Professor Andrew Whitehouse Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research Telethon Kids Institute 100 Roberts Rd Subiaco, WA Australia, 6008
06/05/2021
Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: +61 2 6277 3083 Fax: +61 2 6277 5829 ndis.sen@aph.gov.au
Dear Committee Secretary,
I am writing to the Committee members to contextualise a quote of mine that was enclosed within the joint submission to the Committee’s inquiry into the Independent Assessment Framework provided by the Department of Social Services and the National Disability Insurance Agency (Submission 13, page 9).
I provided the following quote to the National Disability Insurance Agency in September 2020:
“The assessment framework is consistent with international best practice. Accurate assessment of functional abilities is a critical foundation in determining the most appropriate supports for each individual. By tailoring assessments to the characteristics of each individual, the framework has great potential to increase the accuracy of assessment, and ensure that all support needs are identified for each individual.”
This quote was subsequently shortened by the NDIA (with my permission) to:
“The assessment framework is consistent with international best practice. It has great potential to increase the accuracy of assessment, which is a critical foundation in determining the most appropriate supports for each individual.”
This quote was provided in the context of the document ‘Functional Capacity Assessment Framework’ in August 2020.
Since providing this quote in September 2020, considerable further detail has been released on this Framework (subsequently retitled, ‘Independent Assessment Framework’), and my quote does not relate to those details.
I have written to the Chief Executive Officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency, Mr Martin Hoffman, to respectfully request that any future use of this quote is done with this context clearly provided.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Whitehouse