National Disability Insurance Scheme may inspire families to realise unfulfilled dreams

“The biggest question that most people say is, ‘Am I going to be worse-off?’” Inverell’s Brighter Access disability service manager Tanya Fox said.

“That’s the biggest fear that people have; that they’re actually going to lose services that they already have.”

She said the other question is “How will I know what to ask for?”

Tanya said in light of the NDIS landscape, where people can choose a life plan, they are encouraging their families to dream.

The new scheme puts the responsibility of choosing how to allocate their funding into the hands of the person on the receiving end. Planning encompasses necessities of life and support to realising hopes and dreams. 

Tanya said because so many people with disability had been told how to live for so long, the concept of a choice denied or taken away had become entrenched.

 “One of the biggest challenges that we have, to the NDIS working well, is that people have actually forgotten how to dream,” Tanya said, and felt it was discouraging.

“It is, because their dreams weren’t able to be fulfilled, so they would just focus on getting through the day, getting through the week.”

She said so many did not dare think about anything amazing as abled families might routinely do.

“These families get shattered so many times along the way, they’ve actually forgotten how to really dream, and their automatic thought is ‘Won’t be able to happen’, ‘Won’t be able to get that’, ‘Won’t be able to do that’.” 

She said the new mindset would take time, and be generational. Meanwhile, Tanya said Brighter Access was making progress toward the rollout with information sessions with families.

“To try and help them start thinking about planning,” she said. 

“And what they’re going to need to be putting forward when they have their meetings with the NDIA around meeting their goals under NDIS.”