I feel obligated to respond to this request for submissions into the changes to the NDIS. Firstly I would like to express dis may at the lack of time given to the .disabled population of Australia to respond to these proposed changes. If I’m being perfectly honest, this lack of consideration seems like a deliberate attempt to disadvantage an already extremely disadvantaged group of people for monetary gain. In fact, the proposed changes to the bill are designed to make the NDIS even more inaccessible, confusing, and potentially legally & financially damaging to the people it was designed to assist. I am a recently approved participant. I became incapable of living without supports in 2015 & was told I could no longer run my business, that I was disabled, and that I wasn’t going to live much longer. It took 3 years for Centrelink to approve my DSP claim, after

“losing” my applications three times. I was denied backpay. This was during the height of Robodebt, which we now know was a scheme by the Australian Government to bully Australian citizens to the point of suicide in thousands of cases, in order to rob them & scare people away from receiving the assistance they were due as taxpayers & citizens. I do not think the government was just being incompetent in my case, I know that I was left without any form of income in a deliberate attempt to wait me out in the hopes I would either give up or die without supports, and yes, I have some strong opinions about the ethics of that situation. I also believe the Government is full of intelligent people who could have probably figured out on their own that anyone on the DSP is likely to qualify for NDIS support, and made the process simple and painless

• for the disabled citizens of Australia to be
• simultaneously approved for the NDIS if
• the purpose of the government was to
• improve the lives of its citizens instead of
• exploiting them for profit. This isn’t the
• case though. Instead, in my case, it took
• a further 6 years and 5 failed attempts to
• access the NDIS. It then took 7 months
• to have my first planning meeting, at
• which stage I was informed that I now
• have funding to attend social events, and
• that my medical reports were ignored by
• a woman who sounded like she finished
• school in year 10 & who had no medical
• training whatsoever. She assigned me
• funding for a support worker so I can
• attend play groups for disabled people
• for 2 hours every weekday and 5 hours
• on a Saturday. She completely
• disregarded the supports suggested by
• my specialist which were largely focused
• on making

• sure I could eat, that I was in a hygienic
• home, and that I could build capacity to
• the point that I could study and work part
• time again. I have the goal of finishing a
• health science degree that I have had to
• defer, I do not have the goal of having
• coffees with my support worker or finger
• painting for 15 hours a week. I have
• invisible disabilities that severely impact
• my energy levels & prevent me from
• being able to leave the house and the
• supports my specialist recommended
• were designed to give me the capacity to
• do that. The woman who designed my
• plan was extremely condescending,
• spoke to me like I am a baby, and she
• assumed that I was intellectually
• disabled & she submitted the plan
• despite my request that it be reviewed by
• a senior. I’ve been informed that the
• reason I was assigned occupational
• therapy is so that I can jump through the

next set of hoops, after which I may be provided with the supports I actually need. To recap - it’s July 2024. Under this current “too lenient” system, it has taken me 9 years to access the NDIS.

Upon accessing the NDIS, it took 7 months to have my first meeting, during which I was treated like a child by an obviously uneducated & undertrained administrator, who based my plan on her biases and assumptions rather than my medical report, but that’s not a harsh enough system apparently?

The proposed updates are inhumanе & oppressive, it places a completely unreasonable burden on people who are already struggling. The current system is already draconian and inaccessible, and the plan is to make it worse? I would wish shame upon whoever designed this elaborate machine for crushing the hope & exhausting the resources of Australian

If I thought they were capable of shame. Maybe the people who designed this mess are the ones who need play group & finger painting to keep them out of trouble. Lack of empathy is a serious impediment to participating in a safe society. Perhaps we should recognize their support needs too.