IAC Members connected with the community to find out about issues that affect them.

This includes issues that affect participants.

IAC Members shared reports about these issues with people from the NDIA.

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

IAC Members said some changes to NDIS laws have affected participants in a bad way.

This includes affecting their health and wellbeing.

These changes include shorter funding periods.

Funding periods tell participants:

• when part of their funding can be used
• how long their funding needs to last.

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

IAC Members said participants need the NDIS to:

• change to support what each person needs
• work in different ways.

IAC Members said there needs to be more information about funding periods.

IAC Members said they’re worried about the new way the NDIA checks:

• how a participant’s disability affects their life
• what supports a participant needs.

The NDIA is working on the best way to share information about this to:

• participants

• NDIA workers

• providers.

Providers support people with disability by delivering a service.

This includes information about how this will work for the next 5 years.

IAC Members said they’re worried about participants who live far away from cities and towns.

They worry changes to funding will affect how these participants travel to their supports.

The NDIA said they know about the issues some participants are having.

The NDIA said they’re looking into:

• what participants need

• how much providers are charging.

IAC Members talked about things that were said in the last Home and Living Reference Group meeting.

A Reference Group is a group of people who give us advice about a certain topic.

IAC Members said a lot of people are worried about changes to:

• how much supports and services cost

• how much funding participants can get for travel.

The NDIA said they worked with experts to decide what these supports should cost.

These experts did not work for the NDIA.

IAC Members are worried that the NDIA is stopping participants from managing their NDIS plans on their own.

An NDIS plan is a document that includes information about:

• a participant and their goals
• what support they receive from the NDIS
• what the NDIS will pay for.

IAC Members asked the NDIA if:

• they are stopping participants from managing their NDIS plan

or

• participants are choosing to stop managing their NDIS plan.

IAC Members also asked if the NDIA is working in the best way.

Artificial intelligence is when computers think and learn.

People can use it to help solve problems and do tasks.

Sometimes people call it AI.

IAC Members asked if NDIS planners are using AI to:

• read hard or long reports

• make decisions.

An NDIS planner is someone who:

• makes new NDIS plans
• changes NDIS plans.

The NDIA said NDIS planners can’t use AI on their work computers.

This means they can’t use AI to read reports about a participant’s health.