Check eligibility – DIS – significant functional impact | FOI document library

FOIOFFICIAL24/25-0999 DOCUMENT 34 Knowledge Article

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The contents of this document are OFFICIAL.

Check eligibility – DIS – significant functional impact

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:

review evidence of the impairment that substantially reduces functional capacity

Recent updates

3 October 2024

Article title changed from ‘KA - Check evidence for a decision - Significant functional

impact’ to ‘Check eligibility – DIS – significant functional impact’.

When we say DIS in a title, we mean disability requirements. We’ve added this to help you

quickly identify which articles are for disability or early intervention requirements.

Before you start

You have:

read Our Guideline – Applying to the NDIS (external) including the section Does your

impairment substantially reduce your functional capacity?
read articles Understand disability requirements, What evidence of disability is required?

and Make an access decision.

Evidence of significant functional impact

Review evidence of the impairment that substantially reduces functional capacity

We need to learn about the person’s impairment before we can make a decision about their eligibility.

To do this you need to check their application and evidence in PACE.

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You need evidence the person’s impairment substantially reduces their functional capacity in one or more of the following areas:

communication
social interaction
learning
mobility
self-care
self-management (if older than 6).

A person’s needs might vary from time to time. This means they may go up and down each day or each month. A good example of this can be progressive multiple sclerosis. We consider a person’s ability over time and take into account how their ability fluctuates.

When a person’s impairment substantially reduces their functional capacity, they usually need disability-specific supports to join in or do these tasks and activities.

These disability-specific supports include:

support from other people, such as physical assistance, guidance, supervision or

 prompting.

assistive technology, equipment or home modifications prescribed by the person’s

doctor, allied health professional or other medical professional.

To decide if a person is eligible, you need to determine their capacity and where they need more help. To decide if a support is reasonable and necessary, you need to consider what information you have available to identify if the person meets the NDIS funding criteria (external).

If a person has more than one permanent impairment, you will need to consider them together to see if their functional capacity is reduced substantially.

You need to consider:

the person’s involvement in different areas of life, like at home, school, work and in the

 community

how they carry out tasks and activities
any other factors impacting their everyday life.

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The disability requirements are just one of the eligibility requirements. To be eligible for the NDIS, the applicant must also meet the age and residence requirements. Go to article Check eligibility – Age and residence requirements.

Next steps

If you are an access delegate:

To determine eligibility, continue to follow guidance in article Make an access decision -

pre-legislation changes or article Make an access decision – post-legislation changes.
To check the timeframes to make a decision, follow guidance in article Check decision –

Legislative timeframes.

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Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
2.0	GCP654	Update for Staff Experience microrelease	DRAFT	2023-02-28
3.0	AK0041	Class 1 approved Article ID: 229723732 Description: Added active published article links and labels.	APPROVED	2023-10-09
4.0	IIW664	Class 1 approval. Article title changed from ‘KA - Check evidence for a decision - Significant functional impact’ to ‘Check eligibility – DIS – significant functional impact’	APPROVED	2024-09-23

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