The latest NDIS news - without the spin or jargon

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Hi Supporter,

Thank you so much to everyone who attended our EAC Zoom forum with Scott McNaughton from the National Disability Insurance Agency last week. We’ve had great feedback and are really pleased to hear so many people found it helpful.

And we have got some more good news in our ongoing hunt to get answers for you – we have managed to score an interview with the CEO of the NDIA Martin Hoffman this week.

More about that in a sec.

Zoom Forum with the NDIA

We have all been pushing for more flexibility from the NDIA – the chance to use our NDIS funds in the way that works best for us. It’s always important - but even more so at the moment when everything is changing so quickly.

Well we have had a few wins in the last couple of weeks.

The big news out of our forum last week was that Scott McNaughton confirmed NDIS participants CAN buy a smart device with the NDIS funds if they need it for support while we are all in lockdown.

Scott said you can buy a device if:

You don’t already have a similar deviceYou need it for support or therapyIt has not been funded through another system (like education)

So no bingeing on Netflix. But if you need a device for support – like doing therapy online or joining an online exercise class – then you can use your NDIS funds to buy it.

This is really great news – so many of us have been finding it tough trying to do everything online without the right equipment.

We know you all still have questions about how this is all going to work – we do too. The NDIA have promised they will put more information up on the NDIS website this week. So keep checking the Coronavirus section [[link removed]] of the website. Or follow us on Facebook [[link removed]] and we will let you know as soon as the extra info hits.

Scott answered many other questions – including whether you can use your NDIS funds to pay for groceries to be delivered to your door. (More good news – the answer is yes).

We are really sorry that more people could not join us – the forum booked out in just a couple of hours. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on having your questions answered – you can catch up by watching a recording of the forum on our website.

And we hope this is the first of many so stay tuned for more!

Click here to see a recording of the forum [[link removed]] Interview with NDIA CEO Martin Hoffman

In case you missed it, we are interviewing NDIA CEO Martin Hoffman on Friday. We only have a short time with him so we want to make sure we make it count.

So we want to know – what do you want us to ask?

Head over to Facebook [[link removed]] and drop us a question in the comments. Or you can email us at [email protected].

This interview is a great opportunity to talk to the top guy about the things that matter most to you .

Unfortunately, we know we won’t have time to get to everyone’s questions. But we will make sure we make the ones we ask count.

Stay tuned. We will upload the full video on our website next week.

Leave us a question on Facebook [[link removed]] One last thing

We are always updating our Coronavirus pages [[link removed]]. So if you haven’t seen them already, we encourage you to check them out.

We know it’s a tough time for everyone at the moment. There’s a lot of uncertainty and we don’t know what will happen next.

But one thing we are certain of – we are stronger when we work together.

Stay safe.

Kirsten and the Every Australian Counts team

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