NDIS a window of hope

[Daniel Brown6]

 

Governments across the world are finding ways to support people with disabilities in their everyday lives, while also providing incentives for hiring them, and promoting employer education on the subject. In Australia, the most significant reform in this sense came with the introduction of the NDIS, which is designed to improve the quality of life for the most vulnerable part of the population, while also providing new opportunities for individuals and companies who decide to work with Scheme and help to combat this issue.

What is the NDIS?

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is Australia’s first national Scheme for people with permanent and significant disability. It is managed on the national level by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), with the goal of providing support to its participants in both their everyday activities and the prospect of finding and retaining employment. This is to be achieved by funding reasonable and necessary supports, associated with the person’s participation in their community and the job market, as well as day-to-day life, in order to help the participants achieve their goals.

How does the NDIS work?

In contrast to other similar plans, the NDIS is based on delivering individual and direct funding, with the goal to give the participants more control over how their supports are provided, and independence in choosing and changing service providers, instead of being assigned to a specific service provider by the state government. That being said, NDIS focuses on the individual needs and goals of its participants, who are able to develop their own NDIS plans based on their needs and their disability. After a person with a disability has applied for NDIS and determined to be eligible, a planning conversation takes place with an NDIS representative, in order to establish the person’s current life situation, supports and their hopes for the future. In terms of their NDIS plan, the participant may choose to:

1. Self-manage the plan, which means they will manage the funding package and pay providers of their choice;

2. Have their plan managed by a registered Plan Management Provider;

3. Have their plan managed by the NDIA; or

4. Combine the available options.

Registered service providers are individuals or organizations who work with the NDIS to provide support or products to the NDIS participants. If you are looking to become an NDIS provider and a part of a new competitive marketplace, make sure you look for help to register for NDIS, in order to make sure your company meets all the requirements and goes through the registration process as quickly as possible. The main benefit of becoming a registered service provider is that you will be able to work with all the participants, regardless of how their NDIS plans are managed. Once your company has been registered as a service provider, you will be presented as one of the options for NDIS participants who can benefit from the product or services you provide.

Although the NDIS is a reform with great potential, there are still some aspects which require improvement in order for it to be able to achieve its goals. One of the common issues people applying to be participants are facing is the confusing and restrictive nature of the eligibility requirements. To illustrate, the NDIS states that the disability must be permanent and significant, which can seem very restrictive, especially for people with social or cognitive impairments, who find it most challenging to fulfill the requirements for becoming NDIS participants, since assessing the mental health of applicants can be complex. Another common issue among the people with mental health problems is the low level of knowledge about the NDIS, which results in fewer applications from this category of people with disabilities, when, in reality, they are one of the most disadvantaged categories. Further, some wordings, such as “reasonable and necessary supports”, can be confusing, since these words can mean different things to different people, depending on the services and supports they need in order to have an ordinary life. As a result of these, as well as other issues, there have been disputes regarding the eligibility of some applicants.

Despite some of the problems in implementation the NDIS has faced since the start of its roll-out, it is important to understand that the Scheme is constantly developing and addressing the issues which need resolving in order for it to alleviate the confusion and anxiety on the part of both the participants and the providers, and that the implementation of such a wide programme is complex. However, given enough time to develop, and considering all the effort put into the NDIS, it is bound to continue making a significant impact on the lives of many Australians living with disability.