National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026
Submission 897
To Whom It May Concern,
I am an NDIS participant diagnosed with level 2 Autism and Social Anxiety. I wanted to reach out in expressing my immense concern regarding the proposed changes to the NDIS. Being a participant on the NDIS has helped me maintain the independence required to be an active participant in the community, work towards maintaining employment and living a life free from the dependence of family. Words cannot express how valuable the assistance of my support workers have been, not just in terms of participating in the community, but also for my own mental wellbeing. As someone with selective mutism, I always struggle with communication in social settings. The conversations I have with a support worker might be the only source of in person connection I have during that week, with the exception of my parents. With the proposed changes to eligibility, individual circumstances surrounding my disabilities will not be taken into consideration. Categorically I am likely to be removed from the system as a whole. Without any form of support from support workers I’ll be back to being entirely reliant on parents and isolated from the wider community. This significantly increases my own personal barriers to employment and community access. The new proposed community participation programs do not take into account the barriers to access (how am I supposed to get there without transport funding or support workers?) or the individualised support needs to each participant (As someone who is trans, it’s really important I find people who I can feel safe and understood around). I can’t possibly imagine they’ll help with the barriers of maintaining employment, which is a crucial support need for many of us within the disabled community. It’s not practical or realistic to be reliant on my parents forever, yet these proposed changes appear to expect the wider disabled community to. I worry the wider consequences such changes will have to our mental and physical health.
Another thing I wish to touch on is the bill’s wider intentions to combat fraud. This is a problem on the NDIS. I have experienced it myself through inflated prices charged specifically for NDIS related accessories, being charged for services I never requested in the first place and negligent providers who failed to adhere to the NDIS code of conduct. Yet in practice none of these changes combat the providers themselves who get away with these actions. By not addressing the core crux of the issues, these problems are still going to be there. Instead of penalising the participants reliant on these services, steps need to be taken to ensure there are stronger safeguards that prevent fraud and exploitation from providers. We are still reliant on these supports and are going to suffer without them.
I urge you to reconsider this bill in its current form, and take steps to consult with the wider disabled community on any proposed changes. We, like everyone else deserve to be a valued member of society, but the changes this bill proposed will not in practice make that possible. People in need will suffer and the core issue of fraud will still be left unaddressed.
Kind regards,