National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024
Submission 216
This Bill and its proposed changes to NDIS have caused widespread concern and distress amongst the disabled community.
Writing this submission from my personal experiences with the scheme, I would like to raise the following concerns.
1.The Bill may not account for people with multiple and interrelated disabilities.
I have several overlapping disabilities that affect my support needs. I would not be able to receive support for one without also receiving support for the others; it simply wouldn’t meet my needs. If I had to choose, for example, a single disability label for NDIS purposes — it is likely — I will be unsupported for the others and this will reduce my quality of life and functional capacity. This would also likely make me increasingly dependent on the supports I receive, rather than helping me to build capacity and live an independent life. Likewise, my disabilities are fluctuating, meaning I may not need support in some areas all the time, but I need to have the choice to change the way I am supported when my abilities and needs change over time.
The Bill must allow for the support of multiple disabilities and conditions, to provide for people as whole and complex beings, with many and varied support needs. It is quite simply both kinder and more cost effective to do so.
2. I am extremely concerned about the lack of clear rights for review and appeal of decisions made by the NDIA.
The disabled community is a broad and varied group of people, and it is not likely that the NDIA can make the best decision every time for such diverse individuals.
The experts of any disability are the disabled people themselves, so it is vital that should an error be made or a need underestimated, that the individual can request for that decision to be reviewed. Imagine the money that would be wasted on an incomplete or inappropriate support plan; not to mention the distress, discomfort and reduced quality of life of the participant.
As someone with overlapping multiple psychosocial disabilities I have experienced first hand how difficult it can be for NDIS staff and allied health professionals to fully understand my challenges and to know how to best support me. Reducing or removing the right to appeal closes this conversation between participants and the NDIA and would make it more difficult than it already is, to get an appropriate plan approved. This will again force the participant to potentially misuse or overspend, a key issue this Bill claims to want to resolve. It simply won’t help, and punishes the participant.
The Bill must include clear allowances and procedures for a review of funding decisions that affect the life of disabled person. This should be legislated so that it can be accessed equitably by all participants
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDI Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024
Submission 216
- The way the Bill allows the NDIA additional power in controlling how a participant uses their funding and manages their plans takes choice and control away from the participant as well as autonomy and dignity.
Again, disabled folk are the experts in their lived experience of disability. I know what my needs are. By trying different supports, I have learned what works best for me and where my plan funding is best spent. I would not be able to build my capacity and participate in the community if I was simply directed on what the NDIA decided was the best use of my plan. An organisation, especially one that is not staffed by disabled people, simply cannot try to make decisions on behalf of disabled folk.
When it comes to overspending, it is not my fault that companies charge more for NDIS participants than for other members of the community. It will not work to punish participants for a problem that we did not create. The issue will persist. Energy should be put into legislation around pricing for disability equipment and services, not on controlling how disabled people access care. Stop trying to punish disabled people such as myself for “spending too much” to live a safe and happy life, just because the government has allowed businesses to overcharge for disability services. Just like the average consumer cannot control grocery prices, and must eat to survive, disabled people must pay for the services available, and we cannot choose to not be disabled just because it’s expensive.