What is the NDIS?
The NDIS was founded in 2013 by the federal government as a new approach to ensure that persons living with disability would receive the support that they need.
With the help of the NDIS many Australians who otherwise lived secluded and inaccessible lives are now able to participate and contribute in Australian society.
Before the NDIS many participants were forced to live in institutions that were unfit to provide them with the quality of life that they deserved. Now many supports can be provided to help persons with disabilities live independently.
Examples of theses supports may include:
- In-home domestic support to assist with Personal Care and Grooming.
- In-home domestic tasks to assist with Household and Yardwork maintenance.
- Community and Social access to assist persons with disability living and thriving in the wider community.
- In-home nursing supports for Wound-care, Catheters and PEG feeding tubes. * Kind Fox does not currently support Nursing or Clinical care.
The NDIS also supports capacity building and whilst most disability impairments are considered permanent, the NDIS has gone an enormous way to improve persons with disabilities' functional independence.
Examples of Capacity building may include:
- An Allied Health professional helping a participant with Angelman Syndrome learn to walk independently.
- Specialist educators to teach deaf Participants Auslan (Australian Sign Language) for daily life.
- Mentoring to assist a participant in finding and holding long-term work.
- An Occupational Therapist helping a paraplegic learn how to drive with modified hand controls.
- A Developmental Educator assisting those with psychosocial disabilities to build and develop resilience and social skills to more comfortably join in the community.
Assistive Technologies are also supported by the NDIS to help alleviate the impact of a participant's disability through new and emerging technologies.
Examples of these may include:
- Manual wheelchairs and specialised walking frames for mobility.
- Vehicular modifications (steering controls and wheelchair ramps) for assessibility.
- Talking clocks and Braille labelers to assist with sensory impairment.
- Eye-Gaze tracking technology giving non-verbal persons the ability to speak with their eyes.
The NDIS is accessible to all Australians who are born with or acquire a significant disability. The disability must have a significant impairment on a person's ability to complete everyday activities and the participant's plan is funded in a way that provides them the supports they need to fully participate in the community.