National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3395
43 Dennis Street
Grange
QLD 4051
My name is and I am the Mother of a woman with Downs Syndrome.
I am writing to express my concerns about the proposed changes to the NDIS funding for Social and Community participation.
My daughter is 46 years old. She lives independently with support from the NDIS and from her family. She is fortunate to be able to work 3 days a week, part time in the Downs Syndrome Queensland Office as an Office Assistant. For her social life though, she relies mostly on activities organised by DSIDQ with their Young Adults Social Program.
is very sociable and really enjoys getting out to plays, movies, and other group social activities on weekends. While we as a family do provide some access to these kinds of social and community activities, she obviously enjoys going out with her peers much more. She can access buses and cabs, but it is no fun going on your own. And there are obvious safety issues getting home at nighttime from activities.
While we as a society would like to think we are inclusive now of people with disability, the reality is that young people with an intellectual disability still face an uphill battle to be accepted. Once these young people reach an age where they would like to participate in evening activities like their peers, they find they are excluded or just not accepted. They then tend to withdraw into themselves because they don’t want to be made fun of or made to feel stupid.
The access to Social and Community funding has made a huge difference to ’s life. She has activities to look forward to on weekends and has been able to participate in weekends away with the group, enjoying Whale Watching, Sea World, Concerts and even the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. They are not cheap activities sometimes, but the funding for support provided by the NDIS means she can participate with my help.
These are all activities we take for granted. If we want to go, we do. When you can’t drive yourself or are not able to organise your own accommodation and tickets etc, then you don’t go. The funding can access for Social and Community participation means someone else can do all this organisation and she can attend an event safely with her friends. As I have said, we as a family have organised lots of social activities for , but when I am no longer able to do that, I would like the security of knowing she won’t be left to sit at home and watch TV all day.
is fortunate to have some work activities for 3 days of her week. There are many young people with Downs Syndrome who don’t have work and struggle to occupy themselves during the week, as well as on weekends. Getting a job with an intellectual disability is very challenging, mainly because of perceptions out there in the community
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 3395
about intellectual disability. These young people need to be able to access activities safely during the week also, and sometimes this might be with a single Support Worker.
I fully understand the necessity of reigning in the spending with the NDIS. I have always plan managed the funding with so we can choose together what support she needs. This has enabled me to keep administration costs to a minimum, so she has never overspent. Some of the incredible blow out of costs has been made possible by unscrupulous providers and very poor security and governance oversights by the NDIA.
I am aware that the government has tried to rectify this with tighter security over providers. All of us who have been participants of the NDIS for years are aware of stories of people taking advantage of the system, so I am fully supportive of any measures to clean up the rorting of the system. Time needs to be taken however, to ensure the providers left in the system are honest, well trained and reliable and to ensure that families are still able to Plan Manage their own funding.
The NDIS was set up to help people like my daughter live a safe, secure and fulfilling life, even after their families cannot provide the support they need. Take the time to think very carefully about how the changes proposed may impact this very important principle.