Capability and Culture of the NDIA

Submission 66

The NDIS was supposed to provide disabled people with choice, control and safety. Instead it has done the exact opposite. Every interaction I have had with all employees of NDIA has been loaded with ableist, sexist and downright insulting language. The NDIA repeatedly tries to educate my treating team on what treatments are appropriate when the NDIA has no idea what they are talking about. I have had many interactions with the NDIA and LAC’s over the past 12 months and have come to one solution. All staff need to be removed from the NDIA’s pay roll if the NDIS is ever going to serve disabled people. They have been taught to be ableist and use inappropriate language, they have been taught to ignore contact requests (I do not speak on the phone yet am always called despite repeated requests to not be called). My complaints through the formal complaints system are never even looked at, the assessor’s do not read the extremely expensive reports in front of them (eg one assessor said I hadn’t had surgery when both surgery reports were contained in the application). Due to the gross incompetence of NDIa staff and LAC’s I have 0 support as I cannot access the scheme. State services are purely short term and completely insufficient for complex developmental and physical disabilities. I have tried to access an ACAT assessment and have been rejected since My Aged Care says I need NDIS, QCSS say I need to be discharged because I need NDIS, hospitals have discharged me because I need NDIS and they no longer have the funding for my treatments. What is the point in living when I’m in agony all the time and housebound and unable to shower due to this gross negligence? Ability First has been involved for several months now to no avail for finding a service to cover my needs. To conclude, the NDIA needs all staff removed to get rid of the toxic culture. The NDIA needs people with lived experience with complex disabilities who have not been able to access support involved in the design of a new scheme. The NDIA needs to employ properly trained access team to ensure that people with complex disabilities aren’t locked out of all systems to access support.