Submission 2588
Submission to the Inquiry into the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future
Generations) Bill 2026
To the Committee Secretary,
I am writing this submission as a participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) living with a primary psychosocial disability and secondary physical disability and additional disabilities. I request that my name and personal details remain confidential for this submission.
I offer my perspective as a disabled person who is an NDIS participant and a highly qualified social worker who works part-time in the NDIS space. I have worked in the welfare sector and understand the complexities related to health and disability and understand how to navigate the service system. Even with this specialist knowledge and skills I found it difficult to access the support I needed when I became disabled in 2010. At my most vulnerable point, the limited support available further incapacitated me, left me isolated and directly contributed to a decline in my capacity until I gained access to the scheme. The support I needed to access a reasonable quality of life literally did not exist before the NDIS was introduced.
I have witnessed first-hand how the NDIS has made a positive difference to so many people in the community. The NDIS is something that Australia should be proud of. In terms of comparative social policy, Australia led the way with reforms to the disability sector with the implementation of the NDIS. The proposed changes to the Bill will change the scheme to the degree that it will be unrecognisable, and no longer be something to be proud of. It will not meet the valid needs of the disabled community and it will remove the checks and balances needed to protect disabled people’s right to participate in society.
These proposed changes directly contravene the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006). Specifically, Article 19 of the Convention affirms the right of people with disability to live independently and be included in the community, with the support necessary to ensure they are not isolated or segregated
I have been a participant of the NDIS since 2020. I did not have the capacity to apply before then as I was experiencing such significant impairment that I could barely function day-to-day. When the government released funding to assist people to apply, I was able to get support from the Assessment and Referral Team from the Disability Connect and Outreach Program. Through the NDIS, I have been able to access the disability-specific therapeutic and social and community participation supports
Submission 2588
necessary to rebuild my life after becoming permanently disabled in 2010. I was without support for 10 extremely challenging years. This support is the reason I am alive today.
The NDIS has been more than a service provider for me; it has literally been the foundation of my survival. Before accessing the Scheme, I was barely living. As a person who thrives on work and engaging with the community, I experienced severe Major Depressive episodes as a result of not having support to reasonably engage in an occupation for over 10 years (it has taken 5 years of NDIS funded specialised disability support to assist me to re-enter the workforce). I will need support to continue working. This level of required support was not available in the community through other Government or Community services. In addition to this I could not access the community with the limited 3 hours of support via Anglicare which was for ‘help in the home.’ Even with this support, I remained unable to perform essential daily tasks, such as preparing food, cleaning my rented studio apartment, and faced profound isolation due to an inability to access the community.
The absence of support focused on building my capacity meant that I was unable to work and earn an income. To add insult to injury, I could not afford the healthcare I needed to build my capacity. This resulted in a vicious cycle of poverty and exclusion, where a lack of financial means also prevented me from accessing social events, which further entrenched my isolation. My physical health deteriorated to the point that I experienced numerous additional health challenges related to the disabilities that, now that I have NDIS funding, have been able to slowly improve my overall health and increase my capacity to the point that I was able to design a working environment that accommodates my disabilities by starting my own business to enable me to work part time from home.
My experience highlights that without adequate, disability focussed supports, participants are effectively trapped in a cycle of limited functioning that prevents both social and economic contribution
While mainstream and public health systems serve a critical purpose in providing universal healthcare and acute clinical care, they are not designed to meet the ongoing, disability-specific needs that form the basis of my daily functioning. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 was established to provide ‘reasonable and necessary’ supports to enable people with significant and permanent disability to participate in society, exercise choice and control, and reach their full potential. Crucially, the NDIS was designed to provide the additional support required to bridge the gap between clinical health outcomes and the capacity to live an ordinary life. Mainstream services operate on a broad-access model that lacks the flexibility, individualization, and longitudinal capacity-building essential for managing the episodic
Submission 2588
and fluctuating nature of psychosocial disability. When these disability-specific supports are cut or restricted, participants are not ‘transferred’ to mainstream services; they are effectively abandoned by the system, as mainstream healthcare systems lack the mandate and the mechanisms to provide the ongoing assistance required to maintain community and economic participation
I write to express my profound concern that the proposed cuts to social, civic, and community participation funding, and capacity building daily activity funding, will destabilize my life, the NDIS participants I support and the lives of countless others.
- Standardized assessments: The proposed reliance on standardized assessments to determine functional capacity is fundamentally flawed for those with psychosocial disabilities. Research indicates that neurodivergent individuals and those with psychosocial conditions often utilize “masking”, a complex, exhausting survival mechanism, to suppress natural behaviors and mimic social norms in order to avoid judgment, discrimination, or abuse (Dalmo, 2026; Lawson, 2020, as cited in Ross et al., 2022). Standardized assessment tools often fail to capture the true level of disability in high-masking individuals because the assessment environment forces the participant to “perform” at a level they cannot sustain in daily life (Dalmo, 2026).
Furthermore, psychosocial disability is characterized by episodic, fluctuating capacity. Research consistently shows that current NDIS processes often fail to accommodate these “ups and downs,” with participants reporting that planners frequently misinterpret their capacity based on a “good day,” leading to inadequate support levels (Hamilton et al., 2023). Forcing participants into rigid, one-size-fits-all assessment models risks stripping away the very supports that prevent acute destabilization and potential hospitalization.
-
Disparity in Priorities
It is deeply concerning that the Government is proposing significant cuts to participant supports while the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) continues to allocate vast sums to private law firms to contest participant appeals. This financial prioritization suggests a systemic failure to value the wellbeing of those the Scheme was established to support.
