Submission to the Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012

From: To: Community Affairs, Committee (SEN); Subject: Submission to the Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 Date: Friday, 18 January 2013 8:29:51 AM

Please consider this email a formal submission by me to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012.

The current disability system has many problems that need to be addressed.

My multiply disabled daughter is now 52 years old and in that time I have seen the system grow from almost nothing to what it is today, but even now the help offered is often clumsy, expensive and not appropriate for needs. Decisions seem to have been made, more driven by theories current at the time than by the needs of the people with disabilities and while this attitude is certainly changing, there are many methods still entrenched that are automatically still followed.

The worst part has always been that there has never been a clear path to the future for my daughter. We have lurched from service to service over the years, majorly heard about through word of mouth from other parents, and now, at the age of 52 she is still living at home with me, never having had the opportunity to lead a life with people of her own age and interests in appropriate accommodation and with the help needed to make this a success. Hopefully this will change this year, but with her various disabilities and her age, it will be harder for her to adapt to the change.

Of course, the rest of the family has been heavily impacted as well over the years.

The main features of the NDIS that will make a difference to the community are:

• Ensure support and equipment is available when needed
• People with a disability can choose the types of support to use
• Better access to mainstream support and services
• Better access to education and work opportunities
• More opportunities to participate in the community
• More employment of people with disability and less reliance on social welfare
• More rights for people with a disability
• People with a disability can plan their lives and pursue their goals and dreams
• People with disability can choose who comes into their home
• The ability to receive services when needed and in the way that suits the person
• Increased ability to coordinate services to suit the “whole” person/family
• Minimising the number of times people have to tell their story in order to get support
• Less red tape, with planning done locally by people who know their community
• Access to reliable information about support options
• Removal of age barriers to services for children
• People with disabilit y/family will influence the types of support and services offered
• Older parents and families will not worry what happens when they can no longer provide support

The most important services for the NDIS to provide are:

-Support for families and carers -Accommodation options -Case management, -planning and coordination

I support the introduction of the NDIS.

I support the NDIS because for the first time, when it comes in, I will feel that my daughter is receiving the help she needs, because she is a citizen of this

country with all the rights and responsibilities of a citizen, and with much to contribute, rather than having to beg and fill in endless forms and go on endless waiting lists and then find the rules have been changed so we have to go through the whole process again, over and over until finally we achieve a small step forward. I commend wholeheartedly all the people who work on the ground to help and support my daughter and everyone with a disability, but the frustrations of the present system are so widespread and are so expensive that a simpler, Australia wide and transparent system are absolutely necessary and as soon as

There must be so much money wasted on so many levels of administration in all areas of disabity in the present system, and if this could be simplified and made easier to access, according to need and not to the whim of the moment, it would be so much better for everyone.

I agree for my submission to be made public

Regards,

Mrs Marjorie Ross