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

Submission 1964

26th May 2026

To: Committee Secretary, Community Affairs Legislation Committee Re: Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

To whom it may concern,

I am writing regarding the proposed changes to the NDIS as someone who relies on it both for myself and for my child.

I am a mother of two boys living with both mental illness and chronic pain that, in the words of my doctors, is “too complex to help me live a normal life.” The NDIS is confusing, difficult to navigate, and at times incredibly frustrating. Like most systems, it has flaws. But despite those flaws, it has also been life-changing.

I am not a politician, a decision-maker, or a business owner profiting from disability funding. I am simply a woman who used to be independent, capable, and determined - until my body slowly began to change. At first, it was small things that became difficult. Then bigger things became impossible.

My mental health deteriorated. My independence slowly disappeared. Family outings became me watching my children experience the zoo through a phone screen because I physically could not do it.. Home-cooked meals and family favourites were replaced with frozen food and quick meals because I no longer had the energy to cook. Basic tasks - like scrubbing a shower- became impossible. Yet these are the very things that, if neglected, could put a family at risk of losing their rental home.

The limited energy I did have was often spent trying to keep up with household chores instead of reading bedtime stories, singing songs with my children, or sitting on the floor playing with them.

I originally applied for the NDIS based on my mental health diagnoses and was approved. My first thought was how lucky I was to finally receive help.

After years of “Medicare-covered” mental health care plans that offered only a handful of partially subsidised sessions each year, I finally experienced continuity of care. For the first time, I could properly work through the trauma and challenges that had followed me for years instead of constantly starting over with new providers or stopping treatment because I could no longer afford it.

Without the NDIS, I would never have been able to access a psychologist consistently enough to achieve what I have over the last two years.

As my physical health has deteriorated, those supports have also helped keep stability in my children’s lives. My children know their mum is sick, but they still have healthy meals because my support worker helps me prepare and freeze food for the difficult days. They have clean clothes because someone either reminds me or helps put on a load of washing, we have a cleaner once a month so the house does not fall apart around us. And my partner no longer has to miss work simply to take me to medical appointments.

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

Submission 1964

These supports do not make me “less disabled.” They make it possible for me to remain a mother.

My child also receives therapies that help him live his best life and give him the tools to navigate a world not built for him. These therapists and support workers are invaluable, and even now they already seem overwhelmed by the growing number of children needing help.

I cannot imagine what would happen to families like mine if these supports were suddenly removed.

Over the last six years I have also been navigating the public healthcare system. While I am incredibly grateful for Australia’s public health system, it is already struggling under the weight of demand. lwaited two and a half years to see a gynaecologist, then another two years for endometriosis surgery. I waited two years to see a pain specialist. These delays are not rare - they are reality.

If people with mental illness and neurodivergence are moved into council-run or alternative community systems, how can the government guarantee they will not fall through the cracks the same way people already do in public dental care, mental health care, and other overstretched services?

Many council-run services already have emergency waitlists lasting months and general waitlists lasting years. These systems are already struggling before more pressure is added.

NDIS participants are not the people setting the prices.

We do not choose to be disabled.

The only thing we truly get to choose is who we allow into our homes to support us. Many participants, myself included, have paid out-of-pocket for services and claimed reimbursement later because the moment providers hear “NDIS,” prices increase. Cleaning, gardening, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy- the costs rise because the system has allowed it to happen.

Please do not punish participants for the failures of the system around them. Please do not take away my independence or my ability to spend my limited energy where it belongs - with my children. And please do not take away the supports helping my son learn how to live in this world, not just survive it.

Sincerely,