NDIA Accountability Project

NDIS funding supports autistic child's mental health and family wellbeing

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

Submission 3888

  • This is an anonymous submission for the privacy of my child

  • I write as a parent an autistic child (level 2) who has been ndis funded under early intervention from aged 5. He is now 7.

  • NDIS funding has saved my kind hearted caring boy from a severe, chronic mental health crisis and developing a self concept that he is bad and broken being embedded from aged 5. We have been able to access critical OT and psychology support before he could be diagnosed with ASD and at a time that going through assessment would have been unsafe for him. He has been able to go to school, to understand his brain and why things can be really hard for him, and we have been able to support him.

  • NDIS funding has also saved us as a family. I know as parents, our relationship wouldn’t have survived the stress that is supporting a child whose disability is invisible to most people, whose support needs can seem to be ‘low’, when at home, in burnout, we struggle to keep him and others safe due to the intensity of meltdowns. As a family, without ndis funding he would have needed tertiary mental health support by aged 6 and both parents and his sibling would have needed intense mental health support too. He would not be going to school. Crisis mental health support is not an alternative to ndis care.

As a parent, i am so anxious about the proposed changes. Capacity fluctuates. Autism is complex. Many autistic children who are struggling to function and fighting everyday to just get through school mask. Their needs are so easily missed.

My child is 7yo. He matters. He is a beautiful kid who loves animals, nature, and cares deeply for others. He has so much to give.

Budget cuts should not target the most vulnerable. Financially, they are short sighted. Every autistic child on ndis is supported by a family who are struggling with supports in place. As parents, we are so burntout. His sibling is deeply impacted. Without support all 4 of us would have intensive mental health needs and one if not both parents would likely be unable to work. Please support autistic children and their families.