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Challenging NDIS decisions: Expert advice to get the support you need – Reasonable & Necessary podcast
On this episode of Reasonable & Necessary, Dr George speaks with Mitchell Skipsey from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and NDIS participant and activist, Felice Vaiani, about NDIS appeals and what to do when your NDIS plan doesn’t meet your needs. This episode is full of lots of great advice, and important things to consider when appealing NDIS decisions.
You can also check out a new resource series created by the Housing Hub and PIAC teams on Challenging NDIS Decisions. These resources cover a range of interesting topics including how to request a review of an NDIS decision that you don’t agree with, how to apply to the AAT for an external review, how to find out the reasons behind an NDIS decision, how to request access to documents from the NDIS and how to ask for more time to apply to the AAT. You can access the resources here: www.housinghub.org.au/resources/article/challenging-ndis-decisions
Our UpSkill team have created 2 new workshops on the hospital and NDIS interface. These online workshops are partially subsidised and are suitable for people that have basic NDIS and health interface knowledge.
A Logan man has had a groundbreaking victory against the National Disability Insurance Agency after it tried unsuccessfully to kick him out of his one-bedroom unit and force him into a share house to cut costs.
Welcome to the June issue of our bi-monthly newsletter.
Featuring news about recent significant developments in our work to ensure young people stuck in aged care, or at risk of entering aged care, can make an informed decision on where they want to live.
I’m almost 36, I have Cerebral Palsy. I enjoy doing diamond artwork, watching series on Netflix and I like to go shopping and meet friends for coffee. I’m a bit of a homebody sometimes.
Source: The Australian – Sarah Ison | Photo: Martin Ollman
The NDIS review is being urged by disability providers to reconsider eligibility criteria for the scheme and prioritise early intervention for autistic children to prevent “increased reliance” on the NDIS throughout their lives, as part of more than 700 submissions made to the review of the $40 billion scheme.
On this episode of Reasonable and Necessary, Dr George speaks with Professor Bruce Bonyhady AM and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM in this exclusive first interview about the NDIS Review and what the NDIS might look like in the future.
Three disability advocacy groups — Synapse, Youngcare and the Summer Foundation — have penned a letter to National Disability Insurance Minister Bill Shorten, Aged Care Minister Anika Wells and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, to address growing concerns of young Australians living with disability being placed into aged care.
Source: The Australian – Sarah Ison | Photo: Martin Ollman
A coalition of disability organisations is warning the government is on track to fail its target of having no young disabled people in nursing homes by 2025 and has called for a clear plan to achieve the goal recommended by the Royal Commission into aged care.
On this episode of Reasonable and Necessary, Dr George speaks with Minister Bill Shorten about the 2023 NDIS budget to understand what the budget will mean for people with disabilities and our families. Is there a cap on the NDIS, will our funding packages be cut and will it be harder to get onto the NDIS? You will get the answers to these questions and more.
Just over three years ago, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government would finally solve the issue of young people with disability having to live in nursing homes. The government developed a strategy and committed to getting all young people out of aged care facilities by 2025.
Welcome to our new-look bi-monthly newsletter – Summer Foundation Focus.
While we may have a new name for our newsletter, our focus very much remains the same. We exist to get young people with disability out of aged care and into appropriate homes.
On this episode of Reasonable and Necessary, Dr George speaks with NDIA General Manager Sam Bennett and NDIS guru Sam Paior about how to manage your NDIS funds efficiently, creatively and innovatively so you can get the best outcomes out of your plan. While we focus on self management, you don’t need to self manage to benefit from this episode. It will be relevant to you if you are plan managed and even if you are agency managed and want to have more control over your supports.
We first met Connor during the more than 2 years he waited to get the right SDA approval in his NDIS plan. Late last year Connor finally moved in to his own apartment.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Connor Brookhouse and I am 19 years old. My disability is called Friedreich’s Ataxia. I love animals and video games. I am now living independently in an apartment, but I was living at my mum’s house before I got SDA funding.
More than 10,000 younger people have died in residential aged care over the past decade, with new figures prompting calls for the government to implement ambitious timeframes to get people under 65 out of aged care and into suitable accommodation.
We first met Daniel almost a decade ago, when he lived in a nursing home. Last year, Daniel moved into his own SDA apartment.
Tell us about yourself
I’m 57 years old and have cerebral palsy. I’m a Richmond Tigers fan and in my earlier days was passionate about martial arts. I love spending time with my family, friends and, of course, my cats. I’m passionate about my advocacy work and hope it improves other people’s lives.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was designed to be a market-based system that would shift power from government and providers to consumers.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s Own Motion Inquiry report demonstrates that for the most vulnerable NDIS participants, there is still a power imbalance, with providers and workers still in charge.
Last year we began working with Samar. Samar shares her experience of moving into SDA and explains why she wanted to share her story.
Tell us about yourself
I’m an independent woman, I have cerebral palsy. I live in an SDA apartment, which has been a real life changer for me. I am a disability support worker trainer and I share my lived experience with other projects as they come along. I like to support people with disabilities and hopefully my experience helps others.
