Independent Assessments

                                    Submission 141

I am writing to object to the proposal of independent assessments.

I am a woman in my 30s diagnosed with autism level 2, plus many comorbid conditions such as anxiety and OCD.

I first accessed the NDIS last year, and it has changed my life. For the first time I have had the support to be able to start improving my life, meeting my goals, and moving towards my biggest goal of working part-time.

If I am forced to go to an independent assessor who I have never met before, due to my issues with communication, I will not be able to give them any clear idea of my support needs or issues. It takes me a long time to build a relationship with effective communication with my current specialists and service providers. I will also go through extreme levels of stress as an autistic being forced into strange and confronting situations like this, which will be extremely deleterious to my current progress. I would not only be unlikely to still get the level of support I need from NDIA to keep thriving, but would be personally damaged by the process, taking me further backwards. A better option for helping people to have a level field with accessing reports, would be to make them accessible through Medicare, same as current mental health plans help people see psychologists.