Submission 2341

Hi My name is . I am an NDIS participant. Before NDIS I barely left my house, I couldn’t really cook or clean or work. I have no family support other than my husband who has a disability too (he is not on NDIS but has a lot of support needs and difficulties) and not able to support me all the time.

Before NDIS I kept going round and round through the system - medical, Centrelink and Disability job services with no help to the point I had a breakdown in mental health and ended up with a psychiatrist and a caseworker through community mental health. They took me seriously and realised I was having so many difficulties and level of disability to qualify for NDIS (we looked at across my life difficulties not just the break down).

Being on NDIS has been a game changer for me . I can cook some things now, I go out into the community and have hobbies, I am working on cleaning and organising and I am at the point where I have somewhere I feel safe and supported to be able to work for 2 hours a week with support from a support worker.

Also I am supported to make artwork which I sell in a shop which a lot of tourists come to. So I contribute to our economy too.

I am worried about losing my support and not being able to live life like everyone else.

And I am worried about being left behind if there is a disaster like aushfire and I have no support to leave . Or to be able to safely access medical care and government services if I don’t have support.

I am worried as well as most of my current supports are not registered providers. Some of my support workers are independent and have their own business and have disabilities themselves and have not the money or health or support for themselves to go

Submission 2341

through the registration process. They pay tax and contribute now but won’t be able to if the cuts happen.

Also being able to chose providers allows me to feel safe. When I started on NDIS my psychologist rang around for me to help find a support coordinator- at the time 8 of the 10 providers refused to provide services to LGBTIQ participants. Most of them are/were registered providers.

The registered provider agencies I have used treated me like cattle and caused further distress. I had people showing up at my house at all hours I didn’t agree to and sometimes sending more than one worker I didn’t need or not providing services and charging me for it.

I struggle with reading and taking in a lot of information at once (I am having some support to write this but it is my own words) and when changes are suggested or made to the NDIS in language and formats I struggle to read or understand or in time frames that are too quick to process, and rely on the support you are proposing to cut to help me understand.

They say if the changes happen I will have to seek out all possible reatments to prove my disability is lifelong. I am on disability pension and only able to work 2 hours a week, my husband is also on disability. We were assessed as permanent enough to be on a disability pension why is this not good enough for the NDIS?

Also all our resources go into basic needs and medical costs not covered by NDIS so unlikely we would be able to travel to seek another treatments without support.

I have been through medical system, Centrelink and disability job services before with no help from them just further distress.

They talk in the media like we are going on expensive holiday all the time. I have only been to respite twice in nearly 10 years and it was to build my capacity not a holiday.

Submission 2341

If these cuts go ahead I won’t have any support and will put stress on my husband to support me more than he can.

The cuts will look like it is saving money but it will cost in other areas instead like the hospital system so it won’t really save money.

We are part of society too and our government should represent the needs of all Australians.

Please reconsider the cuts to the NDIS.

Thank you