National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3204
Guide Dogs Submission – NDIS Amendment (Securing the
NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Guide Dogs welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the Senate Community
Affairs Legislation Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. This submission draws on consultation with people with low vision or blindness, alongside national data on NDIS utilisation and participant outcomes for this cohort.
Overview
Guide Dogs supports the long-term sustainability of the NDIS and recognises the importance of ensuring the Scheme remains effective for future generations. For people with low vision or blindness, Social, Community and Civic Participation (SCCP) supports play an important role in enabling independence and safe participation in everyday life. Any reforms to these supports should be informed by direct engagement with this cohort to ensure policy settings appropriately reflect their distinct needs and lived experience.
Key Challenge
Guide Dogs is concerned that proposed changes to SCCP supports may have unintended consequences for people with low vision or blindness. For this cohort:
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Approximately 78% of participants have goals supported through SCCP funding.
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SCCP represents around 34% of average participant budgets. These supports are closely linked to independence, safety and community participation. For many participants, barriers are environmental rather than personal. In these contexts, human support remains the safest and most practical means of:
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Navigating public environments
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Accessing essential services
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Participating in community life Guide Dogs’ national research (2022) found:
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Four in five people with low vision or blindness experience barriers in public spaces and transport
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Reduced confidence travelling independently is common “If you cut funding to social and civic participation, you are isolating me from the people and the work that keep me whole” – Participant, SA
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3204
SCCP funding also enables choice and control by allowing participants to organise reliable, appropriate support, reducing overreliance on informal networks. “It is freeing to be able to get the help I need on my terms…and simply go about my day” – Participant ACT
Recommendations
Guide Dogs recommends that the Committee:
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Avoid blanket reductions to SCCP supports by ensuring decisions reflect individual functional need.
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Base future SCCP policy settings are informed by participant outcomes and lived experience evidence.
Closing
Guide Dogs supports the long-term sustainability of the NDIS and encourages Government to ensure reforms continue to recognise the distinct barriers experienced by people with low vision or blindness, and the important role supports play in enabling safe and intendent participation in everyday life. We would welcome the opportunity to contribute further to implementation discussions, including facilitating direct engagement with people with lived experience.
About Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs provides specialist services to people with low vision or blindness. This submission has been prepared collaboratively by Guide Dogs SA/NT, Guide
Dogs Victoria, Guide Dogs Queensland, and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, representing
the national Guide Dogs alliance.