Submission 1686
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a 33 year old woman who loves cats, dinosaurs, and reading. This week, I finally finished my Bachelor of Arts, which I was only able to succeed in thanks to the support I have received through the NDIS.
I have a psychosocial disability, which is why I am on the NDIS. My disability affects every single part of my life- from my independence to going out and participating in the community, socialising, work, day to day functioning, and more. Thanks to the NDIS, however, I have been able to complete my university studies, which I had stopped prior to being on the NDIS. I am able to go to and engage in community events with support. I am able to socialise more and make friends. I have not been admitted to hospital in over two years. This is a huge success for me, and it is only because I have had access to the supports through the NDIS. I can leave the house far more often. I am able to work a casual job.
Without the NDS, my life would undoubtedly be far more restricted, and I know this is the case for everyone on the NDIS. My quality of life has improved hugely, thanks to being on the NDIS. Without the NDIS, I would be hugely restricted to my house, and stay at home much more, not participating in society or able to function properly.
I am very opposed to the proposed Bill with changes to the NDIS. It would be terrible for people to lose access to the NDIS.
It is incredibly important to remember that the NDIS is a net economic gain. For every $1 that goes into the NDIS, $2.25 is put back into the economy. Disabled people go out and spend money in Australian businesses, disabled people can work and pay taxes, and support workers are employed.
Schedule 1, Part 4 — Support determinations
People live very different lives, have different circumstances, and are individuals. If my plan was reduced for some types of support to cut the cost of the NDIS, it would massively affect me. Social and Community Participation being cut would mean that my life would not be fulfilling and I would not be able to participate fully in society- instead, I would stay at home, which would negatively affect my mental health. A group program is not suitable for me, and it is not suitable for many people. Firstly, there are many different types of psychosocial disabilities and groups don’t necessarily take this into account. For me, group situations are very overwhelming, and I do not like them. After a group event, I often need extra time to recuperate. They would not be tailored to me, either- I wouldn’t be able to participate in things I’m interested in, or want to do, because they’re not things the group would want to do.
Schedule 1, Part 6 — Reasonable and necessary supports. Also applicable to
Schedule3, Part 1 — Decision-making on pricing People are individuals. Someone may be very social and want to go into the community a lot but may struggle with that due to safety reasons, or planning, or social skills, or completing tasks, or something else, whereas I really struggle with going into the community due to low mood and high anxiety, and I may get overwhelmed and very distressed while in some situations so need help for that. Those are very different
Submission 1686
support needs. Someone with a psychosocial disability may have the goal of living independently because their current living situation is not suitable and they do not like it, and would like to work towards that goal, rather than focus on community. Another person may like to focus on community participation and volunteering, rather than living independently, because their current living situation is suitable and they like it. For example, with my psychosocial disability, and my functioning, I was able to complete university with support. When I started on the NDSI had dropped out of university because I couldn’t cope or function. Thanks to the individualised supports of the NDIS, I was able to gain the capacity to return to study part time, which was my main goal for the past few years.
The power of the NDIS to cut costs at any time are extremely worrying for me. Getting support based on what the minister wants to spend as an arbitrary figure, rather than reasonable and necessary supports based on what I need, means that I am constantly anxious that I will just have my funding slashed. I feel powerless, and scared of the future. Before, I was more hopeful about plans and things that I could achieve because I knew I had the supports I needed to do so. Now, I’m worried because I know at any moment, those supports could be taken away. That would have a very negative effect on my mental health and quality life.
Schedule 1, Part 8—Tightening meaning of permanence to reduce access where an impairment can be treated It would be incredibly difficult and expensive to me to access therapies that help with my day to day functioning. The cost of living is already incredibly high, and a lot of people on the NDIS would also be on the Disability Support Pension. The DSP is small, and hardly enough for many disabled people to live on, especially when they need to spend so much more on appointments, medication etc. To be accepted onto the NDSI now, disabled people will have to have undertaken “all appropriate treatments”. This applies regardless of circumstance, which includes people who undertake this treatment due to, for example, the cost, location, or even comorbidities or side effects of the treatment which mean that professionals treating the person have advised not to undertake it, or even treatment providers who refuse to administer this treatment for whatever reason. This wrongly excludes a lot of people who have no control over whether or not they can access this treatment. Making disabled people undertake treatments that they can’t afford, that may not be covered by Medicare, and may not be available locally, means that many disabled people would not be able to get onto the NDIS. This creates a huge amount of inequality.
Furthermore, losing access to the NDIS would force people to rely on state systems- ones that don’t exist yet. Participants have no idea about what is going to happen to them, creating a lot of stress and tension. These systems restrict choice and control.
Schedule 2 — Fraud measures: I am very worried that, for example, due to the NDIS changes, I will not be able to access therapies with the provider that I wish to see. Having a provider that is consistent, knows me, and specialises in my conditions and what I need, that I trust and get along well with, is incredibly important. It means that I am accessing supports that are
Submission 1686
tailored to my individual needs, which is far more cost effective than a one size fits all thing that takes away choice and control and doesn’t work as well for me. Having the freedom of choice and control means that I can choose what supports I know work best for me, with providers that suit me.
Having only registered providers would very much narrow the pool of who can help me, and they may not be professionals who suit me and work well with me. If I had to change from an unregistered provider to a registered provider, I would have to start a whole lot of things all over again, and try to build a trusting relationship, which can take time.
There needs to be a self-directed category of registration, if registration is going to become mandatory. Picking my own plan manager and support coordinator is incredibly important. There are support coordinators who are incredibly ineffective and aren’t very helpful, so people are able to leave them and get a support coordinator who is knowledgeable and works well. If I couldn’t pick my own support coordinator, it would be the luck of the draw as to whether or not they were any good. My support coordinator always keeps my needs centred, as they work for me. If they work for the government, then my needs may not be centred, and I may have less choice and control over what they do. It leaves me with far less power about what supports I want and choose and my needs may not be the focus, which they should be. Taking away my choice and control over that is not just.
There are many more issues with the Bill- these are just a few that I have chosen to write about. In its current form, the Bill is incredibly harmful. It should not be passed by Parliament. I ask that funding not be slashed. Instead, listen to the many disabled people who have lived experience of the system who can tell you ways to save money. Disabled people are not the ones committing fraud- it is businesses, and they should be the ones punished, not disabled people.
Thank you