The cost to restore not just Maddison’s funding to what was “reasonable and adequate” but restore funding for all those people with disabilities before the tribunal, is a pittance in comparison to what the NDIA has spent in legal fees fighting us.
But this all changed earlier this year, when Kim learned that Oscar’s funding had been cut, drastically reducing his access to the support and care he’d relied upon. “It just makes me feel sick,” Kim says. “It’s basically cutting Oscar adrift from everything that we’ve just established.
When the National Disability Insurance Scheme was created, then prime minister Julia Gillard said it would provide security and dignity to millions of Australians. More than half a million Australians now rely on the scheme but an increasing number of people, more than 4,000, are locked in disputes with the agency over the amount of funding they receive.
Melanie Stephens is caught up in Administrative Appeals Tribunal case after being denied funding for a device to help Ella communicate. “I am literally fighting for her voice, that the NDIS have deemed ‘not value for money,’” Stephens said.
For the ABC’s National Disability Affairs reporter Nas Campanella, who is blind and lives with a neurological condition, figuring out how to navigate motherhood has been a wild ride.
The case of a young Victorian woman with a history of self harming associated with her intellectual disability highlights failings of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Shaniah Greenhill, 25, has been refused the funding she needs to continue living in her current supervised accommodation, despite experts warning her wellbeing and safety are at risk.
“We went to the AAT last time to actually obtain adequate services for him. Then 12 months later, at the review, the services then deemed “reasonable and necessary” by the tribunal were slashed. We’re now looking ahead and saying does this have to happen every year?”
Kerriene Minjoot never felt like her blindness was a barrier to her succeeding at work, until she joined the very government agency tasked with improving the lives of Australians with disabilities. “I did not expect to go into working at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and ending up feeling more disabled than I ever have before,” she said.
Many have been forced to close their books. Waiting times for an AAT decision have blown out. “It’s more like civil litigation, going up against lawyers,” says Toby’s advocate, Belinda Horne, who notes she is not a trained lawyer. “Like if I had a broken arm, I could go to the doctor and show up. I don’t have to go to a solicitor.”
This case is about when and how an appointed guardian can authorise the use of forcible physical restraint in order to administer medication to people under their guardianship. This case concerned an older woman, HYY, who was under a guardianship order. HYY was voluntarily admitted to hospital for treatment of her psychological and physical health conditions. However, at times during her hospital stay HYY refused to take her anticoagulant medication.
“We have to go for an internal review and if that’s not successful, we will have to go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. More costs, more stress, more waste, more cost to taxpayers to try and squash us, and more exhausting rage.”
Ann Marie Smith died in abject circumstances, at the hands of her carer in the middle-class Adelaide suburb of Kingston Park. Her killing raises questions about the way our society treats the Disabled, in life and in death. .
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff reviewed the social media accounts of a woman applying for the scheme and sent a report to a doctor engaged to provide an expert opinion, a tribunal decision reveals.
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) has gone through a period of significant change, particularly as to testing a participant’s eligibility. More participants are going through an already rigorous process, only for the Agency to add further scrutiny.
Given his physical struggles, Mr Patterson said he was shocked when his application for a disability support pension (DSP) – backed up with doctor’s letters – was rejected by Centrelink in October last year because his impairment did not meet the 20 assessment points required.