The amount of NDIS funding each person living with a disability receives is different as it is based on your individual disability needs, life circumstances and short and long-term goals. We've listed details on each of these below so you can get a better gage on how much NDIS funding you might be able to receive.
Individual disability needs:
The amount of NDIS funding you will receive is based on how your disability impacts you across a number of areas of your life such as;
- Self-care (showering, dressing, eating).
- Accessing the community.
- Working and studying.
- Forming friendships, relationships and connections.
- Maintaining your health and wellbeing (physical and mental).
- Ability to live independently or with others.
Life Circumstances:
- Housing situation (living with others, by yourself or do not have safe and secure housing).
- Interaction with other government systems such as health, mental health, child protection and so on.
- Family situation and dynamic.
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Person.
- Complex family dynamics.
- Regional/remote location.
- Diagnosis of a rapidly degenerative neurological condition.
Goals:
- Housing goal (funding housing, moving out of home for the first time, moving into different accommodation such as Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).
- Community participation and social inclusion.
- Finding employment.
- Studying and upskilling.
- Developing social skills, forming friendships and improving relationships.
- Building capacity and becoming more independent.
- Improving your health and wellbeing.
To make sure you get the right amount of funding to achieve your goals and meet your needs here are some practical tips:
- Be as detailed and thorough as possible when providing reports. Don’t leave anything out!
- Make appointments with your medical professionals like your GP, specialists and allied health professionals to get medical reports from them that you can provide to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The more evidence the better.
- When providing reports to the NDIA make sure they capture how your disability impacts you. Even though this may be difficult for you, it’s important that the NDIA have an accurate picture of how your disability impacts you on a day to day basis.
- Be organised. Submit all your reports 8 weeks before your plan review meeting so the NDIA planner or Local Area Coordinator (LAC) has time to review them. This reduces the chance they miss something and make a bad decision.
- Make sure your support network of providers are all on the same page and are all working with you towards the goals that you want for your life. Meeting regularly helps with this.
- Be clear about your goals in NDIS plan review meetings and with your support network. Before an NDIS plan review make sure you sit down with your family and support providers to identify what your short term goals are (1-2 years) and long-term goals (5-10yrs) and the strategies needed to achieve these.
For example; you have a long-term goal to move out of your family home and live independently in the future. A strategy to get there might be to receive capacity building supports with daily living tasks such as cooking, cleaning and laundry. This will help you achieve a short-term goal of becoming independent with cooking 5 meals.
This way you can be clear in the meeting about what you need to achieve these goals. Funding can change over time based on your personal circumstances, health and wellbeing. When it comes time for the NDIA to review your plan they are looking for how the support has helped you to achieve your goals so it's important they can see how it is benefitting you.
