National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1077
To whom it may concern,
I am an Occupational Therapist working primarily with autistic children, adolescents, and young adults, many of whom also experience ADHD, trauma-related conditions, anxiety, depression, sensory processing differences, and significant psychosocial disability. I am writing to express concern regarding the proposed changes within the NDIS Amendment Bill and the likely impact on the participants and families I support.
In my clinical experience, many autistic individuals require consistent and individualised supports not because they lack intelligence or insight, but because the functional demands of everyday life significantly exceed their nervous system capacity. Difficulties with executive functioning, emotional regulation, sensory processing, transitions, social communication, interoception, and adaptive functioning can substantially impair participation across education, employment, self-care, relationships, and community access.
The young people I support often present with disability needs that are not immediately visible. Many are highly articulate, academically capable, or able to “mask†their difficulties for short periods of time. However, this masking frequently comes at a significant cost and can result in exhaustion, shutdown, emotional dysregulation, withdrawal, burnout, or mental health deterioration once they return to a safe environment. I am deeply concerned that systems focused heavily on observable impairment, independence, or brief assessments risk overlooking the true functional impact of autism and psychosocial disability.
I am particularly concerned about any reforms that reduce access to capacity-building supports, narrow definitions of “reasonable and necessary,†or increase barriers to maintaining therapeutic relationships. In my work, occupational therapy and psychology are not optional extras — they are often the very supports preventing school refusal, social isolation, family breakdown, mental health crisis, and long-term dependence.
Importantly, progress for many neurodivergent participants is rarely linear. Functional gains are often fragile, slow, and heavily reliant on environmental supports, predictability, therapeutic rapport, and ongoing intervention. Removing or reducing supports because a participant appears to be “doing better†can quickly destabilise the very progress the Scheme helped create.
I am also concerned about assumptions, implicit or explicit, that families can reasonably absorb reductions in supports as part of “normal†parenting responsibility. The adolescents and young people I support do not simply require occasional reminders to complete homework or tidy their room. Many require substantial daily co-regulation, prompting, supervision, task breakdown, emotional support, and at times physical assistance across everyday activities including personal care, meal preparation, community access, routines, sleep, transitions, emotional regulation, and participation in education or work.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1077
For some families, parents remain responsible for supporting nearly every aspect of daily functioning well beyond what would typically be expected for age. I work with teenagers and young adults who are unable to leave the house independently, cannot tolerate unfamiliar environments, rely on extensive prompting to complete basic self-care tasks, or require another person present to regulate distress and safely participate in everyday life. These needs are often invisible to others because distress is internalised, masked, or only apparent in safe environments.
Without appropriate capacity-building and participation supports, the burden of care shifts further onto families who are already managing high levels of exhaustion, burnout, financial strain, and reduced workforce participation. In practice, this risks increasing family breakdown, mental health difficulties, social isolation, and reduced long-term independence for participants.
I am additionally concerned about the potential impact of increased reassessment processes and administrative uncertainty on autistic individuals and those with trauma histories. Many of the people I support experience significant anxiety around change, unpredictability, and perceived threats to safety or stability. Repeatedly requiring individuals and families to justify their disability, recount trauma histories, or prove ongoing impairment can itself become harmful and destabilising.
The participants I work with benefit most from flexible, neuroaffirming, trauma-informed supports that recognise disability as dynamic and contextual. Effective intervention often involves building regulation, environmental supports, communication strategies, sensory accommodations, and sustainable participation over many years. These supports are essential in helping individuals move toward greater independence, education participation, employment, and community engagement.
I ask the Committee to carefully consider the real-world functional impact these reforms may have on autistic people, psychosocial disability, and the families who support them. In particular, I urge the Government to ensure that:
capacity-building supports remain accessible and protected; psychosocial and neurodevelopmental disabilities are appropriately understood within functional assessment processes; reassessment processes minimise harm and unnecessary retraumatisation; the hidden nature of many disabilities, including masking and fluctuating capacity, is recognised; and families are not expected to absorb disability-related support needs without appropriate assistance.
Thank you for considering this submission and the experiences of the participants and families represented within it.
– Kind Regards,