Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) has acknowledged the Government’s focus on the long-term sustainability, integrity and safety of the NDIS, while warning that more women will lose out if reform is not done properly.
Responding to Minister Mark Butler’s National Press Club address today, including changes to access assessments, provider rules and spending controls, WWDA said women with disability already face greater barriers to getting and keeping support, and are too often the ones left carrying the consequences when systems tighten.
WWDA CEO Sophie Cusworth said WWDA is deeply concerned by any reform that results in fewer people being able to access or remain on the NDIS before real alternatives are in place.
“Women with disability already face greater barriers to access and are exited from the Scheme at higher rates than men,” Ms Cusworth said.
“If these reforms are not done properly, more women will lose out, and they will lose out in the midst of a complete absence of adequate supports outside the NDIS.”
WWDA said this matters because women with disability are already disproportionately affected by violence, poverty, chronic health conditions, diagnostic bias, unpaid care and exclusion across multiple systems.
“For our community, these reforms have real-life consequences,” Ms Cusworth said.
“They will determine whether someone can get to appointments, stay in work or study, care for family, remain connected to community, or leave a violent situation.”
WWDA also warned that when children are removed from the NDIS before other supports are in place, the impact does not stop with the child.
“It falls on parents and families, and we know the burden of gaps in systems falls primarily on women,” Ms Cusworth said.
WWDA said the proposed move to new access assessments will need to be genuinely co-designed with disabled people, gender responsive from the outset, trauma-informed and fit for purpose.
“If the Government moves to new assessments, they have to get them right,” Ms Cusworth said.
“Too often, assessment tools miss or understate the experiences of women and gender-diverse people with disability, especially when disability is shaped by chronic illness, fluctuating conditions, violence or caring responsibilities.”
“We don’t want to see assessments that medicalise our lives and reduce us to deficits Moving away from diagnosis could remove barriers for some people but create more for others. It cannot mean one unfair test is replaced with another.”
WWDA said any changes to eligibility, pricing, provider rules or supports outside the NDIS must be judged by whether people can still get the support they need, when they need it, safely and with dignity.
“Foundational supports outside the NDIS must be real, accessible and gender responsive,” Ms Cusworth said.
“They must respond to the disproportionate effects of violence, chronic health, poverty, caring responsibilities and geographic isolation on women with disability. No one should lose support before real alternatives are in place.”
WWDA said the Government now has an opportunity to show that NDIS reform can be done carefully, transparently and in genuine partnership with disabled people and our representative organisations.
“We want reform that strengthens the NDIS without balancing sustainability on the backs of women with disability,” Ms Cusworth said.
