NDIS Support

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new way of providing support for Australians with a disability. It aims to help people with a disability to “live an ordinary life” and achieve their goals by funding reasonable and necessary supports and services for them to achieve their goals. Under the NDIS, new annual funding packages will be provided directly to participants, allowing them more choice and control over their lives and future.

The NDIS will fund all necessary and reasonable supports to help you increase your independence, achieve your goals and participate in the community; in short – “live an ordinary life” of your choosing. What would be considered “reasonable and necessary” for you “to live an ordinary life” are the key determinants that the NDIS uses to decide what is funded and how much.

Supports and services the NDIS may fund include:

• Daily personal care and activities.
• Mobility and transport
• Help in the workplace and with household tasks,
• Aids and equipment, home and vehicle modification,
• Health and wellbeing activities and therapeutic supports.
• Skills and capacity building for economic and social participation
• Access to community services and supports.
• Provisions that maintain informal support arrangements.

Funding given by the NDIS will not impact the Disability Support Pension as it is not means tested.

Other income supports such as Carer Payment, Carer Supplement, Carer Allowance and the Child Disability Assistance Payment are also separate from the NDIS.

The NDIS will not fund supports that

• Are unrelated to your disability,
• Pose a risk to yourself or others,
• Duplicate supports provided elsewhere or
• Act as a substitute income.

Medical and clinical services are covered by Medicare.

To be eligible for the NDIS, you need to have a condition or impairment that will affect you permanently and stop you from doing everyday things by yourself. You are eligible for the NDIS if you need support or assistive equipment for you to:

• Get out bed and move around the home,
• Take a bath or shower, dress and eat,
• Do daily jobs, handle money and make decisions,
• Pursue, studies, gain and maintain employment,
• Make and keep friends.

In short, this means that almost everyone with a Spinal Cord injury (SCI) or similar complex physical disability under the age of 65 is eligible for funding from the NDIS. For more information about eligibility, check the NDIS Access Checklist.

The NDIS commenced rollout in Victoria on the 1st of July 2016 and is being introduced in stages across the country. To see when the NDIS is available in your area, click on this link.

NDIS Support Coordination is a funded support within your NDIS plan. It’s purpose is to assist participants navigating and accessing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It is to build people’s capacity for independence through facilitating conversations around what is possible, assisting you in selecting providers best suited to your needs, and helping you to best utilise the funds in your NDIS plan; including informal, mainstream, community and funded supports. You can be eligible for Support Coordination for the first 12 months of your plan, including your first NDIA plan review.

Support Coordination will help you develop and build your capacity to better understand the NDIS, what it means for you, and help equip you to choose your own supports. By working together in creative and resourceful ways, participants can learn how to achieve their goals within their funding budgets; getting their supports up and running, and operating in the most optimal way. For example, finding and securing improved living arrangements, home modifications, supporting you to achieve greater independence and coordinating your supports. Having Support Coordination in your life will open up new opportunities by helping you build a network of supports and services that you can utilise ongoing to participate more fully in the community and live the life you choose.

Support Coordination is a NDIS funded service but it is not included in every plan. It is usually only included in a participant’s first plan. You need to specifically request for Support Coordination to be included in your plan at your planning meeting. By preparing in advance for your planning meeting with a very clear goal of how you will use your funded supports, you will have a much easier time getting your requested hours for Support Coordination approved. The amount of Support Coordination that each person needs can vary considerably.

AQA has a long and established history of providing support and services to people living with SCI and similar complex physical disabilities. Our approach to Support Coordination is driven by our SCI peer mentors, our desire to build capacity, our excellent knowledge of the SCI community and SCI resources, and our understanding of the NDIS. It is a unique approach that is based on the lived-experience of SCI to support and empower people to live the most independent life possible.

Taking a person-focused approach to understanding each person’s unique needs we will use each conversation and interaction as valuable and constructive time to prepare your NDIS plan. We aim to get your plan up and running, educate you to be self-sufficient in monitoring the quality and spend of your supports and services (ensuring they are operating within budget) and to prepare you for your NDIA Plan Review. Across the cycle of your plan we will also provide mentoring and peer support, and help you troubleshoot, tackle and resolve any concerns or barriers.

NDIS Support Coordination aligns with AQA’s mission to promote people’s capacity, their value and to support people to live the most independent lives as possible, in all aspects of community life.

If you do not receive Support Coordination funding AQA is still able to assist you in a variety of ways.

To find out more about Support Coordination and other services offered by AQA please contact us on 9489 0777 or email NDIS@aqavic.org.au