Concerns over restrictive functional assessments impacting social participation (Individual advocacy)

Submission 473

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee

Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for

Future Generations) Bill 2026

Submitted by:

Wild At Heart Community Arts

May 2026

About Wild At Heart Community Arts

Wild At Heart Community Arts (WAH) is a Melbourne-based disability-led community arts organisation working at the intersection of music, culture, disability, and community participation.

WAH supports artists and participants living with disability, psychosocial disability, neurodivergence, mental ill-health, and social exclusion through contemporary music programs including hip hop, songwriting, recording, artist development, performance, and community cultural participation.

Our work focuses not only on skill development, but on addressing the profound loneliness, exclusion, discrimination, and lack of cultural participation experienced by many people with disability.

WAH welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

This submission focuses specifically on concerns regarding:

• Schedule 1 of the Bill and proposed eligibility changes;
• the use and limitations of functional capacity assessments;
• proposed reductions to supports relating to social and community participation;
• and the broader implications for citizenship, inclusion, and equality for people with disability.

Executive Summary

Wild At Heart Community Arts strongly opposes aspects of the proposed Bill that:

• narrow eligibility for access to the NDIS through restrictive functional assessments;

• reduce recognition of the social and structural dimensions of disability;

• and target supports relating to social and community participation. We are deeply concerned that the proposed reforms reflect an increasingly narrow and medicalised understanding of disability that fails to account for the realities of exclusion experienced by people with disability in Australian society.

  Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

Disability is not experienced solely through objective measures of functional impairment. Disability is also experienced through:

• social isolation;
• discrimination and structural ableism;
• exclusion from community and cultural life;
• reduced opportunities for self-expression and confidence-building;
• lack of access to meaningful relationships and networks;
• and barriers to economic, cultural, and political participation. We are particularly concerned that reductions in funding for social and community participation supports will disproportionately impact participants with psychosocial disability, autism, intellectual disability, and other groups already facing profound exclusion.

Community participation supports are not optional or “non-essential” expenditures. They are a fundamental contributor that enable people with disability to participate as equal citizens in Australian society.

Concerns Regarding Schedule 1 and Eligibility Narrowing

WAH is concerned that Schedule 1 of the Bill moves the NDIS further toward a narrow functional impairment model that inadequately reflects the lived realities of disability.

Functional capacity assessments may capture some aspects of daily functioning, but they are poorly equipped to assess:

• social confidence;
• isolation and loneliness;
• trauma and stigma;
• communication barriers;
• the effects of chronic discrimination;
• community participation;
• creative expression;
• cultural participation;
• or a person’s capacity to build meaningful relationships and identity. Many participants who appear “functional” in narrowly clinical or administrative contexts remain profoundly excluded from social, economic, cultural, and political participation. This is especially true for people living with psychosocial disability, autism, intellectual disability, and neurodivergence.

A person’s ability to technically perform tasks of daily living does not mean they are meaningfully included in society.

Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

The proposed reforms risk excluding people whose disabilities manifest primarily through:

• social withdrawal;
• anxiety and trauma;
• communication difficulties;
• inability to navigate complex social systems;
• severe isolation;
• reduced self-worth and confidence;
• and barriers to participation in ordinary community life. These realities are not secondary or peripheral issues. They are central dimensions of disability and exclusion.

Disability Must Be Understood Socially and Structurally

WAH urges the Committee to recognise that disability is not simply an individual medical condition.

Disability is also produced through structural ableism and exclusion.

People with disability continue to face:

• discrimination in employment;
• barriers to education;
• inaccessible public and cultural spaces;
• social stigma;
• poverty and housing insecurity;
• over-policing and institutionalisation;
• and widespread social isolation. These barriers profoundly affect people’s opportunities to participate equally in society. A purely functional or medicalised assessment framework fails to account for these realities and risks denying support to people whose lives are heavily constrained by social exclusion rather than visible physical incapacity alone.

The NDIS was originally intended to support the full social and economic participation of people with disability. We are concerned that the proposed reforms move away from this vision toward a far narrower interpretation of disability support.

Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

The Importance of Social and Community Participation Supports

WAH is deeply concerned by proposed and emerging restrictions on funding for social and community participation supports.

These supports are essential to:

• reducing loneliness and isolation;
• developing confidence and communication skills;
• building friendships and support networks;
• improving mental health and wellbeing;
• increasing community engagement;
• supporting self-expression and identity;
• and enabling cultural and economic participation and citizenship. People with disability remain radically excluded from many aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political life.

Social participation supports are often the very mechanism through which individuals build the confidence and capacity to participate more broadly in employment, education, volunteering, advocacy, and public life.

Reducing these supports risks trapping people in isolation and worsening long-term outcomes.

