The Rebuttal

There is something in the air, and it is not Aurora Australis. It’s much less aesthetic and more akin to a quagmire. Recently an increased number of Deaf people have been coming to me and asking for advocacy support in relation to the NDIS. I’m kind of semi-retired from advocacy. But sometimes people seek me out. Sometimes colleagues dob me in. (YES, IM LOOKING AT YOU) Sometimes my wife dobs me in, I dare not say no to her.

One of the people that approached me for help had submitted a change of circumstances review, commonly known in the circles as an s48. I will recount their circumstances.

You see, their NDIS funding had run out. They had a particular need where their demand for interpreting was high. What they had been allocated didn’t meet their needs. So, they submitted an s48 to explain their need and changed circumstances. In the meantime, they used their Deaf partners NDIS funding. That ran out too. Three or four months after submitting the review, the NDIS responded to their request. (Efficient to the end is our NDIS!)

I am not at liberty to say what they needed their interpreting for. However, I will say that every Deaf person has a different need. Their need might be around their social interests. It could be around medical needs. It could be around being involved in elite local sport and needing to be included. In the past I have submitted reviews and appeals for Deaf people for these very reasons and they have received substantial increases in their interpreting budget. As they should!

There is no standard or set amount for interpreting that meets the need of every single Deaf person, nor should there be. I mean, imagine if we said to people who have mobility issues, “You can have your wheelchair two days a week.” Or someone that needs assistance with hygiene and feeding, “The set amount of support is twice a week for 1 hour.” It would be absurd.

Yet, for some reason there are people within the NDIS who think Deaf people only need a set amount of interpreting. What is more, some NDIS people think that over time, the need for interpreting will somehow lessen. They seem to think that people who are Deaf will develop superhuman powers of communication through interpreting too such a point that they will no longer require interpreters. You think that I jest? Sadly, no!

Imagine saying to a wheelchair user, “We will fund your wheelchair for three years, then you should be independent enough to get by without it.” There is this weird assumption among some in the NDIS that disabilities magically go away. Sure, some people can develop skills that make them less reliant on support, but for many the need for support is ongoing. It will not get less. Sometimes it will fluctuate depending on circumstances. Often the need for support will increase, such as with degenerative disabilities.

The person that approached me for help was told that they would get a set amount of hours of interpreting in the first year. Say, five hours per week. This nowhere near met their need. In the second year they were told this would reduce to three hours per week and by the third, just one hour per week. Why? Because, supposedly, by using the interpreter they would develop skills where they could magically cope without one. I’m trying to think of something flippant to say here, but all I can do is stare at what I have written in horror.

In my time in the NDIS space a delegate once suggested that post it notes and a pen could replace the need for an interpreter. Yes, this is a true story. BUT this was in the early days of the NDIS roll out and we had some strange choices of people working in the NDIS at that time. Accountants, insurance brokers, ex policemen are some that I know were employed for their finance or customer service skills. Some were pretty good but many, with their lack of disability knowledge, were horrific.

It’s now 11 years into the NDIS. You would think that by this time the people working in the NDIS would understand their cohort. You would think that they would have more experience and would understand the people that they are making decisions about. But no, for some delegates it seems not!

In the recent budget Bill Shorten made it clear he is targeting fraud as a way to reduce NDIS costs. He wants to save money by weeding out the people that are ripping the NDIS off. I am all for this BUT … What will the NDIS do to stop these rubbish decisions and unrealistic perceptions towards specific disabilities similar to what I have just outlined?

The Government has committed $129 Million to, supposedly, consult with the disability community about the findings of the recent NDIS Review. Will they actually take people with a disability seriously? Will people with a disability SEIOUSLY be involved with the codesign of the ‘NEW’ NDIS. $129 million is a shit load of money to have a chat with disabled people about their views without a serious commitment to actually implement what they recommend. Sadly, nothing I have read in the budget explains what they will do with the information that comes from this extremely expensive consultation.

I, as a Deaf person, recommend that they get specialist people in to make decisions about specific disabilities. People that actually understand the cohort and not some insurance broker more concerned with saving a buck. I know other people with a disability want the same. Specialist people that know what they are doing and what they are deciding. I want people with a disability at high level management positions that have the lived experience and the know-how. Will they listen to me, us, them??? Miss Piggy is flying overhead!

They will say that they spent a gazillion dollars talking to people with a disability. In the end the faceless bureaucrats in Canberra will design something that they think will save money regardless of what they are told. Bill Shorten will continue with his obsession with being the sheriff in town, out to get the crooks ripping off the system. (To be fair this needs to happen.)

LACs will have a name change to Navigators. They will be hard pressed to keep on top of their heavy workload because plan managers and support coordinators got dumped to save part of the $14 billion that the Government wants to save. NDIS delegates will continue to make baffling decisions simply because they do not properly understand the disability that they are making a decision about.

Meanwhile, millions will be wasted on poor decisions, reviews, legal costs etc, because too many people in the NDIS do not know what they are doing. The question of quality supports will be ignored. Value for money will mean saving a buck instead of delivering the high-quality support that is needed. People with a disability will continue to be severely impacted by substandard decisions. I am being very cynical, I know, but not without reason.

I will end this by advising the Government that if they want to save money, get more decisions about the supports the NDIS provides right. Reduce the number of reviews. Reduce waste on inadequate and poorly designed plans. Improve quality and efficiency and get specialists in. And get people with a disability right up there in the upper echelons of management in the NDIS, their lived experience is far better than any university degree! Thats my advice as a person with a disability! Advice that will probably go no further than the pages of this Blog.

Meanwhile, I’ll try to help those people lost in the NDIS quagmire.

That is all I can do!