Submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill

I am a member of the LQBTQIA+ community, and am also someone who has an autoimmune disease and ADHD. Many members of my community have disabilities and require access to supports such as those provided by the NDIS.

My main concerns about the Bill are the increases administrative and compliance requirements, the “Not contactable” and participant engagement rules and changes to reassessments and plan reviews.

This Bill, if passed, will limit a vulnerable communities access to life altering and often life saving supports. For example, If a persons supports may be paused, reviewed or affected if they do not respond within required timeframes, this will adversely affect people who are unable to be contacted for a number of reasons, including people in hospital, people experiencing a mental health crisis or burnout, people who are unable to communicate due to disability and people experiencing housing instability.

If Funding levels for certain groups of supports may be adjusted at a system level, those changes may affect entire categories of supports, not just individual plans.

As mentioned, I am someone with a immune disease and ADHD, and while I am not currently accessing NDIS support, I worry about the implications for accessing these things in the future, and more importantly I worry about the negative impacts on people who are currently accessing these supports and whose lives will be impacted in significant and potentially life threatening ways if access is blocked.

I want the committee to understand how important it is to provide support for people who need it. It is easy enough for anyone who does not currently require this support to think this doesn’t matter, buththe truthiswearealljustonediagnosisoneaccidentoneforeseenlifeeventawayfrom beingpartofthisvulnerablecommunity.Wecannotsimplystandbyanddonothingorsweepthesethingsundertherug.Asacommunityweneedtodobetter.Weneedtosupportvulnerablen communitiesandrealsiethatwestoomightbe partsofthosecommunitiesoneyday.Peopleneeds accesstosupportfortheir safetyandwellbeingandalsobecausenomemberofsocietyshouldbes eenaslessimportantlesvaluablerormoreexpendable.Thankyou.