Tides of change: the NDIS and its journey to transform disability support

The NDIS will not discriminate based on cause or type of disability or where or how a disability occurred; need will determine support. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is being built on a combined total of more than 500 years of experience of the many no-fault accident compensation schemes in Australia. However, extending these schemes to a much wider array of disabilities and taking a functional rather than a diagnostic approach to eligibility and assessment means the NDIS is being refined, redesigned and built as it is being expanded. One of the key challenges is to ensure the NDIS is person-centred, able to respond to the diverse needs of participants, including co-morbidities such as psychosocial and intellectual disability, and takes account of functional impairments, rather than diagnostic labels. Under the legislation, the scheme is designed to cover people with a significant and permanent disability that substantially reduces their ability to participate effectively in activities or perform day-to-day living tasks or actions. This means that, for the first time in Australian disability policy, equity is at the centre of policy design. The NDIS will not discriminate based on cause or type of disability or where or how a disability occurred; need will determine support. Yet it is also clear that this creates particular challenges in the area of mental health and psychosocial disability. This article explores those challenges and how the current trials of the NDIS and the work of the National Disability Insurance Agency are seeking to address them