NDIA Accountability Project

Husband's PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, and Memory Impairment

Independent Assessments

                                 Submission 291

PROPOSED INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENTS

I would like to provide some input on the proposed Independent Assessments by the NDIS.

Both my husband and I are disabled, my husband suffered a burnout resulting in PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Major Depression and a severe Memory Impairment. I have an incurable autoimmune condition that resulted in additional diseases. I have been my husband’s carer since 2011 and he helps me out where my body fails. However, I am with him 24/7 due to his condition which is deteriorating over time.

I strongly disagree, on behalf of both of us, being subjected to tests that are completely untested, unvalidated, and inappropriate for use with our disabilities. I have been fighting for my husband since 2011 and unless you live with someone with this condition is it IMPOSSIBLE to understand. To then get complete strangers spending LIMITED time to ‘assess’ us is actually a disgrace! I am so sick and tired of having to fight for everything. My own condition started in my teens, over years I’ve been told it’s my imagination, and a number of other things. I was only diagnosed at 50 and resultantly at that stage the damage has been done and I have deteriorated significantly, am now permanently disabled, completely dependent on mobility aids and various aids to just retain my independence.

We have been very fortunate to have both been accepted onto the NDIS and I have always sang the praises of the NDIS, but what is being proposed now is ridiculous and will cause en enormous amount of stress for my husband, which I will have to deal with and try and manage. I suffer from horrendous pain 24/7 but I cannot afford to let him see that I am getting frustrated or upset and having us submitted to these tests will be very detrimental to his health, which directly impacts my own!

I trust you will give serious consideration to my input. I could write pages and pages of what we’ve been through to date but I simply do not have the energy or the strength to do that and at present my pain level is around 15 out of 10.