On Our Own Tracks

The true reality of the NDIS!!! What we are really hearing…

We’ve heard it all before, it seems to be under the surface of the Australian media, littered everywhere, constantly for many years, the NDIS is a scam!! Really since before the NDIS has started rolling out several components of the Australian media has been openly spreading awful lies that basically most NDIS funding users are apparently using “tax payers money” to buy houses, go on holidays, cruises and for strip clubs. But what’s the reality of the NDIS?? What is a true NDIS users intention?? What do these negative views really tell us about how society really view people who have disabilities???

Starting off, according to the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s website* “The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an Australian government initiative that “equalises” opportunities for people with permanent and significant disability by providing funding for tailored supports, therapies, and equipment.”. To me, this means that this funding is there to act as support overriding my physical limitations so I have the opportunity to live life as though I didn’t have a disability. Personally, overall this has been absolutely amazing. I am definitely living the life that I only dreamt of when I was a child. I have a degree, currently studying a diploma in business, living independently and working and own a business in the welfare sector. Although it definitely hasn’t been easy at times fighting for my funding, I can easily say that the funding has really changed my life and assisted me in being the adult I always wanted to be.

Sadly, even as I type this, I know that some people reading this will question if their taxes are worth being spent on me having this life, a so-called ‘normal’ life, a life exactly like everyone else who doesn’t require the disability support I do. This is because we all know that there’s some of you in society that are thriving off spreading assumptions about people who use the NDIS take advantage of the system, using it to go on holidays, cruises, to strip clubs and even to buy houses. Before I continue, I just like to say that we are aware that there are some participants and providers out there who do take advantage of the system and really put it all at risk for everyone. However, in general, the majority of us participants purely use our NDIS funding on support that is ONLY to support our disabilities. This strips back to the original definition that I mentioned earlier about the NDIS “equalising opportunities”. In reference to both claims of using this funding to go on holidays and go to strip clubs, the real facts are that we typically are using this funding to purchase supports such as disability equipment hire and support work hours so we are able to have support for things like personal care while we are at these locations. For the majority of us, we definitely wouldn’t be able to experience these things without taking our support workers with us as our families and friends either are not able to do our physical care or we prefer to be just like everyone else and not have to rely on these personal connections to do our personal care for us.

Usually, especially for holidays. If we require this extra support for these opportunities we are required to structure our daily supports and life around saving our allocated funding so we can have these opportunities. In most cases, in amongst arranging the extra supports we need we are required to pay for accommodation and flights for our support staff as well as our own from our own personal money. Usually, we don’t mind doing these extra things because we know it’s to create amazing experiences and memories. However, this is partly why we get offended when people assume that we are taking advantage of the system.  

The other main reason why these accusations are so hurtful is that they tell us that there’s still a lot of our  community that thinks of us as being less than everyone else, as so-called disableds and not human beings. It’s almost like these assumptions are saying that these people really are disgusted that we are wanting and having a mainstream life just like everyone else and not stuck in group homes to be inspirations or objects for others to either use or ignore. This also stands for the accusation that we, funding users, and providers are using the NDIS funding for buying houses. Although this is true, what people don’t see or acknowledge is that these houses are bought so we have somewhere to live that properly meet our accessibility needs. In cases like mine, our accommodation is structured so that we have the accessibility support we need, however we are still required to pay our own rent and bills to our own capacity exactly like everyone else. 

Unfortunately, this year the results of these negative attitudes have really come to the surface and have led to a possible horrible future for us in the disability community. This is because the recent changes and cuts to the NDIS have caused us all to go backwards to a state of uncertainty. Not only for experiences such as holidays and outings but for basically daily support such as eating a meal or literally getting out of bed in the morning. Personally, I’m feeling this uncertainty badly as throughout the past few months my support team and I have been collecting piles of evidence to prove that I do require the support I truly need.

Although I don’t really mind doing this, the part where I am feeling really frustrated and disheartened is the fact that the NDIA is refusing to understand that I am unable to talk through the phone, especially for important issues like my plan review. Even though I don’t mind making phone calls using my speech device, the reason why I don’t trust that system is going to work is because I have had very negative experiences before with the NDIA when they have refused to accept my speech device speaking, even saying that I needed to speak verbally and not with my device.

Particularly, as this is the NDIA, literally the one organisation that should understand alternative ways of communicating, this has added to my previous feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. This has made me pretty much feel unheard, that our community particularly feels that people who happen to communicate differently are not seen as human at all, that we should be locked away and ignored.

So, that’s why we are doing what we can to fight back! Just like we did all those years ago in 2011. That’s why there’s a huge cloud hiding our bright futures! That’s why we are fearful of not being able to get out of bed in the morning! Because just a few parts of our society are questioning if we are worth existing, the same people think our lives are not worth their tax payers money. The same people who believe we should be nothing!!!