Concerns Regarding Public Characterisation of Social Participation Supports

WAH is particularly concerned by public statements made by the Federal Minister for the NDIS, Mark Butler, including remarks made at the National Press Club and elsewhere, which used selective and misleading examples of social participation funding as examples of wasteful expenditure.

Such narratives risk fundamentally misunderstanding the purpose and value of these supports.

They also contribute to harmful public perceptions that people with disability are receiving unnecessary or frivolous assistance when, in reality, many participants are struggling to overcome profound barriers to participation and belonging.

Community participation supports are not luxuries.

For many people with disability, they are the primary means through which:

• social isolation is reduced;
• confidence is developed;
• communication skills are built; Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

• friendships are formed;
• identity is strengthened;
• and meaningful participation in society becomes possible. Public narratives that trivialise these supports risk increasing stigma while undermining the rights and dignity of people with disability.

Case Example from Wild At Heart Community Arts

The following example illustrates the transformative importance of social and community participation supports.

“David” (not his real name) is a shy and highly isolated young man living with disability with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and autism.

One of his key goals is to increase his self-confidence in order to engage more comfortably with other people, make friends, and feel part of a community. Hip hop music has become a highly valuable and effective pathway for David to express himself, connect with peers, and find belonging amongst people who share similar interests and experiences.

Since commencing with the Wild At Heart program, David has attended weekly activities consistently. The regular structure and supportive environment have enabled him to feel increasingly safe and comfortable participating in a community setting alongside peers. WAH has observed substantial improvement in his willingness to engage socially, make conversation, and build connections with others. These developments represent an important step forward in overcoming isolation and building confidence in social settings.

Through participation in the program, David has also developed new creative and communication skills. He has been working on rap lyric writing, self-expression through music, and learning how to structure and develop creative ideas with the guidance of experienced professional mentors.

Importantly, David has also begun participating more actively in the broader Wild At Heart community. He has attended several community gigs and events, increasing his confidence in public and social environments.

In a particularly significant achievement, David recently performed at a community event in front of his peers. This was a major milestone demonstrating considerable growth in confidence, courage, and community participation.

Funding to support these activities, in particular creative and cultural participation, are an investment in building social, cultural and economic capacity in people with disability which generates significant returns on the investment for society and the economy.

Outcomes such as these cannot be adequately captured through narrow functional capacity assessments alone.

Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

Evidence Regarding Disproportionate Impact

WAH notes that the May 2026 Office of Impact Analysis report identified that NDIS participants with psychosocial disability will be among those most affected by reductions in social and community participation funding.

The report further noted: “…participants with a primary disability of visual impairment, Down syndrome, and Intellectual Disability may be more affected by this change. For these cohorts, total committed supports for SCCP [social and community participation] budgets are higher than the overall Scheme proportion.” (National Disability Insurance Scheme Reforms Impact Analysis, May 2026, pp. 59–60)

This finding is deeply concerning.

These cohorts are already among those most vulnerable to:

• loneliness and social exclusion;
• unemployment;
• reduced community participation;
• stigma and discrimination;
• and barriers to civic and cultural engagement. Reducing social participation supports risks worsening these inequities.

Recommendations

Wild At Heart Community Arts recommends that the Committee:

1. Reject or substantially amend Schedule 1 provisions that narrow eligibility through overly restrictive functional capacity approaches.

2. Ensure that assessment frameworks recognise the social, relational, cultural, and structural dimensions of disability, not solely clinical or functional impairment.

3. Protect and preserve funding for social and community participation supports within participant plans.

4. Recognise social and cultural participation as essential components of citizenship, wellbeing, and equality for people with disability.

5. Ensure that psychosocial disability, autism, intellectual disability, and neurodivergence are appropriately understood within any assessment framework.

6. Engage meaningfully with disability-led organisations, community arts organisations, and people with lived experience regarding the impacts of these reforms.

7. Avoid public narratives that stigmatise social participation supports or frame community inclusion as non-essential expenditure.

   Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258

Submission 473

Conclusion

Wild At Heart Community Arts believes the NDIS must remain grounded in the principles of inclusion, dignity, participation, and equality.

People with disability should not be assessed solely according to narrow measures of productivity or functional independence.

The true measure of an inclusive society is whether people are supported to:

• belong;
• participate in community life;
• express themselves creatively;
• build relationships;
• contribute culturally;
• and live as equal citizens. The proposed reforms risk moving Australia away from this vision.

We urge the Committee to protect the rights of people with disability to full social, cultural, economic, and political participation, and to ensure that the NDIS continues to support not only survival, but genuine inclusion and citizenship.

Submitted by:

Philip Heuzenroeder

Executive Director

Wild At Heart Community Arts

Melbourne, Victoria

May 2026

Meat Market, 5 Blackwood St, North Melbourne VIC 3051 | ABN 83 120 926 258