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

This includes issues that affect participants.

Participants are people with disability who take part in the NDIS.

Members shared reports about these issues with the NDIA.

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

Reference Group members said participants are having trouble finding support workers.

Participants shared that some support workers:

bullet don’t come on time

bullet don’t come at all.end of list

Participants said that support workers don’t always provide good quality services.

Quality is about providing good services that meet the needs of people with disability.

Participants are having trouble connecting with support workers who:

• understand them
• get along with them.

Reference Group members said the cost of fuel is affecting participants.

This is more important for participants who live far away from cities and towns.

It can also be harder for these participants to use public transport.

This is because there might not be good public transport where they live.

Members said the NDIA should do more to support people to travel for support.

For example, help pay for higher fuel costs.

Reference Group members said participants are worried about getting less funding.

Funding is money from your NDIS plan that pays for the supports you need.

An NDIS plan has information about:

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

Participants are most worried about getting less support to take part in their community.

Members said participants sometimes agree to start their old NDIS plan again when it finishes.

Even if it’s not working well for them.

This is because they are worried about getting less funding if they have a plan reassessment.

When the NDIA does a plan reassessment, it checks to see if the supports in an NDIS plan still work well for a participant.

Members said this is not meeting the needs of people with disability.

Reference Group members asked the NDIA to improve how it shares information with participants about plan reassessments.

Sometimes a participant needs a family member to spend most of their time supporting them to take part in the NDIS.

Members said the NDIA needs to make sure participants can understand what happens when they do a plan reassessment.

This includes what happens when the participant needs changes to their home.

The NDIA said it is trying out a program with:

• participants
• the people doing assessments.

Behaviours of concern are things someone does that might put:

• them in danger
• other people in danger.

Reference Group members shared that some support workers say participants have behaviours of concern.

This can affect how other people treat the participants.

Participants often:

bullet don’t know their support workers say this

bullet didn’t agree to share this information.end of list

The NDIA told Reference Group members they are creating Easy Read NDIS plans.

The NDIA said it will work with participants to:

• create the plans
• make sure everyone understands the plans.

The NDIA will also work with disability organisations to test the Easy Read plans.