14 May 2026
To: Committee Secretary, Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Re: Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for
Future Generations) Bill 2026
Dear Committee Members,
I am asking you to stop and truly consider what these proposed changes will mean — not in theory, but in real lives.
Because for me, this is not about policy.
This is about whether I can keep my independence, my job, my health — and my place in the community.
What the NDIS has done for me
Before the NDIS, I had nothing.
No support. No access. No real opportunity to participate equally in society.
Since joining the NDIS in 2018, my life has changed in ways I cannot fully describe. It has allowed me to step out of isolation and into the world.
I am profoundly deaf. I use cochlear implants, but they do not make me “hearing.” They do not fix clarity. They do not remove communication barriers.
Without support, I am constantly struggling to understand people. Lipreading is exhausting and unreliable.
Through the NDIS, I finally gained access to Auslan and interpreters. For the first time in my life, I could communicate more freely, participate more fully, and belong.
That is what the NDIS gave me: not just services — but dignity, connection, and independence.
I also live with a mobility disability. Before the NDIS, I lived every day with constant knee pain. It limited my movement, my independence, and my ability to function.
With physiotherapy funded by the NDIS, that pain is manageable. I can move. I can live.
What you are putting at risk
The proposed changes put all of this at risk.
If my supports are reduced or taken away:
I may lose access to my cochlear implants — a cost of around $20,000 that I simply cannot afford I may lose ongoing physiotherapy and return to constant pain I may lose my balance, my mobility, and my safety I may be forced to give up work
Please understand this clearly:
Without these supports, my life will not just become harder — it will become smaller.
I will be pushed backwards into isolation, pain, and dependence.
This will not save money — it will cost more
If I lose support:
I may leave the workforce I may require more medical care I may become more dependent on other systems
This is not efficiency.
This is moving costs from one system to another — while damaging lives in the process.
There is no real alternative
I am told there are “other supports.”
But where are they?
Medicare offers only a handful of physio sessions — nowhere near enough I do not qualify for Australian Hearing “Foundational supports” are unclear, undefined, and uncertain
You are asking people to trust a system that has not been properly explained, and may not exist in a meaningful way.
That is not reform. That is risk.
The reality of “permanence”
I am deeply concerned about the proposed changes to the definition of “permanence.”
My cochlear implants do not cure my deafness.
They do not allow me to hear like a hearing person.
Without them:
I cannot hear alarms I cannot hear people calling me I cannot hear danger
Even with them, I still struggle every day.
My disability is permanent.
My need for support is permanent.
If I lose support because I use assistive technology — because I am trying to function and participate — then the system is punishing me for doing exactly what it is supposed to help me do.
What this really means
If these changes go ahead as they are:
You are not just changing a system.
You are changing lives.
You are deciding:
Who gets to participate Who gets to work Who gets to be heard And who is left behind
My message to you
I am not asking for special treatment.
I am asking for the support that allows me to live as an equal member of society.
The NDIS gave me that chance.
Please do not take it away.
Final words
I want to keep working.
I want to keep contributing.
I want to keep being part of my community.
But I cannot do that without support.
If you take that support away, you are not just cutting funding — you are cutting people off from their lives.
Please choose to move Australia forward.
Not backward.
Yours sincerely, [Your Name]