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

The Reference Group members shared these issues with the NDIA.

The government wants to review the NDIS to check how well it supports participants.

When you review something, you check to see what:

• works well
• can be better.

The Reference Group learned that the community worries about how reviewing the NDIS might affect funding for NDIS plans.

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

They also learned that people with intellectual disability can wait a long time to use the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

The AAT is a government organisation that is separate to the NDIS.

They review decisions about:

• who can join the NDIS
• NDIS plans.

It is hard for some people with intellectual disability to find someone to speak up for them when they use the AAT.

In some parts of Australia, there are no services to speak up for them.

The Reference Group members shared that the community doesn’t know enough about different home and living supports.

This includes:

• supported independent living (SIL) – support with day-to-day tasks in your home

• specialist disability accommodation (SDA) –homes that support people with high needs.

They also worry some providers put people with disability into SDA just so they can make more money.

Providers deliver services to people with disability.

People worry about how the NDIS works with other government services.

For example:

• health services

• education services

• housing services.

People shared that sometimes there are gaps between these services.

And people with intellectual disability don’t always get the support they need.

It can also be hard for people with intellectual disability to find providers they can trust.

The Reference Group members think the NDIA should work out how to give First Nations communities choice and control.

They also shared that some older parents who care for adult children:

• don’t get the support they need
• worry about who will care for their children when they can’t anymore.

They want to know how the NDIS will help.

The Reference Group reported that the NDIA needs to do more to make sure providers are doing what they should do.

This includes checking that providers are doing the right thing.

Sometimes providers agree to give support to a participant over a set time.

For example, 12 weeks.

When this happens, they can quickly use up a participant’s funding.

Western Australian Individualised Services (WAiS) shared they will close in June 2023.

WAiS is a disability service provider.

The community worry about how this will affect people with disability in Western Australia.

The Reference Group members shared that the NDIA needs to improve the way they:

• communicate
• share information.

They said this is important for people who need support to communicate.

This includes people who can’t always talk to communicate.

They also shared challenges with finding support that:

• works well
• is the same every time.

People also want to be able to find and use supports wherever they live.

Including in areas far away from cities or towns.

The Reference Group members shared that people with intellectual disability want:

• more job opportunities that suit their needs
• to know more about different job choices.

They shared the NDIA should hire more people with intellectual disability to show other organisations they can too.