Submission 2831
Submission to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee – NDIS Bill 2026
SUBMISSION
to the
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs
Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future
Generations) Bill 2026
Submitted by:
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Email: Date: 10 July 2026 Perspective: Concerned constituent and advocate for the ADHD and broader neurodivergent community
I consent to this submission being published on the inquiry website with my name and location attached. I am available to appear at a public hearing if the Committee would find it useful.
Introduction and Personal Context
Dear Committee Secretary and Members of the Committee, My name is and I am a constituent from Perth, Western Australia. I am writing to you as a deeply concerned member of the ADHD community and an advocate for neurodivergent people more broadly. I have already written to my Senator, Jordon Steele-John, expressing my alarm at the potential impacts of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 on people with ADHD. I am now making this formal submission to the inquiry because I believe the Bill, as currently drafted, poses a serious threat to the supports that many in our community rely on to live full, connected, and productive lives. I strongly urge the Committee to recommend that the Bill be withdrawn, or that all provisions that would tighten eligibility, reduce funding for capacity building and social participation, alter functional capacity assessments, or limit plan reassessments be removed or fundamentally redesigned through genuine co-design with neurodivergent people.
Why This Bill Particularly Harms People with ADHD and Fluctuating
Conditions
ADHD is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that often involves fluctuating symptoms, significant executive functioning challenges, and high rates of co-occurring psychosocial disabilities (such as anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation). Many of us have variable capacity from day to day
Submission 2831
or week to week. The supports funded through the NDIS — particularly capacity building (to develop executive function strategies, emotional regulation, and daily living skills) and social and community participation — are often the difference between being able to work, study, maintain relationships, and avoid crisis, versus isolation, burnout, and deteriorating mental health. The changes proposed in this Bill — including alterations to functional capacity assessments, tightened ‘permanence’ requirements, reduced funding envelopes for capacity building and social participation, and restrictions on plan reassessments — will disproportionately and unfairly impact people with ADHD and similar fluctuating or ‘invisible’ disabilities. These changes risk removing or drastically reducing the very supports that enable us to manage our condition and participate in society.
Specific Concerns with the Bill
- Threat to Capacity Building and Social Participation
Supports
Modelling and analysis of the Bill and associated Budget measures show that the bulk of the projected savings will come from cutting supports for existing participants. Reports indicate potential reductions of up to 50% in social and community participation funding and 10% in capacity building. For people with ADHD, these supports are not luxuries — they fund coaching for executive dysfunction, social skills development, community access to combat isolation, and strategies to manage emotional dysregulation. Cutting them will lead to higher rates of burnout, job loss, relationship breakdown, and mental health crises. The human and economic cost downstream will far exceed any short-term ‘savings’.
- Problems with Functional Capacity Assessments and
Tightened Permanence Requirements
ADHD symptoms and support needs are inherently fluctuating. A single snapshot assessment on a ‘good day’ can dramatically understate the daily challenges we face with planning, organisation, emotional regulation, and social interaction. Tightened permanence requirements that demand all other treatments be exhausted first, or that impose rigid functional capacity tests not designed with neurodivergent people in mind, will exclude or under-fund many who clearly need ongoing support. This is especially dangerous for those with co-occurring psychosocial disabilities, whose needs may not present in a linear or easily measurable way.
- Limits on Plan Reassessments and Review Rights
Submission 2831
Restrictions on the ability to seek timely plan reassessments will trap people with fluctuating conditions in inadequate plans. ADHD support needs can change significantly with life stage, stress, burnout, or co-occurring conditions. Removing or limiting review pathways removes a critical safety net and contradicts the person-centred, flexible principles the NDIS was built on.
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Lack of Genuine Co-Design with Neurodivergent People Despite the welcome extension of this inquiry, the Bill was developed without meaningful co-design with ADHD and neurodivergent communities. Assessment tools, eligibility criteria, and support categories must be shaped by people with lived experience of fluctuating and psychosocial disabilities. Without this, the reforms will continue to disadvantage those whose disabilities are not well understood by traditional medical or functional models.
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The ‘Foundational Supports’ Gap and Risk to
Psychosocial Disability
The Government’s plan to shift many people out of the NDIS into state-based ‘foundational supports’ is particularly risky for the ADHD community. These alternative supports do not yet exist at scale, are not funded, and have not been co-designed. People with ADHD and co-occurring mental health conditions are already at high risk of falling through gaps in the existing system. Removing NDIS access without robust, funded alternatives in place will increase homelessness, hospital presentations, and suicide risk in our community.
Recommendations to the Committee I respectfully recommend that the Committee:
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Recommend the withdrawal of the Bill or, at minimum, the removal of all provisions that would result in cuts to capacity building or social participation supports, tightened eligibility or permanence tests, changes to functional capacity assessments, or restrictions on plan reassessments.
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Require genuine co-design of any future NDIS reforms with ADHD and neurodivergent communities, including people with fluctuating and psychosocial disabilities, their families, and representative organisations.
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Ensure assessment processes and tools are redesigned with input from neurodivergent experts and account for fluctuating capacity, executive dysfunction, and the reality of invisible/psychosocial disabilities.
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Protect review and reassessment rights so that participants
Submission 2831
with changing needs (common in ADHD and fluctuating conditions) are not locked into inadequate plans.
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Guarantee that no participant loses necessary supports until fully funded, co-designed, and operational alternative supports are in place across all jurisdictions.
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Affirm the NDIS’s role in supporting neurodivergent Australians and uphold Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including for people with psychosocial and fluctuating disabilities.
Conclusion
The NDIS has been life-changing for many people with ADHD, providing the targeted supports we need to navigate a world not designed for our brains. This Bill threatens to reverse that progress for thousands of us. I have already contacted my Senator urging strong action. I am now adding my voice to the thousands of submissions calling for this legislation to be stopped or radically improved. The disability community — including the ADHD and neurodivergent community — must be at the centre of any reform, not an afterthought. Thank you for considering this submission. I am willing to provide further information or appear before the Committee to speak to the specific experiences of people with ADHD and fluctuating disabilities under the proposed changes.
Yours sincerely,
Perth, Western Australia
Note: This submission is made in a personal capacity as a concerned constituent and advocate. It draws on my own engagement with the ADHD community, correspondence with Senator Steele-John, and publicly available analysis of the Bill. I have no pecuniary interest in the outcome.
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