Disability advocates escalate fight to end NDIS funding age discrimination

Lyn Bates is among hundreds of thousands of Australians with disabilities not covered by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

“It’s discrimination actually,” she said.

The 74-year-old cannot walk because of the effects of the polio virus, which she contracted as a child in the 1950s before a vaccine became available.

She uses a powered wheelchair to get around her home in Melbourne’s south-east and a hoist to lift her in and out of bed.

The equipment cost Ms Bates $14,000.

But the NDIS would have picked up the tab if she was under the age of 65 when it was introduced.

“It’s not my fault the NDIS came here when I was over 65,” she said.

The bureaucratic line in the sand means that those who were under 65 when the NDIS was rolled out will continue to receive coverage for the rest of their lives.

The chair and hoist would have set Ms Bates back even more money if not for a Victorian Government subsidy to ease the financial pain.

She said the federal My Aged Care program had no real funding for “assistive technology” and what home support funding was provided was quickly spent on other expenses like carers and maintenance.