NDIS Impact
NDIS Impact|Lifelong Pathways
NDIS Impact: I was honoured to be a panel member at the Good Practice Forum hosted by Carers SA on NDIS Impact – Benefits, Challenges and Opportunity. I was the only parent representative and was invited to share my insights into the NDIS to assist others.
The session began with a warm welcome by Rosemary Warmington, CEO of Carers SA. The Key Note was delivered by Roland Naufal, Director of Disability Services Consulting. Roland is a consultant and has spent the last 5 of the previous 30 years experience, working on the NDIA. He stated that he is constantly surprised by how much he doesn’t know. He commenced by stating that he is independent of the NDIA and is therefore not paid to be positive about it. When Roland asked what people thought of the NDIS,using one word, the answers were mixed:
- worried
- ground breaking
- complex
- possibilities
- beaurocracy
- choices
It is clear that the NDIS impact is strong, even though it is not a full roll-out yet. It is the biggest social reform since de-institutionalisation in the 1980’s – but that’s just it, it keeps on changing. As carers we want our children to grow up to be resilient, adaptive and to know how to learn. And this is what we, as carers, must do as the NDIS rolls out. This is necessary so that the NDIS impact will not be negative. We have to be adaptive, constantly learning and apply all our resilience to the process of helping the person we care for get the most out of their experience with the NDIA. The people who will get the most out of the NDIS are the ones who learn how to engage with the NDIA.
As the primary carer, you are the case manager. There are many people who will come in and out of your life. This will not change with the implementation of the NDIS.
When the NDIS is at full-rollout, 1% of everything sold in Australia will be a disability support. This NDIS impact is huge. Prior to NDIS there was $11 billion in funding for people with disability; at full implementation that doubles to $22 billion. Service providers need to be aware of this or the NDIS impact will be negative for their organisations.
A really significant NDIS impact will be that in around 10 years Australia will have the best data on people with disability in the world. However, it is simply not possible to measure how we measure the support provided to a person with disability. For example, you cannot rule out the parent factor. Some parents have a higher capacity than others. This is a significant factor and the impact that parent capacity has simply cannot be measured by NDIS statistics.
Further, it does not work for funding only early intervention. Peoples needs change over time, and they don’t necessarily decrease.
I was asked to be a panel member alongside Lis Burtnik from Carers SA and Geoff Blackwood from Barkuma. We were invited to share our insights into the NDIS impact. We were asked to answer questions such as “What would you consider to be an obvious hurdle in the process and do you have suggestions for carers or others to overcome it?”
My answer to this was forward planning. You have limited time with the NDIS planner and need to think about the goals before you are at the planning meeting.
Some parting feedback was:
- “You can’t have choices if you don’t have information.”
- “Never feel that a question is not worthwhile.”
- “If you need clarification go back and ask for it. Ask for a reasonable answer.”
- “If you want the best for the person that you care for, be prepared.”
The NDIS impact will be very significant. How the NDIS impacts on you and the person you care for will be determined by how you prepare for the transition. Lifelong Pathways can assist you to become NDIS ready.
For further information on Carers SA, please refer to their website: