The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is overseen by the NDIA. It aims to provide choice and control to people with disability over the supports they receive and who provides them.

It will depend on the support you require and what is deemed reasonable and necessary.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is an independent government agency. The main role of the NDIA is to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and ensure people with disability receive the support they need.

Lighthouse Disability have been a registered NDIS provider and have been providing supported since it began rolling out in South Australia in 2017. We have supported over a hundred people implement their NDIS plans.

Eligibility will depend on your age, where you live, your disability and other factors.

NDIA staff make decisions about what is 'reasonable and necessary' based on the rules within the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act). To be considered reasonable and necessary, a support must:

• Be related to the participant's disability
• Not include day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant's disability support needs
• Represent value for money
• Be likely to be effective and beneficial to the participant
• Take into account informal supports given to participants by families, carers, networks, and the community.

People who are eligible for funding will need to go into a planning meeting ready to explain what they need to reach their goals and the support required. When it's your turn, start thinking about what is important to you. You could start by thinking about:

• what supports you currently access and whether these meet your needs
• what you want to learn
• Where you want to live
• what sort of work or community activity you want to do
• whether you have enough support to do these things.

Think about ways that you can gather information about things you want to do. Make lists, gather flyers and pamphlets or perhaps take photos with your phone or tablet so you can prioritise what is important to you.

Planners are staff nominated and endorsed by the NDIS who work with you to identify your goals and the supports you need to achieve your goals. You have the right to provide feedback and if you do not feel comfortable with your planner, you can ask for another person to work with you instead.

You can manage your NDIS funding in three ways. You can get someone from the NDIA to manage your plan, this is called agency managed. You can get a plan manager to manage your plan, this is called plan managed. Lighthouse Disability is a plan management provider. You can manage your plan yourself, this is also known as self-managed. You don’t have to just select one way, you can use a combination.

If you are unable to access public transport because of your disability, you may be eligible to access NDIS funding. Any funding will take into account any taxi subsidy scheme. It does not cover transport assistance for carers.

The NDIS may fund reasonable and necessary home modifications. Before the home modification is funded, other solutions (eg. assistive technology) will also be looked at. Some examples of home modifications that might be funded include:

• Widening doorways
• Ramps
• Lifting platforms
• Kitchen modifications
• Bathroom modifications
• Hand rails
• Stair climbers

The modifications will only be funded for the person’s primary residence. Confirm with the owner of the property before asking for funding.

When you develop your plan with the NDIS, let them know if you'd like some support to implement your plan. The NDIS might refer to a Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or fund Support Coordination in your plan. A LAC is someone from the NDIS or a partnered organisation who helps you to implement your plan at a basic level. If you require extra help you will be funded for a Support Coordinator. This could be because your plan is more complex. There are three types of support coordination:

• Support Connection - short term assistance to find services and develop service agreements. This is the level of support that a LAC will generally provide.
• Coordination of Support - can also help you to find services and develop service agreements, but there may be some extra complexity
• Specialist Support Coordination - for participants with very complex needs, that require coordination by specialists.

If you are not happy with your provider, you can change. Each provider have different notice periods, so check your service agreement. Let your provider know and they will let you know what you need to do. If you have already selected a new provider, contact them and they will be able to help.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme NDIS Code of Conduct is a set of standards developed by the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Commission. It outlines the legal obligations of all workers and health practitioners operating within the NDIS.