National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1556
To whom it may concern,
My name is . I am writing as an NDIS participant with Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 2, sensory processing disorder, and bipolar disorder, and I am asking this committee to reject this bill in its current form.
Before the NDIS, there was no continuity in my care. That lack of continuity drove repeated admissions to mental health units and severe depressive episodes where I was not able to participate in the community. I could not afford psychology or occupational therapy, the support that helps me understand my nervous system, manage my executive function, and get through an ordinary day. Without them, I was not coping. Since being accepted onto the scheme in May 2025, I have not had a single admission. My plan funds support workers who help me attend critical appointments, prepare meals so I am eating properly, and assist me with my calendar and ongoing daily tasks. It funds the therapy I could not previously access. That continuity has changed my life in a way that is difficult to overstate and at 46 years of age, I feel that I am only just beginning my life.
One of the things that is poorly understood about autism is that many of us minimise our pain and our needs in order to keep functioning. We push through. The cost is invisible until it becomes a crisis burnout, collapse, a hospital admission. My supports help me pace myself, recognise what my body is telling me, regulate my emotions, and advocate for my own needs before I reach that point. I am already on a minimum plan. There is nothing here to cut without consequence.
Since becoming a participant, I have also rejoined the workforce. If my supports were removed, I would not be able to sustain casual employment. I would be relying entirely on the disability support pension and would no longer be contributing to the economy. The government’s claim that cutting the NDIS saves money does not survive contact with that reality. The scheme already returns $2.25 to the Australian economy for every dollar spent. Removing someone from the workforce and onto a pension is not a saving, it is a cost shifted somewhere less visible.
The NDIS has also supported me to study a Certificate III in Outdoor Leadership. The outdoor industry is desperately short of female leaders, and shorter still of those who are neurodivergent, neuro-affirming, and bring lived experience to that work. I am on track to contribute something genuinely needed. That does not happen without the support that allows me to study, manage my energy, and stay well enough to show up. Cutting my plan does not just affect me; it removes something from an industry and a community that needs it.
I was accepted because autistic people are exactly who this scheme was designed to serve. The Productivity Commission, the body that designed the NDIS, identified us as the intended population. The suggestion that we were never meant to be covered is false, and I am troubled that it has been allowed to stand. People with autism make up nearly half of all current participants. We did not arrive by accident.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1556