Reference Group members connected with the community to find out about issues that affect them.

This includes issues that affect participants.

Members shared reports about these issues with the NDIA.

People from the NDIA also shared their response to some of these issues.

Reference Group members said the community is worried about the new changes to the NDIS.

Members said the community want to understand more about these changes.

The community are worried that these changes mean participants will lose:

• services
• funding.

Funding is money from a participant’s NDIS plan that pays for the supports they need.

An NDIS plan has information about:

• a participant and their goals
• what supports they need
• what the NDIS will pay for.

The community are also worried the new changes to the NDIS will hurt people with disability.

Reference Group members said many people feel that the NDIA doesn’t work well with them.

People feel that the NDIA is not:

• safe
• accessible.

When something is accessible, it’s easy to:

• find and use
• understand.

Many people also feel that information the NDIA shares isn’t always right.

Sometimes the information goes against what the NDIA has already said before.

Reference Group members said the community is worried about losing funding for some supports.

For example, community supports.

Members said this funding goes towards important supports.

Like medical appointments.

The community is worried about the safety of participants if they lose this funding.

Losing this funding might mean participants:

bullet get less services

bullet spend more time home alone.end of list

The NDIA said they understand the community are scared.

They told members that changes to the NDIS will not start right away.

The NDIA said they will work with participants to design how they will start using changes.

The NDIA also said they don’t plan to make changes to rules about who can take part in the NDIS.

Reference Group members said some providers are not working longer shifts as often.

Providers support people with disability by delivering a service.

These providers are also asking people to pay more money to cover costs for support staff.

Some participants feel they would be better off staying at home than paying for these services.

Sometimes participants share transport to travel to services and supports.

This includes participants who live in places far away from cities and towns.

Reference Group members said sometimes each participant pays the full cost for transport.

Members are worried this happens because participants don’t understand what the NDIS rules are.

Members think the NDIA is not checking these providers enough.

Reference Group members said some providers are cancelling supports.

This is because it can be hard to get fuel.

Participants who live in places far away from cities and towns can’t get supports.

This is because support workers and providers don’t want to travel that far.

The NDIA said this is part of the Australian Government’s plan to save fuel.

The government is working on ways to make sure people:

• can get fuel
• don’t use too much fuel.

The NDIA said it’s important to hear from the Reference Group about how this affects people.