Annual Report No.1 of the 48th Parliament
Submission 17
Dear respective members and parties
Public Statement – The Human Cost of NDISP and Sigma Failures in SDA
I am also an NDIS participant living with complex physical and neurological disability.
Almost two years to the day since I was given a notice to vacate by NDISP I now find myself recovering from major surgery as a direct consequence of being forced to live in unsuitable accommodation. In that time I have suffered a large number of falls without the right housing supports in place. These falls along with the stress of unstable housing have caused trauma, injury, and disruption that will now have lifelong consequences for my health and wellbeing.
When I moved into NDISP I was promised a single occupancy tenancy. That promise was broken and I was made homeless,
redacted: After NDISP collapsed Sigma SDA was meant to take over properties but I never entered a Sigma home. Instead I was placed in hospital, then moved into Medium Term Accommodation for 180 days, and then shifted into Department of Housing. These placements were unsuitable for my level of function and have now led to serious consequences including the reality that I cannot be discharged home post hospital because the property does not facilitate my needs.
This has been devastating. My current choice is to remain in hospital with no certainty about housing or to move into a property that is more suitable inside but upstairs with lifts, which means I could never access it independently. This would mean relying on more support hours. While I am not afraid to accept more assistance, I am deeply worried about burning out the people who stand by me. My PTSD only makes the constant instability harder to carry.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has shown it will act when providers fail. But when they collapse it is participants like me who pay the price. We are left homeless, unsupported, and retraumatised. I am only one story but I am able to speak. Many others who are non verbal or who live with cognitive impairments cannot share their stories. They face these same failures in silence.
This is not just my experience. It is a systemic failure. Unless there is urgent reform people with disability will continue to be left in unsafe and unsuitable housing that causes permanent harm. No one should be forced into hospital, homelessness, or major surgery because a provider broke its promises and a system failed to protect us.
Submission 17
I speak out not only for myself but for those who cannot. The human cost of these failures is unacceptable and must lead to lasting change. I hold serious and deep concern for what has happened to me and what is continuing to happen to others across Australia.
With respect and determination
redacted: NDIS Participant and Advocatereadcted
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