National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 483
Good afternoon,
I am writing this email in direct response to the proposed changes to the NDIS, which will have catastrophic impacts on mine and my children’s lives.
I am an autistic parent with significant physical disabilities, including complex connective tissue and neurological conditions that already severely limit my ability to function independently. However, removing autism as a recognised primary disability from my NDIS supports completely fails to acknowledge the reality that my autism is not seperate from my physical disabilities. They interact constantly and compound one another.
My autism significantly impacts my ability to manage executive functioning, communication, sensory processing, emotional regulation, daily living tasks, safety awareness, social navigation, and parenting under already extreme medical circumstances. The supports currently provided through the NDIS are not “extra” supports. They are the reason my family is surviving at all!
Without the relevant support, I would lose the practical assistance that enables me to attend appointments, regulate sensory overwhelm, maintain routines, manage daily tasks, advocate within healthcare systems, parent safely, and prevent repeated ‘burnout’ or crisis. My disabilities already largely confine me to a bed or wheelchair (of which I am still waiting for my wheelchair as I slip further into depression due to the isolation). Removing autism supports would not simply reduce my quality of life… it would remove the scaffolding that keeps our household functioning.
My son also has high support needs due to his autism. The supports we receive are essential for his safety, regulation, emotional wellbeing, communication, education and capacity to participate in daily life. Without our supports, both of us would be placed into extreme vulnerability and crisis. I DO NOT SAY THIS LIGHTLY… when I state that without appropriate supports, I GENUINELY FEAR FOR OUR SURVIVAL.
The reality is that autism support is preventative support. It prevents hospitalisations, mental health crisis, carer breakdown, homelessness, educational disengagement, neglect through system failure, and further deterioration of already disabling medical conditions. Removing supports does not make needs disappear… it simply shifts the burden into emergency systems, hospitals, schools and already overwhelmed families.
My eldest daughter is now beginning to live independently, something that was only made possible through years of support, therapies, skill-building, and assistance provided by the NDIS. Those supports gave her the opportunity to build capacity, confidence, and stability. To remove or reduce these supports now, risks undoing years of progress and jeopardising her ability to remain independent and safe.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 483
Families like mine are already carrying enormous physical, emotional and financial burdens. These proposed changes send the message that autistic people with high support needs are somehow less deserving of assistance if they also live with physical disability. In reality, many of us survive precisely because both aspects of our disabilities are recognised together.
I urge the committee to reconsider any changes that reduce access to autism related supports under the NDIS. These supports are not luxuries. They are life preserving, stability preserving, and essential for the dignity, safety and survival of disabled Australians and their families.
Thank you for taking the time to read my submission. We are all counting on you to make the right decisions! We have nothing left but hope… please don’t take that from us too.
Kind regards,