“Hello,
I’m writing to give you more information about the changes to NDIS supports that started on 3 October 2024.
I understand change can cause concern for some participants, families and carers.
I want to assure you the purpose of the NDIS is staying the same. It will continue to provide NDIS participants with funding for disability related supports.
This email outlines how these changes will impact you as a participant, or as the nominee for an NDIS participant.
Easy Read and Auslan translations of this email will be available on the NDIS website in the coming days.
You will be able to access those translations on this page of the NDIS website [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f867cd5a048319cf1928823154901c71c15c48cd1347a848abd4be80d31fbd438a907d2c5bdcbc2dfac915f4b4b4db6f50].
We are here to help you understand these changes and how they affect you.
We will keep sharing information with you to help you understand what is changing and how it affects you.
What’s changing and what it means for participants?
From 3 October 2024, there is a new definition of NDIS supports.
This means that starting on 3 October, participants:
These lists are available at the page below:
What does NDIS fund? [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f85628163f026085f3adfeb5e42716db01703e8109e4abab7a6f0b58bbd3898100723cda0dee7ccea07d4827393dfeb328]
This change affects all participants.
From 3 October, participants, plan nominees and plan managers must only spend NDIS funding on items in the list of NDIS supports.
This change makes it clear what NDIS funding can be spent on, and will help participants make informed choices about using their NDIS funding.
The definition of NDIS supports is based on current guidance.
Participants who use a plan manager or support coordinator should talk to them about what this means for current service agreements and supports. We are also working with providers to make sure they understand the lists, too.
What happens if you buy non-NDIS supports?
There will be a 12-month transition period for the NDIS support lists.
During this period if a participant makes a mistake and purchases a non-NDIS support, the NDIA will not raise a debt:
This transition period does not apply if a participant purchases illegal items with funding from their plan.
This transition period gives participants time to learn and change supports where needed.
If a participant accidentally spends their NDIS funding on something that is not an NDIS support, we will work with them to understand the new rules and access supports. If incorrect claims are repeated or fraudulent, we will take further action.
We know most participants do the right thing. The lists are not being introduced to make things harder for people, or to catch people out.
Our priority is participant wellbeing.
We will work with participants to make sure everyone understands the lists, and can get the NDIS supports they need.
Replacement supports process
Participants can ask for an NDIS support to be replaced with certain non-NDIS supports. These are called replacement supports.
Replacement supports must be from the pre-approved list.
You can find this list of replacement supports on the same page as the NDIS supports list:
What does NDIS fund? [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f87ad852a1d6c01bb9d6085322756038da5e86c647da7ed6eb3f2894dd3950b79d50807b0c92fea29731af299204f629ba]
To get a replacement support approved, participants need to show that the replacement support will lead to the same or better outcomes, and be the same or better value for money, compared to the current NDIS support.
Participants must follow this process before purchasing the replacement support. It cannot be done after purchasing a non-NDIS support.
If an application for a replacement support for an item is not approved, the participant can’t apply for that same replacement support again for 12 months.
Where to go for more information
We are committed to making sure everyone has the information they need about these changes. We will continue sharing resources on our website and across our communications channels. You can find that information at the sources below:
Lists of NDIS supports and non-NDIS supports [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f8ba64b4c7406a6a6b0b9eb3b9c952f8bc87c207fee65f918cbdc56e18a06652324e5494088daec58cc58e49cd958e811f].
Easy Read and Auslan versions of the lists will be available on that page in the coming days.
Latest information and news about changes to the NDIS [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f892ca1975754b40fcd221f075be7dfa89b9e2c6d5a0e4c8f1a9981e036e1290c1e6cace89cca57e8d6af0de7517f0265a].
Subscribe to the NDIS newsletter [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f8eda541581f2b368d9f0f80498253e6c1d9d8f285dbd2cf463d757925d30a68accf19171259cb57ea5c813596074e35db].
For opportunities to give feedback on the NDIS, we encourage you to join Participant First [http://click.e.ndis.gov.au/?qs=2af4d665ff9643f82985bca68a4d7a9ee957c27657b02ee53b5da2920e7f5cebc0ba56b83ea8c6fd6478685a5325667de46af0ee40645f7d].
Kind Regards,
Rebecca Falkingham
Chief Executive Officer “
NDIS National Disability Insurance Scheme
https://view.e.ndis.gov.au/?vawpToken=HPYV2X3Q3WQUFKBCBAXXZA4AOA.510001
The Department of Social Services is leading consultation with the disability community on foundational supports.