On this episode of Reasonable and Necessary, Australia’s leading podcast series on the NDIS, Dr George Taleporos is joined by the new CEO of the National Disability Insurance Agency Rebecca Falkingham about her key priorities, how she plans to rebuild trust and much more.
The Summer Foundation’s Annual Public Forum was held on November 25, 2022. For the first time since 2019, we were pleased to host an audience in person, as well as online. The hybrid event saw almost 600 people join us online and close to 150 in person at The Arena, NAB Docklands.
Watch highlights from the forum:
Our panel of experts, made up of policy makers, sector experts and people with lived experience of disability were hosted by Beverley O’Connor (ABC News 24), and discussed what a reimagined NDIS might look like.
Bram Heinrich-McPartlan and Tobias O’Hehir brought the voice of lived experience to the discussion, with valuable insights into their own experiences navigating the NDIS. Importantly, they both highlighted the life-changing supports that their NDIS funding provided, while also sharing how complex the NDIS is, and how difficult it was to access and understand.
Tobia’s noted that his work as a lawyer helped him to recognise what was needed to put together an application that ensured he would get the funding package he needed, bringing into sharp focus that most do not come to the NDIS with this level of expertise. “Immediately I knew this was an evidence-based process, straight away… I came to it with a law degree and comms degree, and all of my professional experience, and I was able to get the information that I required, I was able to get the evidence that I required.”
John Dardo, Deputy CEO Partners, Providers and Fraud Taskforce Group, represented the NDIA and he was joined by Alecia Rathbone from the Housing Hub and Paul Simmons from Ability SDA, who added to the discussion from the perspective of sector and housing professionals.
It was widely acknowledged throughout the discussion that the NDIS is a young organisation with an enormous task, and while it is not where it needs to be, the organisation is committed to getting better.
John Dardo explained that the NDIA is working on both system improvements and immediate interface improvements to make the NDIS better now, and into the future. “But we also have to look forward and go, what do we need to keep focussing on at every level, to improve and be better next year, and in 5 years, then in 10 years.”
There were some fantastic suggestions for improvement from all our speakers. A key theme that emerged was improvements to workforce. For example, there needs to be more level 3 support coordinator funding, as well as funding for training for support coordinators so they can become the experts that they need to be. The implementation of NDIS in-reach roles within the hospital system was also needed so there are experts within the hospital system that can work with participants and support coordinators to get the best possible outcomes.
Suggestions for change within the NDIA included NDIS policy being separated from implementation, and a positive demand activation scheme, where the NDIA identifies participants who will likely be eligible for SDA. Paul Simmons explains, “the NDIA knows who is likely eligible for SDA, it wouldn’t be perfect, but they would cover it a lot better than the market would”.
The event concluded with a great sense of optimism for the future of the NDIS. For the full discussion – the range of barriers and possible improvements, watch a recording of the event above or download the transcript.
Speakers:
John Dardo – Acting Deputy CEO of the NDIA’s Partners, Providers and Fraud Taskforce group
John Dardo joined the NDIA on secondment in August 2022 as Deputy CEO of the newly formed Partners, Providers and Fraud Taskforce group. John is responsible for outward facing interactions with providers, partners in the community, the national contact centre and the recently formed cross-government Fraud Taskforce. John has a longstanding senior executive career in the public service, having previously worked at the Australian Taxation Office and Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
Alecia Rathbone – Chief Social Enterprise Officer, Housing Hub
Alecia Rathbone is the General Manager of Summer Foundation’s social enterprise the Housing Hub, that connects people with disability to appropriate housing. She is responsible for the development and growth of products and services of the social enterprise including the Housing Hub website, where people with disability can search for suitable housing by housing type or location, and the Tenancy Matching Service, which supports people with disability to apply for new property developments across Australia.
Bram Heinrich McPartlan – NDIS participant and SDA tenant
Bram lives with multiple disabilities in fully accessible specialist disability accommodation. Bram found accessing the NDIS a trial and it took multiple attempts to obtain the appropriate housing and supports in their plan. Bram now works casually, does disability advocacy and is grateful for the personal freedom and agency the NDIS has given them.
Paul Simmons – CEO, Ability SDA
Paul Simmons is a registered SDA provider that builds specialist disability accommodation. Together with his wife Angie, Paul founded Ability SDA in 2016 in direct response to the need for high quality SDA in NSW. Paul recognised an opportunity to support people with high physical needs by offering independent living solutions and a better quality of life. Today, Ability SDA has 45 accessible apartments with further developments in the pipeline. With a combination of industry experience in economics, finance, property, aged care and SDA, Paul is driven to build cost effective, beautiful, accessible spaces for vulnerable Australians.
UpSkill will continue to offer training and resources to support coordinators, allied health professionals and other sector professionals assisting people with complex support needs. Check out our upcoming courses for 2023.
As we wind down after an especially busy year the time is right to reflect on our work and achievements.
There has been significant change in the disability sector in 2022. A change of government, a greater focus on the NDIS than arguably ever before in the community and now the start of what feels like a new era for the NDIS with new leadership and a scheme review.
The government’s plan to clear hospital beds by getting National Disability Insurance Scheme participants discharged sooner is saving the states “literally millions of dollars every day”, and a “frank” conversation is needed over how they can do more to support young disabled Australians, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says.
