National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1746
Dear Review Panel,
I am writing as an early career Occupational Therapist with a mixed paediatric caseload, including children with autism, developmental delay, psychosocial disability, and neurodevelopmental differences. I write to you in both a personal and professional context in which I practise.
I understand the intent of reform and the need to address schemes sustainability. I am writing because I think some of the proposed changes carry real costs that deserve honest consideration, particularly for the families I work with and for clinicians like me who are just starting out in this field.
The impact on families
Many of the parents and carers I work with are already carrying an enormous load. They are managing complex needs across home, school, and therapy, often while holding down work, caring for other children, and managing their own health. When funding is reduced, plans become harder to navigate, or reassessments require them to build a case from scratch again, it is these families who absorb the gap.
The emotional cost of repeatedly proving a child’s disability is significant and often invisible in policy discussions. When a child has a lifelong diagnosis and a consistent history of need, being asked to re-prove that need, again and again, sends a message that is hard to hear. Many families I speak with describe the process as exhausting and at times retraumatising. That experience erodes trust in the scheme and, for some families, becomes a reason to disengage altogether.
There is also a practical economic cost. When formal supports are reduced or delayed, families, and particularly mothers and primary carers, often reduce their own paid work to fill the gap. That is a real workforce and welfare cost that does not disappear. It simply moves somewhere less visible.
A system that funds adequate, consistent support for children is not an indulgence. It is what allows families to function, to work, and to remain active participants in their communities.
The impact on my career, and on the sector
I chose paediatric OT because I wanted to work where early support makes the biggest difference. I am at the beginning of that career, and I am already watching experienced colleagues question whether private paediatric practice is financially viable under the proposed changes.
That matters because a significant proportion of specialist paediatric allied health capacity now sits in the private sector. If NDIS-funded work becomes less viable, experienced clinicians will move to other areas of practice. Waitlists, which are already
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 1746
long, will grow longer. Families who cannot access public services, which is most families in metropolitan areas, will have fewer options. The access gap will widen.
For early career clinicians like me, the concern is different but connected. I am building a caseload, developing clinical skills, and learning what good paediatric practice looks like. That process depends on being able to work consistently with children over time, to see the impact of therapy across months and years, and to develop the therapeutic relationships that make the work effective. A funding environment that disrupts continuity of care does not just affect families. It affects the development of the next generation of clinicians.
What I am asking for
I recognise that those working on these reforms are doing so with genuine care for the scheme and the people it serves. I hope this perspective from someone early in their career, and close to the families navigating the system day to day, is a useful addition to that conversation. Thank you sincerely for the time and consideration you are giving to these submissions.
Yours sincerely, Office Phone: 0489 088 665 Email: alyssa@leapfrogtherapy.co Alyssa Lo (she/her) Occupational Therapist Website: www.leapfrogtherapy.com.au