National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 1378
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Re: NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS) Bill 2026 I am writing as the parent and primary carer of my children , and , who are autistic and live in QLD. I am submitting this to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs in response to the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS) Bill 2026. I am writing about Schedule 1 of the Bill, which requires functional capacity to be assessed “without assistance” from supports, assistive technology or environmental adaptations, as far as possible. My child currently relies on support worker, visual schedules and sensory supports to manage their daily life. Without these supports, they cannot communicate, complete morning routines safely, access the community and manage transition. These supports are not optional extras. They are what make daily life possible. If my child is assessed as though these supports do not exist, the NDIA could determine they have low support needs — and then remove the funding that creates that stability. This is circular and dangerous logic. A person appears to have low needs precisely because the support is working. The assessment of how a person functions in their daily life — with their environment, their supports, and their routines in place — is the core expertise of occupational therapists and allied health professionals. The Occupational Therapy Society for Hidden and Invisible Disability (OTSi) has noted that the NDIS Review itself recommended that assessment processes allow for evidence from a range of sources, including treating professionals. The Bill moves in the opposite direction, favouring standardised snapshot assessments that cannot capture fluctuating needs, masking, or the invisible work that keeps an autistic person stable. My child’s occupational therapist, speech pathologist and treating team understand their functional capacity. A brief administrative assessment does not. I ask the Committee to remove the requirement that functional capacity be assessed ‘without assistance,’ and to require instead that assessments reflect how a person actually functions in their real life, with their existing supports in place. I also ask the Committee to protect the role of allied health and treating professional evidence in all NDIS access, planning and reassessment decisions, and to ensure that no automated or administrative assessment can override clinical evidence from a qualified practitioner. Families like mine are already at breaking point. The deaths of autistic children in Perth in January 2026 and Campbelltown in May 2026 are evidence of what happens when support is withdrawn from families who have no capacity left. This Bill must not make that more likely. Yours sincerely,