The National Disability Insurance Scheme, commonly abbreviated as NDIS, offers support to people living with disabilities, their families, and carers. The NDIS was established under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act of 2013. The Act aims to affect Australia’s obligations as per the Convention on People Living with Disability in Australia. The NDIS Act outlines the operational details of the scheme. The NDIS Act also established the NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency), the agency that administers NDIS. For help understanding the complexity of this act, consider contacting an expert at (https://providerplus.com.au/), or doing your own research by using Google to find authoritative information about this topic. For those of you who want a brief synopsis, please continue reading.
Objectives of the Scheme as Outlined by NDIS Act
The NDIS Act outlines the objective of the National Disability Insurance Scheme as:
- Enhancing the independence, social, and economic participation of people with disability
- Providing necessary and reasonable support for participants, including early intervention support
- Enabling people with disability to exercise control and choice in pursuing their goals
- Enhancing a nationally consistent approach to the planning, funding of, and access to support by people living with disability
- Supporting the provision of innovative and high-quality supports for people living with disability
The NDIS Act outlines that while implementing the NDIS Act, the focus should be on enhancing its financial stability.
The NDIS has a broader role of enabling people with disability to:
- Access mainstream services like housing, education, and health
- Access community services like libraries and sports clubs
- Uphold informal supports like friends and family
Who Can Access the Support Services?
The NDIS Act sets forth people who are eligible for support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The access requirements that a person must meet to access the NDIS support are:
- Live in an area where NDIS is available
- You meet the residency requirements – you should be an Australian citizen, a Protected Special Category Visa holder, or a permanent resident.
- When making the access request, you should be below 65 years
- You must meet all the early intervention and disability requirements
People seeking access to NDIS must do so through the NDIA. The eligible NDIS participants remain eligible for life.
Individualized Support
As outlined by the NDIS Act, the available individualized support revolves around education, social participation, employment, living arrangements, health, and wellbeing. Participants may also receive funding for:
- Vehicle modifications
- Mobility equipment
- Home construction and modification
- Therapeutic support, including therapeutic behavior
- Workplace help to enable people to access and keep employment in a supported or open labor market
- Help with household responsibilities to enable the participant to maintain their home environment
What NDIS Replaced
The NDIS established under the NDIS Act replaced the former system of the National Disability Agreement, abbreviated as NDA. The productivity commission recommended that Australia replaced the NDA with a unified national scheme back in 2011. The unified scheme would fund long-term and high-quality support and care for all Australians who experience a significant disability. The former system was unfair, underfunded, fragmented, and inefficient. The NDA didn’t give people with disabilities a choice or certainty to access the needed supports. After the enactment of the NDIS Act of 2013, the NDIS commenced on 1 July 2013. The NDIS helps every person with a disability. Disabled persons can access support regardless of when and where the disability was acquired.
