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

Submission 1465

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express serious concerns about the proposed and ongoing reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), particularly their likely impact on autistic adults in South Australia.

I am both an NDIS participant and someone who works part-time supporting people with disability in our local community. This dual perspective has given me a clear understanding of how essential the NDIS is in enabling meaningful, everyday support for people with disability, including myself.

Prior to accessing the NDIS, I experienced years of significant adversity. I found the world and multiple sensory environments overwhelming and difficult to navigate, which contributed to considerable distress, resulting in eating disorder, chronic health issues, heightened vulnerability and multiple mental health conditions.

This led to multiple interactions with various services, both inpatient and outpatient. I’ve also had urgent care and emergency department admissions, as a result of challenges navigating life as a neurodivergent person, with multiple other chronic illnesses and disabilities. I experienced childhood trauma, bullying through school, physical disability in my late adolescence, sexual assault in my early 20’s, and financial abuse.

Disabled people are marginalised, less able to fulfil our economic and other potential and dependant on systems to help us be able to live an ordinary life.

The NDIS has played a critical role. The system isn’t perfect, but through the supports it funds, I have begun to understand how to work with my brain rather than against it. It has enabled me to build capacity, increase my independence and sense of agency, and participate more meaningfully in daily life. Continued access to these supports is essential for maintaining this progress to support my disability needs and further pursue my NDIS goals.

Autistic adults often have complex and evolving support needs that are not always visible or easily captured through standardised assessments. Proposed changes that tighten eligibility, reduce plan flexibility, or impose rigid funding structures will disproportionately disadvantage this group and will very likely transfer the issues to informal supports, which are already at capacity and experiencing heightened carer stress. It also reduces the opportunities for us to have our individualised needs met and prevents early intervention, which helps reduce costs in the long term.

Autistic adults including myself experience several chronic illnesses and multiple health conditions and we face substantial barriers across all areas of daily life. There is a cost-of-living crisis, which in combination with loosing access to disability supports, will have significant negative impacts to our communities. Reforms that weaken access to support or move away from a person-centred approach risk further increasing vulnerability across the disability community.

Reduced access to allied health supports will limit opportunities for capacity building, employment, and community participation. This will show up and burden other systems, broadening and transferring the issues, to other jurisdictions not prepared or set up for the supports we need. This will likely increase reliance on crisis services, mental health systems, and hospitals. These are not the environments set up for autistic people. I can attest from my personal experience that they cause harm.

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

Submission 1465

Increased administrative burden and reassessment processes are very likely to cause significant distress, particularly for those who rely on routine and predictability and have heightened stress with uncertainty, such as Autistic adults.

While I recognise the importance of ensuring the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of the NDIS, I am deeply concerned that current reform directions risk unintentionally undermining the independence and wellbeing of autistic and other disabled individuals. For many of us, suitable supports are not available or accessible through mainstream systems and must remain individualised and protected within the NDIS.

I respectfully urge the South Australian Government to advocate strongly at the federal level for reforms that:

• Recognise autism as a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability requiring flexible, individualised and ongoing support.

• Ensure assessment processes are co-designed with autistic people and informed by neurodiversity-affirming practices.

• Protect access to both early intervention and lifelong supports that enable participation and independence for autistic people, including those with fluctuating capacity, or higher levels of compensation/masking.

• Include meaningful consultation with autistic individuals, families, and advocacy organisations prior to implementing significant changes.

A sustainable NDIS must also be equitable and responsive. Autism may not always be visible, but its impact on daily life can be profound. Reform must not come at the expense of those the scheme was designed to support.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Kind regards