Submission 2588
I urge the Committee to consider that despite the NDIS being in operation since 2013, the current reform trajectory lacks a transparent, comprehensive, and independent analysis of the Scheme’s outcomes that includes meaningful consultation with those who have lived experience. Decisions impacting the most vulnerable are currently being made by individuals who lack lived experience, contradicting the foundational principles of “choice and control” (Hamilton et al., 2023).
-
Risk of forced isolation
Social connection is a central element in mental health recovery (Roberts et al., 2024). The proposed cuts to social and community participation funding threaten to reverse the progress made by thousands of participants. By restricting how we access support, forcing us into large provider systems rather than allowing for the trusted, peer-led, and individualized arrangements that actually work, the Government is effectively narrowing the scope of a dignified life. As highlighted in recent studies, participants with psychosocial disabilities already experience lower community participation rates than other groups (Roberts et al., 2024); these reforms will exacerbate this isolation.
-
Erosion of Choice and control
The proposed legislative amendments regarding mandatory registration and the systematic reduction of the participant base (with estimates suggesting a removal of 160,000 to 241,000 people from the Scheme) stand in direct opposition to the NDIS’s foundational promise of ‘choice and control.’ While the government continues to use these terms in discussions, the reality is a significant narrowing of autonomy. By mandating registration, the Government is effectively forcing participants into a rigid, large-scale provider system. This will inevitably dismantle the small, peer-led, and individualized arrangements that are the only models proven to work for those of us with complex psychosocial needs.
Under the guise of ‘choice,’ these reforms are creating a ‘one-size-fits-all’ trap. I am being told that I may retain choice, but only within the narrow, highly constrained limits set by the Agency. Without the NDIS, I would be forced to navigate a fragmented array of mainstream services that are not equipped to handle disability-specific needs. These changes do not offer more control; they impose a system where the Agency (rather than the participant) defines what an ‘ordinary life’ looks like. To exclude such a vast number
Submission 2588
of participants is to fundamentally abandon the inclusive vision the NDIS was created to realize, replacing individualized support with bureaucratic gatekeeping.
-
Historical Context: Concerns of regression to Institutionalisation
The proposed move toward restrictive registration and the narrowing of individualised supports must be viewed against Australia’s historical treatment of people with disability. For decades, individuals with psychosocial disabilities were systematically segregated and subjected to forced institutionalisation, where choice, control, and basic human rights were systematically denied (National Inquiry into Human Rights and Mental Illness, 1993).
The NDIS was intended to be the mechanism that finally dismantled these segregated systems and replaced them with community-based inclusion. However, the current reform trajectory (characterised by the exclusion of hundreds of thousands of participants and the forced consolidation of services into rigid provider models) risks repeating the patterns of the past. When the Agency limits support to only the most ‘standardized’ providers, it forces participants back into a state of structural dependency, reminiscent of the very institutional settings the NDIS was designed to eradicate (Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2023). History proves that when the state dictates the terms of ‘appropriate’ care, the rights and autonomy of the individual are the first to be compromised.
Risks
As a current participant of the NDIS and a professional providing supports to others on the scheme, I feel it would also be crucial to highlight the very real risks I can identify, should these changes proceed as proposed:
- As proactive, preventative, and capacity-building supports are reduced, myself and other participants will more frequently end up in emergency departments, police interventions, and acute psychiatric wards. This represents a “cost-shift” rather than a “cost-saving,” moving the burden from the NDIS to more expensive, less effective mainstream crisis systems
Submission 2588
-
A significant increase in the “service gap” where vulnerable people with disabilities (like myself and many others I know and support) are deemed ineligible for the NDIS but are too complex or disabled for existing, underfunded mainstream services (e.g., public mental health or housing), leaving them with extremely limited and in some cases no support.
-
These changes will discourage people in desperate need from seeking any help at all, leading to further marginalisation and poorer long-term health outcomes
-
Restricting/limiting which providers people can choose to receive supports also comes with the risk of potentially trapping vulnerable people in poor-quality or abusive support arrangements
-
The reduction of capacity-building and daily living supports will directly impair my ability to maintain my small business and part-time employment, inevitably resulting in job loss and inability to pay bills and rent,
-
The loss of essential supports and income will remove my capacity to sustain my tenancy, placing me at immediate risk of homelessness and secondary crisis related trauma. Largely, crisis housing and social housing services are not accessible for people with disabilities and would therefore create further barriers to me being able to obtain secure, safe housing.
-
The withdrawal of assistance with daily activities will lead to an inability to manage personal hygiene, nutrition, and essential self-care, compromising my dignity and independence.
-
The loss of/reduction in community participation funding will result in a dramatic increase in social isolation which is a major contributor to mental illness.
-
For many participants, including myself, these supports are the only barrier preventing a crisis. The removal or reduction of this funding will lead directly to severe psychological destabilisation, regregression into severe situational depressive episodes, possible suicide attempts, and the potential for loss of life
-
I will be unable to maintain a clean and safe living environment which will further exacerbate both my physical and psychosocial disabilities
•
Recommendations:
- Halt the proposed cuts to social, civic, and community participation until an independent, co-designed review of the NDIS structure is completed.
Submission 2588
-
Prioritise Lived Experience in the co-design of all future NDIS Legislation and Rules and employ NDIS participants, in particular, allied health professionals and support workers to contribute to a “lived experienced policy development framework”.
-
Redirect administrative and legal expenditure toward community-led advocacy and support services that are proven to reduce reliance on acute crisis systems.
I believe that the NDIS can be improved, but these reforms must focus on the efficacy of the Agency’s internal structure rather than reducing the vital supports that keep participants alive and participating in our society.