The health minister has announced a major shift in the way children with autism and developmental delays will be supported; cutting them off the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) like lines in a spread sheet.
We’ve been told the yet to be defined new program will support families in schools and childcare but this is not reform, it feels like abandonment.
The government is using the most vulnerable as it tries to curb ballooning costs but the implications for children, their families, and clinicians are enormous. Worst of all, it’s been revealed without adequate detail, clarity, or care.
As both a psychologist and a parent who has navigated the NDIS system firsthand with a child with autism, I find this announcement unfair and offensive and it will only see more children fall through the cracks.
It’s true the NDIS needs reform and I appreciate that the system is incredibly costly and inefficient, but the focus should be on stamping out those inefficiencies and fraudulent behaviour, not removing vulnerable children from a program because the government needs to reduce spending.
It’s not children with developmental delays responsible for misuse of funds.
A lot of statistics have been thrown around about the rates of Autism, developmental delays, and developmental vulnerability in our country.
It is the case that seven in 10 people joining the scheme have autism as a primary diagnosis, but the government’s own data shows while children under 15 make up 43 per cent of the scheme’s 717,000 participants they account for just 13 per cent of all payments.
Perhaps our focus should be on looking at why so many kids are arriving at Kindergarten with levels of developmental vulnerability we have never seen before.
We need to be examining strategies to adequately support these children and their families, rather than removing their funding and implying that the diagnostic rates are inappropriate.
I regularly see these children struggle with fine or gross motor skills, sensory difficulties, language or social communication concerns, as well as difficulties with anxiety and emotion regulation.
These children need access to a multi-disciplinary team, such as Speech Pathologists, OTs, and Psychologists, which is exactly what the NDIS provides them. That cannot be sacrificed.
To suggest that this cohort of children is being “over-serviced” is an insult to the families who battle daily for access to these therapies, and to the professionals who deliver them.
The government’s suggestion that the NDIS was designed only for people with “significant and permanent disabilities” implies that many autistic children somehow do not qualify.
Let’s be clear, minister, autism is not something a child “grows out of”.
It is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition. While it may vary in severity, it never disappears. It’s not a phase.
The evidence is clear, early intervention changes lives. We know that outcomes for children with autism and developmental delays are significantly improved when support is provided early and intensively.
Families of children with disabilities are already in a near-constant state of advocacy.
Every form, every phone call, every appointment and meeting with school is a battle to prove their child’s needs are real and deserving of support.
This announcement throws them into further chaos and confusion. The system needs reform but we can’t abandon those who need help.
Become a Women’s Agenda Foundation member and support our work! We are 100% independent and women-owned. Every day, we cover the news from a women’s perspective, advocating for women’s safety, economic security, health and opportunities. Foundation memberships are currently just $5 a month.
Bonus: you’ll receive our weekly editor’s wrap of the key stories to know every Saturday.