“DISABLED people will be harmed, and they will die.”

The CEO of Nedlands-based Youth Disability Advocacy Network has warned of dire consequences from Albanese government cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme announced this week, blaming inadequate consultation with disabled people.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Disability and NDIS Minister Mark Butler announced an overhaul of the scheme he said would make it more sustainable.

Changes included restricting its growth by $15 billion over five years, a crackdown on fraud and misuse, tighter eligibility rules and caps to social and community participation funding, making it the largest savings measure for next month’s federal budget.

Mr Butler said “lowlifes” defrauding the NDIS would be targeted under new laws that introduce mandatory electronic claims and give the government more power to request evidence before payments are made.

However, YDAN CEO Isabella Choate said the press conference was a “trojan horse” and “deceptive”.

• Lily started advocating for young people with disabilities in year year 5.

Deceptive

“They’re really inflating the issue [of fraud]… to actually hide what they’re trying to do, which is cut about 160,000 people from the NDIS,” Ms Choate said.

“There’s a lot of talk about genuine consultation, but we know that it’s not. 

“We keep being asked the same things over and over again so they can almost do a tick box.

“Who knows the system better than the people who have to navigate it every single day?”

Ms Choate said “90 per cent” of eligible people with disability were not on the NDIS, and by not giving them the correct support and funding, the economy missed out on $60 billion a year.

“It’s bizarre that you wouldn’t make an investment that would allow you to access that much money per year,” Ms Choate said.

“It’s just completely against everything that they’re trying to say. 

“Every time they talk about [the NDIS], they’re talking about saving money.”

Ms Choate said they were concerned about the cutting of social and community participation funding, which enables people with disability to attend events, engage in the community, build social connections, develop independence, and support their overall wellbeing.

“If we’re setting up our young people to fail now, our young people won’t make it to a future that includes them,” Ms Choate said.

YDAN youth programs manager Jenni Crowther said young people being shifted off the NDIS were those deemed “low needs” and, while removing them from the scheme saved the government money initially, it would become a cost in the future.

Barriers

“The [low needs] catchment still faces barriers in getting education and employment as they get older, which means they are more reliant on other means such as Centrelink,” Ms Crowther said.

“If we don’t invest in them, if we don’t provide the support, those young people are going to end up being a cost later down the line.”

Ms Crowther’s 12-year-old daughter, Lily, who has level two autism and cerebral palsy, is one of many children at risk of being removed from the NDIS.

“Lily’s diagnosis for cerebral palsy was written in medical terms. So very specific; left side hemiparesis, not cerebral palsy.

The NDIS is saying because it doesn’t say cerebral palsy, ‘we can’t recognise that’,” Ms Crowther said.

Ms Crowther said for kids like Lily, who are reliant on occupational therapy, physio, and need support work to get out of the house and do social activities, being removed from the NDIS with no alternative provider is “very, very scary”.

Scary

“There’s another family that I’m very close to whose child, like Lily, was born premature, like Lily has cerebral palsy, like Lily has autism and eating disorders and all the other things, but consistently throughout all their plans, there’s been about a $10,000 to $20,000 gap between what each one of them receives – yet on paper, they’re the same.”

Lily, who is now in Year 7, began advocating for people with disability as a Year 5 student. .

“I’m not happy with [the cuts],” she said.

“I’m never happy with things the government does… a lot of them care about greed or power or money or what benefits them – not for the people they’re actually impacting,” Lily said.

“My mum has had to fight with the NDIS a lot when trying to get me support. 

“Now she might have to fight to keep me on the NDIS.”

by ISLA TOMLINSON