Hi there, 

Have you had your say about the new NDIS assessments? There’s just a few weeks left!

The National Disability Insurance Agency is asking for feedback about the big changes the government has planned for the NDIS. The changes include how people will access the scheme, how they will be assessed and how plans and budgets will be built.

The introduction of compulsory assessments and the proposed changes to access and planning are the biggest changes to the scheme since it began in 2013.

But they are being introduced in a big hurry. So there is not much time left to have your say.

There are a few different ways you can have your say.

1. You can give your feedback directly to the NDIA. There is more information about how to do that on the NDIS website.
    
2. We know not everyone wants to wade through all the gobbledegook on the NDIS website. So you can tell us your story instead. Then we will bundle up all your stories and send them through to the NDIA.
    
3. The Joint Standing Committee are also holding an inquiry into these new assessments. You can make a submission yourself or again you can tell us your story and we will bundle them up and send them through to the Committee.
    
4. You can contact your local MP directly. We have an email you can send on our website. Or you can organise to meet them in person (in a COVID-safe way of course). Or again you can share your story with us and we will share a selection of them with every single MP and Senator in the Federal Parliament

It doesn’t matter how you do it. The most important thing is to have your say now – before it is too late.

Hundreds of people have already shared with us why they are so worried about these new assessments and the changes to planning.

“I am so upset about the proposed changes to developing NDIS plans. What happened to participant goals? What happened to individualised plans? What happened to participants being involved in the planning process and having some choice and control over the supports they receive? Leave our scheme alone.”

“I have autism. Autism is very complex. At home in my own environment I am ok. Outside it is another thing. Having an independent assessor who does not know me will not make a true assessment. My specialists know all my difficulties.”

“Isn’t assessments made by medical professionals that have had years of contact and close association with my daughter better than a one-off time constrained assessment that views my daughter at one point in time?”

Will you join them and share your story with the NDIA and the Joint Standing Committee now, so they understand the real impact these changes will have? 

There isn’t much time left. Submissions to the NDIA are due on February 23 – and the Joint Standing Committee a few weeks after that.

We will do as much of the work as we can – but we do need people to add their voice and share their story so the NDIA and the Committee understand why people are so worried. And what we want them to do about it.

We are always more powerful when we speak together.

And stay tuned because there is more come.

Thank you for all you do.

Kirsten and the Every Australian Counts team