National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submission 3756

Hi,

My name is and I’m the father of a 13 year old daughter with Autism Spectrum Disorder with a Pathological Demand Avoidance profile. I am writing this email to present my opinion as to why this bill should not be passed in parliament.

My daughter, along with many others with ASD, often masks her symptoms in public. This means that to many people who meet her, she doesn’t show any signs of her true self. This causes her to bottle up her anxiety and frustrations to be released later when she feels she’s in a safe space. With respect to this bill, the planned functional capacity testing will be completely ineffective for my daughter, and many others like her, as when in the presence of the stranger administering the test, she will be masking. i.e. doing her best to appear “normal”. This test will lead to her and other ASD children who mask to potentially lose the funding to the supports they need. My daughter attends a Psychologist monthly to help her learn regulation strategies. The NDIS rebate she receives for this service already doesn’t cover the full cost of this service ($250/session). She also attends Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology sessions fortnightly as part of her funding, and these sessions also help her manage her school life, without which I do not believe she would still manage to attend and survive high school.

During the early days of her diagnosis, when we didn’t have these supports, she would struggle to get to school. Every day at school was also a struggle, as she desperately tried to appear “normal” in front of teachers abd frienda while bottling up her anxiety. On those days, her emotions would explode the minute she got in the car at school pickup, with a range from sobbing in distress, to lashing out in anger. I’ve heard this described as similar to shaking a can of softdrink: every time she felt anxiety or struggled during the day of masking, that can was shaken, only to be opened once she was in a safe place with her family, away from the public eye.

It’s only since her diagnosis, with these NDIS supported therapies and assistances, that she’s managed to be able to be herself at school and made it through to high school.

If this functionality capacity testing were to go ahead, then she and many others like her, will mask during the testing and potentially lose their supports as they’ll appear “normal”.

Please reconsider this bill as it currently stands. It will take away supports our children desperately need.

Regards, -