National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1206
Hello, I am a young adult with multiple physical disabilities. I live with my family, and am taken care of full time by my mum. She is my sole carer, without ndis we struggle. The ndis has given her freedom to work and contribute to the economy.
Cuts to the ndis (especially community access) would affect me in ways like: putting more stress/burden onto my carer who currently is unable to work (due to a work injury) and struggles to take care of me, she would not be getting any breaks or time to herself, leading to her not being able to work as often. (recommendation: no cuts to vital community access and capacity building)
Inability to connect with community, I cannot travel on public transport alone as i have trouble with directions and forgetfulness, and have a hard time communicating/hearing in loud environments (like buses). I will not be able to to leave the house, to even go to the library or take myself to appointments. Lack of community access can also cause a decrease in mental well-being. Online community is great, but in person community is also vital. Community access also allows me to exercise, to move outside of the house, since it is not easy for me to access my backyard.
Without community access, I cannot attend the free community events that are put on at the library and community centres by local council. Even if I dropped my capacity building physiotherapy, I still would require support to access to community to access what free programs there are for keeping active, since I cannot get on a bus by myself, and we only have one local bus route that I could access via my electric wheelchair and my mum’s support. And with the transport funds that i get, for short outings that my mum has time for ie doctors/scans medical, i catch private ride share which is much cheaper than taxis (usually taxis are eat least double even with subsidy) and value for money compared to transit companies that charge absurd amounts when they find out you have ndis funding. Without capacity building I would not be able to keep what I still have of my physical capacity. J would have to rely on the 5 a year free physio (which is not even close to helping) or rely on the hospital system and take up a spot that a person who doesn’t qualify for ndis could be having and then they will have to wait on an even longer waitlist. (recommendation: no nonsensical cuts to community access and capacity, especially since the public healthcare system is already strained, and any load taken off the ndis will instead be put on the healtcare system like we have seen with the aged care system)
To actually go after providers who are charging obscene amounts for abysmal support. For there to be safety for whistleblowers. Due to often providers who do unjust things usually having money up their sleeves and influence in the NDIA, we are too scared to blow the whistle since there is no safety for us. Especially group events where it is like a sheltered workshop, no one-on-one support (which they still wrongfully charge for despite there not being that support), abuse of nonverbal clients, improper practices that could
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1206
end up in injury or death of a person with disabilities . (recommendation: stop provider rorts and have safety measures in place for whilsteblowers. also to ensure that workers have had hands on physical training, not just a unit that they completed on a computer that they will not likely remember. maybe at least a cert. 3 in individual support, to ensure that there is still choices beyond massive corporations, and that there is quality of those services.)
Without community participation, I am what gets classed as ‘a burden on the medical system’ due to being restricted to the house I live in, the house is not accessible, (I live up a long set of stairs, but I cannot live on my own so living with my family in a house that I can only modify with their consent is my best choice) only being around family members in incredibly tense time. without community participation I cannot escape and give a break to the verbal and manipulative abuse that comes from carer burnout. If I were to be unable to access the community, I would be more of a burden to my carer, which turns into more verbal and mental abuse taken out on me. I am already keeping things ‘reasonable and of value for money’ by staying with a family member who is my unpaid carer, who is deeply burnt out and struggling. That carer still needs to work. She deserves to work. (community participation is vital, not just for the people with disabilities, but their families AND the healthcare system that is already struggling)
Also to have dignity and control in my supports, large companies often do not give you the same staff, meaning they do not get to build an understanding of me and my environment. Those same large companies also try to dictate and manipulate/bully with fancy words, trying to get us to change to someone who has no previous experiences as a disabilty worker, just so they can make more money. Again, it’s not mainly the participants, it’s the large companies who are responsible for the absurd spending and awful quality of services, partially by not having staff get to know a person and what they like/dislike, any personal rapport even. We have seen what duopoly and monopoly of sectors can do, please do not let it harm the most vulnerable population by letting their greed take over. Australia is all about a fair go. (recommendation: dignity, choice and control. not letting large companies take over the choices and possibly abusing people with disabilities with their power over our choice and control to only use providers who have a large enough company that they deem worthy to pay for registration. please do not let the NDIS industry become monopolised, competition/competitors is what keeps prices competitive and gives choices.)
This is my fair go to be a seen as a human, and access life just as any other Australian can, not to be confined to a house. My carer’s fair go to continue with life and financially support herself, while I’m still at home and not in paid supported living, which would cost even more to the government, and often has its own issues with abuse and mistreatment. The support that the ndis has given me has changed my life: for the better. The five months that I had limited supports due to needing to change my funding, I deteriorated. I was in and
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1206
out of hospital due to being poorly. I was at an unreasonable risk of blood clots since I could not do my physiotherapy or exercise beyond the inside of the house, to keep moving. The supports that ndis gives me is what keeps me moving, allows me to not deteriorate and to keep my capacity. The ndis enables the able in disabled. It is not ‘easy’ to get onto the ndis. To be on it even before this reform, we have to prove that we are disabled enough and that it is lifelong. Every time my plan comes up to be renewed, I do an updated functional capacity assessment. I honestly thought that was the standard and universally accepted report for the ndis since it is already standardised and focuses on the disabling factors, not just a one size fits all diagnosis. (recommendation: functional capacity assessment as the standard)