The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), introduced in Australia in 2015, is the current way of providing individualised support for people with disability, their families and carers. The NDIS provides eligible Australians, with a permanent and significant disability, aged under 65, with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to live an ordinary life.
Eligible people, known as participants, are given a plan of supports which is developed and tailored to their individual needs. A plan could include informal supports that a person receives through family, friends, mainstream or other community services. If required, the NDIS will also fund reasonable and necessary supports that help participants achieve their goals.
Not all people with disability will become NDIS participants. Only those who meet the access criteria will become a participant and receive an individualised plan. However, the NDIS can provide people with disability, their families and carers support through information, linkages and capacity building by connecting people to the mainstream community.
The NDIS is a social insurance scheme, not a welfare system.
The main objective of the NDIS is to provide all Australians who acquire a permanent disability before the age of 65 which substantially impacts how they manage everyday activities with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to live an ordinary life.
(NDIS,2021)