Initial consultation and engagement will focus on general foundational supports, available for all people with disability, families and carers, including things like information and advice and capacity building (individual, family and community).
Registrations are now open for four online consultation sessions on general foundational supports:
Face to face consultations sessions will open shortly and take place between October and November 2024.
For registration and more information on how to get involved please visit the DSS website:
PAID OPPORTUNITY
Are you interested in getting involved in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s IncludeAbility project as an Ambassador or Expert Advisory Group?
The IncludeAbility project has been established to increase meaningful employment opportunities and promote employment equality for people with disability. You can read more about it by going to https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/includeability-equality-work.
“IncludeAbility Ambassadors are people with disability who promote the IncludeAbility project and [its] goal of achieving equality at work for people with disability.”
“The Expert Advisory Group will provide lived experience of disability and subject matter expertise to the IncludeAbility project. It will work with the IncludeAbility project team and Steering Committee to support the project to meet its goals.”
To learn more about these exciting roles, go to:
Applications Friday, 27th of September 2024.
Please contact includeability@humanrights.gov.au if you have any questions or need help to apply.
I was fortunate to win a trip to Vienna in February 2024. It was to attend the Zero Project Conference1 at the United Nations. It’s a global conference for people with disabilities to share ideas and innovative solutions to barriers. As a woman with a physical disability and a power wheelchair user, I had won because of a video about my pointer stick that I use to help me do everyday tasks. The judges thought I was an innovator for inventing a simple solution which had a profound impact on my independence.
The conference organisers wanted me to fly in the day before, stay the four nights, and fly home the day after the conference. “Do you know how far Austria is from Australia?” I asked. They may sound similar, but the two countries are on opposite sides of the world from each other, plus there’s a seven-hour time difference. Fortunately there was an Australian (who now lives in France) on this Zoom call, who agreed it wasn’t fair to make me fly 17 hours each way for only four nights. They agreed I could stay longer, as long as I flew in and out of Vienna and paid for the extra nights myself.
So how many nights did I want to stay? I checked my annual leave balance at work and found out that I could go for three weeks.
My flights and accommodation only got confirmed four weeks before I left. So it didn’t leave much time to plan my trip. One thing I really wanted to do was ski in the Austrian Alps. If I’m going to go in winter, I may as well go skiing. Yes people in wheelchairs can ski! I’ve skied twice before: once in Japan and once at Mt Buller in Victoria. It is so much fun that I recommend it to everyone. Even though I hate the cold, it’s worth it.
I made some inquiries before leaving, and booked a tentative date with a disabled ski school in a town called Schladming, three-hours by car from Vienna.
When I arrived in Vienna, I asked the hotel staff to research some accessible transport options for me to get there. They came back to us a few days later: a taxi costing €930 (over $1,500)! Plus if I was to stay overnight, I had to pay for the driver’s accommodation, dinner and breakfast! I said no thanks.
My ski booking was moved to the Sunday after the Zero Project Conference, which gave us more time to plan. First thing was transport. Amy, my support worker, didn’t mind if she had to drive us there. But it meant going up the day before and returning the day after. It was too far for a day trip. If someone else was driving we could have done it in one very long day.
We made numerous phone calls and got lucky with Hertz in Vienna. They had one wheelchair accessible vehicle for hire, was available for the weekend, would allow Amy to drive it (but needed to pay extra as she’s under 25) and would cost about €250. A bargain compared to the taxi.
With transport sorted, we needed accommodation for two nights. We called the Schladming Tourist Centre and asked them to find something for us. After two days they hadn’t found anything, and the weekend was fast approaching. We spent that morning on the phone, calling every place close to the ski school. On our fifth or sixth attempt, we got lucky: a wheelchair access room with two separate beds, available for the two nights and not too far from the ski school. We couldn’t believe we got transport and accommodation sorted at last.
But a few hours later Hertz emailed me to say our hire car had technical problems and is off the road! And it wouldn’t be fixed before we needed it. Yep. Just when we thought we could relax and look forward to the trip to the mountains.
So it was back to square one. We called a lot of disability transport providers but none could help. In desperation, I tracked down the lady who booked my airport transfers. Her name was Eva and she was at the conference. Maybe she could help?
Unfortunately we’d already tried the company she used and they weren’t available. “But I might know someone who has a van,” Eva said. We left it with her and asked everyone we met at the conference as well.
That night we emailed the hotel to say we had transport issues and couldn’t confirm the booking just yet, but would be in touch soon. On the Friday we still hadn’t heard back from Eva, so we found her at the closing ceremony of the conference. She made a phone call while we waited in front of her.
