NDIA Accountability Project

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Arbitrary tests causing harm to people with disabilities (Family or carer experience)

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Submission 2707

Submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill

Name:

I am a: ☐ Disabled person x☐ Family member / supporter ☐ Clinician ☐ Other: ___________________

  1. My connection to this issue (Your lived experience, work, or role)

Several friends and family members are disabled and will be for life. Some have been able to access funds but they are not adequate for the level of support they require. Others have had their inadequate supports cut to below function, via arbitrary test that will result in their harm. Some have not been able to access funding at all, as the process for qualifying is too arduous and does not take into consideration the complex nature of their disabilities. It is also important to me because we are all pre-disabled – we will all become incapacitated if we live to old age and these cuts significantly impact the quality of life we can come to expect as we age

  1. My overall view of this Bill (Do you support / oppose / have concerns?)

I oppose this bill.

  1. My main concerns Choose what applies to you:

x☐ Communication and accessibility x☐ Administrative burden x☐ Loss or reduction of supports x☐ Community participation x☐ Crisis situations / “not contactable” rules x☐ Children / families / early intervention x ☐ Eligibility or assessment changes ☐ Other: ___________________

For each concern you choose, write:

☐ What your concern is

Submission 2707

☐ Communication and accessibility is already compromised by a rigid system that does not allow people to speak for themselves

☐ The onus of navigating the system lies with the participant, with reviews for changes to funding instigated by the NDIA that must be defended by the participant even when they do not have capacity to do so

☐ People are already seeing their supports slashed, these reductions will continue with this bill. Funding is already inadequate for so many people who will now risk inconsistent support which threatens to impact stability and regulation, two thigs that are specifically and significantly important to people with disabilities.

☐ NDIS is designed to stabilise people so that they can continue to live in the community among their loved ones. Slashing funding for basic support makes it harder for people to live their daily lives, which means their ability to participate in their community is diminished

☐ People often end up in crisis situations because of a lack of funding or a change to their supports. If a person ends up hospitalised as a result of this, their needs remain. A person’s funding might pay for equipment or services that cannot be halted while hospitalised. People’s lives need to continue on as normal, to ensure a safe transition out of hospital that is free from the stress of worrying about whether their hired equipment will be confiscated due to a temporary hold on funding

☐ Children are often in groups that qualify as receiving early intervention support and are vulnerable to system wide changes that are implemented arbitrarily and threaten to destabilise already at-risk participants

☐ Disabilities that are lifelong are not unchanging. People who have demonstrated lifelong disability but have not previously required support must be encouraged and supported to gain access to the NDIS as their needs increase and their disabilities change. Advice from GPs is that applications are routinely rejected and it is only on appeal that people are accepted – this creates fear among the community who are managing declines in function without adequate support.

  1. What I want the committee to understand Disability is complex and dynamic and changes to funding plans can only be made with consistent consultation with the persons care team. Current administrative approaches see changes made over the phone in interviews that ask yes or no questions that give people no opportunity to explain their needs. The bill doesn’t seek to remedy these issues, and will instead compound them. The system is already punitive and rigid and this bill will make it worse

  2. My position on this Bill

Submission 2707

I do not support this bill because it makes a cruel and unjust system harder to navigate while punishing the people it is designed to support. The rorting of the NDIS is happening at a provider level and this should be where the committee is focusing its attention