Submission 857
Dear members of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee, I am writing to you as I am an NDIS participant who is deeply concerned about the current NDIS Bill before the parliament.
The NDIS has had an amazing life changing impact across my life over the past eight years that I have been on the scheme. My NDIS plan enables me to parent my two young children and to hold down to part time jobs and be an active member of my community.
I am deeply concerned about the changes in the current NDIS Bill before the parliament. If this Bill passes my life and the supports I depend on could be withdrawn or drastically altered. I am very concerned that the support workers in my life who enable me to get ready for work, parent my children, and get out and about in the community with my kids will no longer be provided or that their hours will be so drastically reduced that I will have to choose between having support with my basic hygiene and being able to leave the house. I am also extremely worried that the assistive technology funding in my plan will be reduced significantly and that if my wheelchair needs repairs I won’t have any funding to enable me to undertake these vital repairs so that I can use my wheelchair. It is not an optional nice to have piece of equipment. My wheelchair is essential to my life.
I have friends with disabilities whose plans have just been reassessed and they are self-managing their NDIS supports, like I am, and only have access to 3 months worth of funding at a time. This means that they can no longer use their funding flexibly in a way that meets their goals and also maintains their health by providing assistance with personal care, household tasks and funds their wheelchair maintenance and repairs. Friends have been left unable to afford basic maintenance and repairs on their wheelchairs and so have been stuck in bed waiting and waiting for funds. They also have not been able to afford support workers to undertake personal care routines in the morning to get them out of bed and dressed and showered and they have been left relying on informal support such as family and friends for this basic care. This puts an extreme amount of stress on our relationships and can lead to relationship breakdowns and serious gaps in care which has ongoing implications for our physical and mental health.
The proposed changes will see a drastic reduction in funding to social, civic and community participation, and capacity building. This will have far reaching and significant impacts on the lives of people with disabilities who rely on support workers to assist us with our
Submission 857
community participation in order for us to be an active and valuable part of our communities.
The Bill doesn’t allow the person’s intersecting disabilities or environment to be considered when funding supports. Page 28 & 29 of the Bill gives an example of a person (Samira) and a wheelchair – it appears to be looking at throwing out the recent ART decision about considering the whole of the impact of a person’s disabilities INCLUDING those which did not by themselves meet disability eligibility requirements. While in the example given the required chair is approved, the implications of not considering the “whole person” is very concerning. As an LGBTIQA+ person I am also very concerned by this as it wont allow me to have my identities and the additional disabilities I have considered in my plan and funded.
The current Bill also proposes changes to mandatory registration and a new provider enrolment system. If these changes pass it will force me to use a much smaller pool of Government-selected or approved providers and takes away my choice and control over who provides my support and will force me to use providers who are not LGBTIQA+ affirming. Additionally, these bigger organisations have high staff turnover which will put me at risk of receiving supports which are homophobic and will make me unsafe in my home. We know that registration does not keep people safe. The Disability Royal Commission showed us that registration is no guarantee of quality and that the most serious cases of abuse, neglect, violence, and exploitation was committed by registered providers. Many of us have escaped abuse by establishing self-directed, individualised supports, and these are now at risk. What keeps people safe is choice and control, trusted relationships, connection to community, and the ability to speak up when something is wrong. When people with disability have limited or only one option for provider, we are unable to take our business elsewhere, and may be unable to complain for fear of losing supports we need to live. Safety comes from being supported and having choice and control over our lives.
I am also concerned that the Budget says the NDIA will introduce differentiated pricing for some supports delivered by unregistered providers. I think that this means that they will reduce the prices that unregistered providers can charge and that would drastically impact my ability to hire support workers who are LGBTIQA+ and who I feel safe (and am safe) and supported by.
Submission 857
For all these reasons I am not supporting this Bill. People with disabilities across this country oppose this Bill. It will harm us. It will erode our human rights and undermine the Scheme we fought so hard for and which the Labour Government committed in full to. The NDIS has changed my life and I want it to continue to do so.
Regards,
LGBTIQA+ Disability Educator | Speaker
Writer | Workshop Designer & Facilitator
Access Consultant | Activist