Families in crisis after NDIS funding cuts to participants with autism and intellectual disabilities – ABC News
When Karen McKenzie received an unexpected letter from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) in August, she had to read it three times before it sank in.
Key points:
- Hundreds of people with autism and intellectual disabilities have lost NDIS funding after the NDIA ruled it wasn’t “value for money”
- Some parents have quit their jobs or sold their homes to become their children’s full-time carers
- The federal government denies it has a “secret plan” to cut funding to people with autism
Her son Jarrod, who has autism and severe intellectual disabilities, needs help to eat, get dressed and use the bathroom, but the NDIS funding that paid for his carers had been cut by more than half.
The 22-year-old Melbourne man is one of hundreds of people with autism and intellectual disabilities across Australia who have had their funding slashed in recent months after the NDIA determined the payments were not “not value for money”.
The letters, seen by the ABC, stated: “The reason I have not funded your request is because I am not satisfied the following criteria are met – value for money”.
The single mother has had to quit her job to look after her son around the clock.
Click on link below to read the rest of the article.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-11/ndis-funding-slashed-autism-intellectual-disability/100809854
