National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 1390

I am the grandmother of , a 16 year old girl who lives with Cri du Chat syndrome and the mother of who works tirelessly to ensure that ’s life is lived to its fullest potential given the many limitations that her condition imposes.

I watch with admiration as is included in school and social activities because of the communication devices she can access thanks to funding from the NDIS. It is with anguish that I watch my daughter having to fight almost daily to make ’s life as regular and commonplace as that of her peers. For their little family, everything is just harder.

   has trained her support workers to be able to communicate with         using a multimodal technique and the care required by and provided to        is specifically adapted to her needs.

    ’s inclusion in regular classrooms has facilitated her social development and at the same time provided learning opportunities for her classmates as they learn to be more adaptable and more accepting of difference.

    ’s needs are not only physical and medical but just as importantly, social and educational. Any restriction of funding for social support would be cruelly detrimental to her development.

I appreciate that changes need to be made to ensure the sustainability of the NDIS, but I respectfully ask that more consultation occurs with members of the disability community who are experiencing fear, distrust, and anger at how these changes might negatively impact their ability to have a regular life experience. Individual concerns need to be at the heart of a program that is designed to impact the lives of individuals.