Independent Assessments

Submission 292

Independent Assessments

I am alarmed about independent assessment as proposed.

I am an NDIS participant as well as being the parent to two NDIS participants, one with major physical disabilities and the other with a neurological difference. One of us has been accessing the NDIS since December 2013.

Reference to point d. The assessors are paid for by NDS and are therefore not independent. Having dealt with planners for over seven years, their experience is varied, and I could tell the ones that were freshly trained by the NDIS because they quoted common lines designed to deny before they understood.

Reference to point e, f and g. An independent review works off the deficit model. An individual will need to disclose to a stranger their most personal ‘failings’ to be supported. This does not fit with an individual centred NDIS.

Many disabilities are variable and will give the assessor a different view depending on if a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ day. Many disabilities only show up under certain circumstances or locations which will not be able to be viewed by the assessor.

As the meeting is to take place in the participant home there is a risk of bias based on the quality, or lack thereof, of the participant home. A participant may not want yet another person coming into their home to judge and score them (who would).

Participants are already overloaded with appointments (medical, therapy, equipment fittings and meetings), an independent assessment will be another day, each year, where they are not able to live their life but instead be required to jump through bureaucratic hoops. The lead up and post assessment will also claim days with preparation and stress. NDSI already has increased the workload of people with disabilities and their carers, independent assessments will add to the load.

The NDIS is about choice and control. If the participant would prefer to submit reports rather than under another assessment, then there needs to be that choice. Making the independent assessment compulsory implies that there will be a disadvantage. Anything that is beneficial to the participant does not need to be compulsory, there would naturally be an uptake.

Reference to point i. Being unable to view the report from the independent assessor is overly concerning. People make mistakes, misunderstandings happen and no one can be an expert on all disabilities. Many of our plans have had mistakes within them. When I obtained all records for a tribunal meeting, I was shocked to see several times I had discussed something with a planner and from what they had written they had made an incorrect assumption.

Being unable to review a decision is also extremely concerning and demeaning. I know more about my life and the life of my children than anyone else. One person cannot understand all aspects of our life in a couple of hours. Being able to review provides some piece of mind that if there is a misunderstanding or they have not fully grasped what a particular support means to us then I know, if it is important to me, I can have the plan looked at by someone else and the opportunity to clarify any incorrect assumptions. Thank you for your time.