Her friend of a friend had a wheelchair van we could borrow – for free! We couldn’t believe our luck. The only catch was that we had to go to a country train station to pick it up, and have it back by 3pm on Monday. Easy, or so we thought.
With transport sorted, we emailed the hotel straight away to confirm our booking. At 10pm, and as we got into bed, I received a reply from the hotel. It read: “You no longer have a booking with us as you did not confirm in time.”
Oh dear. (Not exactly what I said at the time but too explicit to write). It was as if the universe was against us going skiing. We tried calling the hotel but there was no answer, so emailed them asking if they had another suitable room available. I was only going for two nights and wasn’t taking my shower chair anyway. As long as the room was accessible and had two beds, I didn’t really care what the bathroom was like. Not at this late stage when we were leaving the next morning!
We had an email from them in the morning with a choice of two rooms. I chose one, clicked on the link that said “confirm” and a webpage opened that said “thank you for confirming your booking”. All sorted, I hoped.
We finished packing, pushed the hoist down to the station, found the train we needed and bought our tickets. Only we missed our connecting train as it didn’t have wheelchair access (plus we didn’t know where we needed to go or where the lifts were). Some of these stations were huge with changing platforms so you have to check the display boards (like at the airport).
We found staff that could help us get on the next train, but we were late picking up the van by about an hour and a half. Especially since we couldn’t even find our way out of that station!
We met up with Mr Harrer, who didn’t speak much English. Amy and I had started learning German on Duolingo only 10 weeks prior, so weren’t very capable of communicating with him. But he’d brought a friend with him and she could be our interpreter.
After removing some of the back seats so I could fit, and folding up my hoist, Amy was handed the keys. Our dream of being in the mountains was about to come true.
It was Amy’s first time driving on the wrong side of the road, in a left-hand-drive vehicle (we didn’t tell Mr Harrer that). It was the little things, like having to use your right hand to change gears, and the indicator switch on the opposite side that confused her the most. I kept guiding her to stay within the lane and which lane to go in when turning. But two hours later we arrived at the hotel surrounded by snow. We had no idea that they’d had snow the night before – the first after about four weeks with none! It was amazing timing for us.
We entered the warm reception and the lady asked “Can I help you?”
I told her my name and she looked confused. “You didn’t confirm your booking,” she said.
I showed her the confirmation I got on the website on my phone. Turned out there was a glitch in her system and she didn’t receive a notification.
“Well, do you still have a room available?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied, much to our relief.
She had housekeeping prepare our room while Amy got things out of the van. In my rush and desperation to book accommodation, I never asked about clearance under the bed for my hoist. I could see in the photos that one bed didn’t, but the other was a sofa bed. All sofa beds have clearance, right? I’d thought. When we got up to the room and checked, I was wrong. Neither bed had space underneath for the hoist legs to go under. How would I get into bed and out again safely?
We decided to go down for dinner and leave that problem for later. But putting it off wasn’t going to solve the problem. After dinner, Amy sat on both beds and decided she wanted the sofa bed as the other was too soft. Even though the sofa bed was the easiest to get me onto with the hoist. The other bed was built into the wall so couldn’t be moved or raised. I did consider sleeping in my wheelchair, but this was an expensive hotel so wanted to sleep in their bed.
We moved some furniture around to make space, but still couldn’t get close enough. One piece of furniture was a large wooden coffee table, and just happened to be the same height as the top of the mattress.
“What if we hoisted me onto the table, then slid me onto the bed?” I asked Amy. She sat on the table to make sure it was sturdy. It might actually work, we thought. We put the hoist side-on to the bed, I drove underneath and she hoisted me up. Then Amy moved my chair back and put the table underneath, and covered it with the duvet and my poncho which was slippery on the outside. She lowered me onto the table, disconnected me from the hoist, then ran around the other side of the bed and pulled me with the duvet. It worked! We were excited but exhausted, and to think we’d have to do it again for both mornings and nights. But we had a way which worked, and our reward was to ski the next day.
There was no way I was going to be late for my ski booking at 11am, so we set the alarm early. We had no idea how much longer it would take to get me off the bed again. When Amy got up, she opened the blinds. The view took our breath away. It was 7am, and the sun had just touched the top of the mountain range we could see, highlighting the snow. There was still snow on our balcony balustrade too. It was like waking up in a fairy tale book; we thought we were dreaming. It’s the kind of scene you’d only see in a calendar or on a postcard. And here it was, right outside our hotel window, on a trip that almost didn’t happen. It made us forget all about our problems and go out and enjoy the day. We had made it.
