Topic Tuesday // NDIS: A Carers Journey // Tues 19 Nov, 7pm AEDT

[SarahPeerAmb]

Hi @frog - the process is scary and new and can be frustrating at times, but it is DEFINITELY worth it! The lives of my family members have changed forever - and my brothers have only had their plans for about 6 months. The NDIA is the National Disabilty Insurance Agency, the agency that manage the NDIS, and Local Area Coordinators are basically non-government organisations that have been engaged to help out. Once a person has "met access" (that is, they are deemed eligible by the NDIA to have a disability that impacts on their functioning) they move to the planning stage. Sometimes a person will have an NDIS planner and sometimes they will have a LAC planner. However, all plans are approved in the end by an NDIA worker. Therefore, the LAC is like a 'middle man' if that makes sense

[Former-Member]

Amazing insight @SarahPeerAmb Thanks for raising this @frog 

Moving onto discussion point number two 😄

As carers, what have you found to be the most positive aspect of accessing NDIS?

[Shaz51]

the process is scary and new and can be frustrating at times, but it is DEFINITELY worth it!-- very interesting @SarahPeerAmb 

[Determined]

Hi @Former-Member 

and welcome @SarahPeerAmb  

[SarahPeerAmb]

The most positive aspect of the NDIS for my family has been that finally – after 29 years – my brothers are receiving the support they need to assist them engage in the community and work towards a happy life. Also, having their support workers around (they currently share a support worker for 14 hours of the day) has reduced our feelings of isolation as carers. This has been because the support workers often engage myself and other family members - sometimes without but at other times with one or both of my brothers - and we all talk through issues together and work towards solutions.

[Former-Member]

Agreed @Shaz51, sounds like people can have varying experiences but it can pay off!

@Determined Welcome! Thanks so much for joining in 🙂 We have just posted discussion point 2.

[Former-Member]

I have heard an echo from carers that a really solid support worker can be the key to helping Carer's balance their lives out a bit more, really stoked to hear how much of a positive impact this has had on your brother's wellbeing 🙂 @SarahPeerAmb 

[Determined]

Thanks @Former-Member 

From point 1. What led me to engage with ndis. That would be S1's school

School principal was fantastic and did a lot of work for us as it was outside of our capacity at the time.

This was with the view of working towards independence post school. And being linked in to services to enable this rather than  always dependent on us as parents. 

Point 2.

Still looking lol.

After 9 months we are only just starting accessing services. Mindful of above mentioned guidelines our local area coordinator has been less than  helpful. 

We have however in recent weeks found a support service who is most helpful with the privision of a support worker (chance encounter at a shopping centre popup) and  another service provider who is giving us some guidance about the most benefial services for our needs. 

[SarahPeerAmb]

Yes @Former-Member - getting good support workers and support coordinators (if one is funded in the NDIS plan) can make a big difference. I believe that it is really important for carers to have a good support network so that they can ask around in their networks (and the networks of their networks and so on) about different providers and whether particular providers have the skills and experience that their loved one requires - after all, it is all about choice and control, which is fantastic 🙂

[Former-Member]

Hey @Determined  thank you for sharing this story. So sorry to hear that your LAC has not been helpful in this instance, really solid to hear a couple of services popping up with more legitimate info and resource. What was it about the more recent encounters that made them more helpful?