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

Submission 1521

Submission regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment

From:

Introduction

I am writing this submission as a disabled adult, a mother, and the primary carer of two children who are NDIS participants.

I am not currently an NDIS participant myself, although I am in the process of applying for access. I live with significant disability and chronic health conditions that affect my daily functioning, parenting capacity, mental health, physical capacity, community access, and ability to manage basic daily life. My two children are both NDIS participants and require ongoing support due to their disabilities. Because of this, the NDIS is not an abstract policy issue for my family. It directly affects our safety, stability, wellbeing, and ability to function.

I am deeply concerned about any proposed changes that may narrow eligibility, simplify autism diagnoses, reduce access to supports, make it harder or impossible for people with autism, psychosocial disability, developmental disability, complex needs, or chronic functional impairment to receive necessary assistance from the scheme because they do so. The NDIS helps prevent complete crisis for families like mine; without it we would be unable to cope.

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

Submission 1521

Impact on Parent-Carers Is Significant

As a parent of two children on the NDIS, I am already carrying a very high level of caring responsibility. Parenting disabled children is not just ordinary parenting with extra appointments. It often involves constant co-regulation, managing meltdowns, sensory needs, sleep difficulties, school challenges, therapy schedules, behavioural support, emotional distress, advocacy, paperwork, safety planning, and trying to keep the household running around everyone’s needs. When the parent is also disabled, the pressure becomes much greater.I am not simply tired; I am burnt out and struggling to function.My own needs are often pushed aside because my children’s needs have come first.This has affected my ability to care for myself maintain house manage appointments regulate emotions cope in community Without appropriate NDIS support both children parents families mine left surviving informal alone That unsustainable ## Reducing Supports Does Not Remove Need — It Shifts Burden If access reduced or supports cut need does disappear shifts onto parents partners siblings schools hospitals mental health services GPs emergency services unpaid carers In family if do receive right their increase home If capacity decrease This creates cycle where overwhelmed less able cope For under even small reductions serious consequences mean more meltdowns shutdowns stress missed isolation decline crisis situations The should be preventing crisis waiting until collapse ## Medicare Mainstream Services Are Enough It unrealistic suggest people lifelong disabilities can use Medicare public health systems instead NDIS Sessions limited Public mental health services overwhelmed School designed provide level individualised disability many children need GP specialists may diagnose refer they ongoing practical required daily functioning

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

Submission 1521

For children and adults with complex disability needs, a few subsidised sessions per year is not enough. My family needs consistent, practical, disability-informed support. This includes therapies, capacity building, support workers, behaviour support, emotional regulation support, daily living support, community access, and help maintaining functioning before everything becomes a crisis.

Section: “The NDIS Must Recognise Whole-Family Impact”

The NDIS must recognise whole-family impact when providing services:

• When receiving an NDIS service helps more than just one person but also benefits their entire families,
  • It reduces pressure from parents as they can focus less time managing care responsibilities while still being able to provide better quality of life experiences within communities; It allows them opportunities build skills that will allow them greater independence; it provides resources needed so households don’t become overwhelmed under constant strain due parental disabilities or other factors impacting household dynamics.

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

Submission 1521

Support Workers and Practical Supports Are Essential

Support workers are often misunderstood as optional or “extra,” but for many families they are essential. For children, support workers can assist with community access, emotional regulation, skill building, independence, transitions, and reducing reliance on parents as the only safe people. For disabled adults, support workers can help with daily living, community access, appointments, routines, household tasks, and preventing isolation or deterioration. In families like mine, support workers can also reduce the pressure on the household as a whole. They can help prevent parent-carer burnout, reduce crisis, and allow children and adults to build capacity in a safer and more sustainable way. Removing or reducing access to support workers would place even more pressure on families who are already struggling.

Complex Needs Do Not Fit Into One Box

Many people who need the NDIS do not have one simple diagnosis. In my own life, my disability is complex and affects multiple areas of functioning. My children also have needs that affect many parts of daily life, including emotional regulation, sensory processing, routines, sleep, communication, learning, behaviour, and community participation. When systems only look at one diagnosis at a time, they miss the reality of how disability works in daily life.A person may have autism, ADHD, anxiety, trauma, chronic pain, fatigue, vestibular issues, migraines, sensory processing difficulties, executive dysfunction, and mental health challenges all interacting together.The functional impact can be severe,even if each individual condition is treated as separate or minimised. The NDIS needs to assess the whole person and the whole functional picture.

The Current System Is Already Hard to Navigate

Applying for and managing NDIS support is already overwhelming.Families are expected to gather reports, understand complex language, prove disability repeatedly, attend appointments, manage plans, coordinate providers, advocate for supports,and explain their lives over and over again.For disabled parents,this process is even harder because the very disabilitiesthat create the need for supportalso make the applicationand reviewprocess difficultto manage.

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

Submission 1521

If the system becomes more restrictive, more complicated, or more adversarial, the people most in need of support may be the least able to fight for it.

That is not fair or accessible.

Broader Consequences

Reducing NDIS access will not reduce disability. It will increase pressure elsewhere. Families will burn out. Children will lose early and consistent support. Disabled adults deteriorate. Informal carers will be pushed further past capacity. Schools, hospitals, mental health services, GPs, and emergency systems will carry the consequences. In the long term, this will likely cost more — financially, socially, emotionally, and medically. The NDIS should be focused on early support, prevention, capacity building, and stability, not forcing people to reach crisis before their needs are believed.

Conclusion

I ask that any changes to the NDIS protect access for people with autism, pyschosocial disability, developmental disability, chronic functional impairment, and complex needs. I also ask that the government recognise the impact on families where children are NDIs participants and parents are disabled themselves.My family relies on the NDIS for my children, and I am applying because I also needsupport to function safely and sustainably.We are not asking for luxury.We areasking for the support required to live with dignity, stability, and safety.People do not stop needing support because eligibility is narrowed.Families do notbecome less overwhelmed because services are removed.Disabled people do nothave become more independent by being left without help.The NDIS must remain accessible, individualised, and based on functional need.