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

Submission 3795

My name is , and I am 54 years old. Since childhood, I have been made to see social workers, psychologists, GPs, neurologists, etc., constantly. I was finally assessed for Autism last year, and was advised to be tested simultaneously for ADHD.

The process was very thorough and uncovered that I am not only autistic, but also have ADHD. These findings, after feeling like an alien for most of my life, gave me a framework from which to understand the world. A framework I am still building, with assistance, to understand society and its rules.

After diagnosis, I was advised to apply for the NDS and was granted some funding, which my OT psych does not believe is quite enough. The supports I do get, in comparison to not getting any at all, has helped immensely. They have even improved my limited eating.

The focus of my autism diagnosis was that I have issues understanding and fitting in with societal norms. I have received formal warnings in workplaces for making noises we now realise were me stimming, trying to comfort myself. I also take longer to process certain information, asking questions to understand it all before I can get work done. I’ve been told that I’ve been rude, when I haven’t had a clue why. Moving through the social world and hierarchical places is very difficult for me, and I tend to withdraw, relying on underpaid work and some benefits to survive. There have been times when I haven’t even known when people were speaking down to me; friends have had to point it out. It’s like my brain lives in a different world. And there are physical symptoms too, like debilitating allergies (the prevalence of which has been linked to autism), constant headaches, joint and stomach issues.

Because I can’t understand the nuances of face-to-face communication, I often end up with housemates who take advantage of me or act inappropriately. So I have been living on my own, which I can only really afford as I have a supportive community, and I do not engage socially. I now also get assistance with ARFIDS (a restrictive eating disorder) via prepped meals, which I co-pay. This has improved my nutrition, as I could go for weeks living on Coca-Cola, hummus and pita bread, or cucumber sandwiches. Now I eat more regularly; I’d only have dinner prior to getting help with prep.

Before receiving NDIS supports, I was not leaving my house at all and had been working with a psychologist, on the assumption that I had agoraphobia linked to C-PTSD. After my diagnosis and the granting of funding, my support person has enabled me to attend a breast screen, get overdue blood tests, have my hair cut for the first time in three years and shop for groceries without having to go online, which supports local businesses. My support person has increased my quality of life as well as helped me understand where my AuADHD fits & how it manifests, and thereby what tools we need to manage it. She has helped me express when I need quiet, and we’ve found tools like communication cards, systems of organisation and sensory aids.

There are times when I am so overwhelmed and overstimulated that I cannot walk two metres to the bins at the back of my apartment block. Sometimes I freeze up so badly that I cannot leave my room. Being able to have assistance to engage with society via having a professional accompanying me is a game-changer; it puts me back into the world, even if I can’t stay long and may end up with a two-day migraine.

Having assistance in the form of an NDS-funded professional who is trained to recognise that my senses are overloaded and I need to go home as I am in severe panic (which also includes my stomach deciding to churn and have diarrhea) and distress is, as I see it, essential. I would not engage with society without my support person. Even dealing with a friend coming over takes me two weeks to recover. My brain and body become wiped out easily and I spiral. Through social engagement, my autism psych and I are using the data

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

Submission 3795

from my reactions to work on ways to manage that. She acts as a translator, having expertise and experience in assisting neurodiverse people. She’s helped me not quit my job, although it causes me distress and she has helped build my confidence to wait it out as I have surgery to get through first.

After surviving a family, workplaces and peers who treated me like a freak, I didn’t have much faith left in my ability to do much at all. We’re now slowly picking up the pieces of that and putting it back together, which helps me in a multitude of ways, including diminishing suicidal ideation, which isn’t uncommon in people with autism.

I still have a long way to go and a lot to catch up on in terms of understanding my disabilities and now you’re taking any semblance of assistance away? Why would you do that to people?

The ramifications of removing the societal engagement section of support are akin to treating disabled citizens as lower class beings; to put us in an old-fashioned place where us weirdos get hidden under the carpet. Or worse, with all the ‘commentary’ via mainstream news to out us as the new freaks to people with a lack of empathy or critical thinking. I get enough of that from my parents as it is.

I recognise that there are people who have even less capacity than I do, families who are trying to hold it together while supporting severely disabled loved ones. I worry for them.

I am all for systems that run efficiently. But the government are targeting people that need support, rather than looking at ways to make the system better or at other places where spending may be reduced.

I can’t help that my AuDHD was missed for many, many years; women of my generation were not considered for diagnosis until recently. It seems rather useless that when more people need support as their diagnosis is finally correct, that help is taken away rather than the system reinforced.

It was my understanding that the government is in the employ of the people, not the other way around; as a disabled person I still pay taxes and I still vote.

I urge you to reconsider taking supports from disabled people and instead build solid infrastructure to assist us and the incoming people who will need help. For a country so rich, why would we make people suffer so much? It is illogical and lacks compassion. There are many other places where cost-cutting could take place.

Thank you.