligibility – List A condition.
Note: A person is likely to meet the disability requirements if they provide evidence of their diagnosis.
Check if there is evidence of a condition on List B. Go to Check eligibility – List B condition.
Note: A person is likely to meet some of the disability requirements if they provide evidence of their diagnosis.
How to weigh evidence of disability
When you weigh the relevance and importance of the provided disability evidence, consider:
who is providing the evidence of disability?
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how old is the evidence of disability (particularly relevant for functional capacity
evidence)?
For further information, refer to Our Guideline – Applying to the NDIS (external), including sections:
What information do we need in your application? Who can give us evidence of your impairments? How do we weigh evidence of disability?
Next steps
To consider the early intervention requirements, go to article Understand early intervention requirements.
If you are an access delegate:
To make an access decision, continue to article Make an access decision – pre-
legislation changes or Make an access decision – post legislation changes. To make an eligibility reassessment decision, continue to article Finalise eligibility
reassessment decision.
Article labels
PACE user role names
No change.
Topics
No change.
Case names
No change.
Ownership
No change.
Version Control
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Amended Version Brief Description of Change Status Date by
Class 1 approval
New article split from ‘Check evidence 1.0 EMN960 APPROVED 2023-07-07 for a decision – impairment caused disability
Class 2 SG BM approval 2.0 JC0088 Updates to reflect legislation APPROVED 2024-08-29 changes from 3 October 2024
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