NDIS rollout in Sydney: not perfect but at least it’s here
The $22 billion scheme, by its own definition, is intended to fund “reasonable and necessary supports that help a participant to reach their goals, objectives and aspirations and to undertake activities to enable the participant’s social and economic participation”.
Connie Vella had high expectations for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and what it would mean for her four-year-old daughter Hannah, who has bilateral hearing loss.
The Cranebrook woman went to her meeting with an NDIS planner earlier this year, well prepared with quotes from a range of hearing specialists and a list of the supports Hannah would require.
All up, the quotes came to $34,000 including early intervention services, speech pathology, language therapy, a school readiness program and hearing aids.
Mrs Vella was stunned when the planner returned with a package worth $12,000.
“It was a massive gap,” she said. “We are supposed to be no worse off under the NDIS. We’re a lot worse off. I’m a good advocate for Hannah but there are families out there who’ll just accept what’s on offer and that worries me for these children.”
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald