National Disability Insurance Scheme

This essay discusses the purpose and eligibility criteria of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. It also elaborates on the history and reasons for its implementation and the effects it has had on the Australian society.

Running head: NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME
National Disability Insurance Scheme
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Description of NDIS..................................................................................................................1
History and reasons of NDIS.....................................................................................................1
Effects of the change in Australian society................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3

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Introduction
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was introduced by the government of
Australia which was designed for the Australians who had disability. The people in Australia
suffering from intellectual, sensory, physical and the psycho-social disability can avail the
services of National Disability Insurance Scheme. NDIS came into effect with the help of
National Disability Insurance Scheme Act in the year 2013 (Ndis.gov.au., 2018). NDIS was
rolled out on national basis from the 1st of July, 2016. This essay discusses about the purpose
and the eligibility criteria in relation to NDIS. The essay discusses about the history and the
reasons for the implementation of NDIS. The essay elaborates on the effect of the NDIS
within the framework of the Australian society.
Description of NDIS
The NDIS works with community for the promotion of community awareness and it
emphasizes the principle that people having disability have fundamental rights. An individual
who is under that of 65 years can avail the benefits related to NDIS scheme. There are
residency requirements like the individual taking the benefit of the scheme should have
permanent visa or a protected special category visa. The disability of the individual should be
permanent and when the impairment of the individual reduces his ability of participating
effectively in various activities or performing the tasks (Townsend et al., 2018). The
eligibility criteria in relation to NDIS is that the individual have impairment that affects his
capacity in relation to economic along with social participation.
History and reasons of NDIS
In the year 2010, Productivity Commission was asked by the Australian government
to undertake public enquiry into that of the long-term disability care. Productivity
Commission was able to receive more than 1000 submissions from various people who were

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suffering from disability. The Council of the Australian government agreed to the fact that
reforms should be brought about in the arena of disability services with the help of National
Disability Insurance Scheme (Duckett & Willcox, 2015). There was a meeting of the Select
Council on the Disability Reform in the year 2011 when the Council Ministers laid down the
foundation pertaining to NDIs by the middle of the year 2013. It helped people who had
disabilities in getting support at an earlier point of time. The legislation in relation to NDIS
was passed in the month of March in the year 2013 and the NDIS Act was created in the year
2013 (Carey et al., 2017). Federal Election was held on the 7th of September 2013 when the
incoming government stopped using the name of “Disability Care Australia” and started
using the name National Disability Insurance Scheme (Brien, Page & Berman, 2017).
In the earlier times, there were large institutions called asylums that housed people
having mental illness along with disabilities. These were built from that of 1850 that reflected
the revolution taking place in the realm of science. These asylums acted in a cruel manner
that paved the way for the emergence of NDIS in Australia. In the asylums, the residents had
to give up the ability of decision-making along with identity to the system that had grave
repercussions on the people having disabilities (Miller & Hayward, 2017). This led to the
call of their release from these institutions into that of the community. Resettlement into
community started in the era of 1970 within Australia. The changes were done to the
disability related services in Australia as they were not able to provide all the benefits that
can help the people suffering from disabilities and their families. The policies of Community
Care aimed at providing education, employment along with housing facilities to the
disadvantaged people. A report that was on the basis of consultation revealed that the quality
of the disability services were poor and there was high amount of unemployment within
Australia. Block Funding helped in providing the services to the provider of the service and
not directly to the person who are buying the service (Simpson & Baldwin, 2017). The

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services that were provided were of limited range that could not respond properly to the
different needs of the people having disabilities. Productivity Commission found out in the
year 2011 that the people could not get access to the appropriate supports that provided
stimulation for the creation of NDIS. The Report brought out the fact that since the families
were not able to prepare for the financial impact of the disability within their family hence the
NDIS should be implemented. The NDIS was created so that these vulnerable groups can
come back into the community and live with other people.
Effects of the change in Australian society
The NDIS had a great effect on the Australian society and it brought about a
transformation in the lives of the disabled people living within Australia. The human rights of
the people suffering from the brunt of disabilities were recognised with the help of NDIS. It
provided them with the things that can help them in leading a good life. They were provided
with better health care and good education with the help of the NDIS. Social Care Foundation
Australia has revealed that there are around 460,000 Australians who have disability and
NDIS has been successful in lending extensive help to these group of people (Carey et al.,
2018). It has helped in improving the lives of the people suffering from disabilities and has
been successful in changing the lives of the people living in Australia.
Conclusion
The Australians who has physical and mental disability can make use of the services
of NDIS. In the event of the disability of an individual being permanent one can take recourse
to the services provided by NDIS. One can take the advantage of NDIS service if the
impairment that an individual has should reduce the ability of his participation while
executing tasks. NDIS legislation was passed out in March and Act of NDIS was brought into
effect in year 2013. In previous times there were institutions that were called the asylums

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within which lived people who had disabilities. Block Funding was unsuccessful in providing
necessary support to the people having disabilities that led to the birth of NDIS. NDIS was
able to make the lives of the people having disabilities in Australia and it helped them in
leading a healthy life.

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References:
Brien, J., Page, J., & Berman, J. (2017). Enabling the exercise of choice and control: How
early childhood intervention professionals may support families and young children
with a disability to exercise choice and control in the context of the National
Disability Insurance Scheme. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 37.
Carey, G., Dickinson, H., Malbon, E., & Reeders, D. (2018). The vexed question of market
stewardship in the public sector: Examining equity and the social contract through the
Australian national disability insurance scheme. Social Policy &
Administration, 52(1), 387-407.
Carey, G., Malbon, E., Reeders, D., Kavanagh, A., & Llewellyn, G. (2017). Redressing or
entrenching social and health inequities through policy implementation? Examining
personalised budgets through the Australian National Disability Insurance
Scheme. International journal for equity in health, 16(1), 192.
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford
University Press.
Miller, P., & Hayward, D. (2017). Social policy ‘generosity’at a time of fiscal austerity: The
strange case of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme. Critical Social
Policy, 37(1), 128-147.
Ndis.gov.au. (2018). NDIS. Retrieved from https://www.ndis.gov.au/ndis-access-checklist
Simpson, A., & Baldwin, E. M. (2017). Googling NDIS: evaluating the quality of online
information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme for caregivers of deaf
children. Deafness & Education International, 19(1), 22-28.

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Townsend, C., White, P., Cullen, J., Wright, C. J., & Zeeman, H. (2018). Making every
Australian count: challenges for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
and the equal inclusion of homeless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
with neurocognitive disability. Australian Health Review, 42(2), 227-229.