Melanie in her sit-ski with her guide Sevie
1See https://www.youtube.com/live/8e1bqt419RY?si=FKVOIIMggk-2DHIL for the live stream of my presentation at the conference in Vienna.
Shaun Bickley is an autistic person in Brisbane who is working hard to change this discriminatory injustice by organising an open letter against subminimum wage along with other disabled people across Australia.
Physical Disability Australia has proudly joined over 34 national organisations, 166 state/local organisations & businesses and over 2100 people who’ve signed on in support of ending this archaic practice.
We encourage you to join the charge for fair change by signing your support at:
https://forms.gle/FGJX8GUUaH4QzePd6
Together let’s bring about change that is way overdue.
Tamsin Colley PLY shares her thoughts on finding connection within the disability community and how Physical Disability Australia Ltd (PDA) has played a role in this in her time as a PDA Member.
After you’ve watched her video, head across and sign up for FREE PDA MEMBERSHIP at pda.org.au/membership/.
We look forward to you joining us, Tamsin and the rest of the PDA community.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9v_FXfvn6d/?igsh=MTJheWxuYzBoOXgyMg==
On Wed 21st Aug 2024 at 6:30pm AEST, Physical Disability Australia invites you to attend a free online information session around the new Housing Roadmap that will be launched later this month.
Presented by the HousingHub, this online event will explore the Housing Roadmap, explain how to use it, and give an insight into supports available to those looking to begin their housing journey.
As Australia’s largest disability housing platform, Housing Hub is the trusted, go-to website for those looking to access the accessible housing market.
Over the past year, Housing Hub has worked closely with people with disability and their supporters to redesign their information resources around the disability housing market.
Their upcoming information will be run via Zoom with accessibility options available (please share your access needs when you register).
To register for this free event, go to:
If you have any questions, please email the housing options team at housingoptions@housinghub.org.au or call their Advice Line on 1300 61 64 63
We look forward to you joining us for this information session.
Technological advances, particularly in terms of online access, have brought immeasurable benefits – allowing connections with family, friends, work and study, and opening access to services and information regardless of physical location.
Online spaces should be safe for everyone, however people are all too frequently being targeted, harassed, made to feel vulnerable and forced to leave or reduce their online engagement through the acts of others.
A report carried out by the eSafety Commissioner revealed that people with disability experience higher levels of online hate speech than Australia’s national average – 19% to 14% respectively.
A 2020 survey also highlighted the perceived risk for women with disabilities subjected to technology-facilitated abuse increased from 20.57% in 2015 to 44.3% in 2020.
In response to this, the Australian Government has launched a campaign to increase awareness of Online Safety Laws to support people who have experienced severe online abuse.
Everyone has the right to be safe online.
Online abuse in any form can be stressful for the individual and their family or community.
If you or someone you know experiences severe online abuse, please visit eSafety.gov.au to make a report and reach out for support through services such as:
If someone is in danger or requires immediate support, please call emergency services on 000.
More information on the Online Safety Act 2021, online safety risks and how to access support can also be found by visiting eSafety.gov.au.
“Join Minister for the NDIS, the Hon. Bill Shorten online where he will answer your questions on NDIS reforms.
The changes will improve the participant experience of the NDIS, and bring the Scheme back to its original intent.”
PERTH NDIS COMMUNITY CATCH UP:
Tuesday 21st May at 10:45am AWST
Pamela Hilton Hotel
14 Mill Street
Perth
Minister Shorten will be answering questions in the room.
Join in-person to ask your questions or watch the event online.
To book your ticket & find out more about event accessibility, go to:
https://events.humanitix.com/ndis-community-catch-up-perth
BRISBANE NDIS COMMUNITY CATCH UP:
Friday May 24th at 11:45am AEST
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Corner Merivale and Glenelg Streets
Brisbane
Minister Shorten will be answering questions in the room.
Join in-person to ask your questions or watch the event online.
To book your ticket & find out more about event accessibility, go to:
https://events.humanitix.com/ndis-community-catch-up-brisbane
ONLINE NDIS COMMUNITY CATCH UP:
Wednesday 5th June
WA: 2:00pm
SA/NT: 3:30pm
NSW, VIC, TAS, QLD, ACT: 4:00pm
To book your ticket, go to:
https://events.humanitix.com/ndis-reform-community-catch-up-online
1800 732 674
