Response to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Framework for Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Consultation Paper

Women With Disabilities Australia

March 2015

In March 2015 WWDA contributed a brief submission to the NDIS Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) consultation. The ILC component on the NDIS (formerly known as ‘Tier 2’) provides systemic and community supports that compliment individually funded supports under the insurance scheme. WWDA’s submission included six recommendations, including: 1) The ILC must be gender cognizant and responsive across the five ILC activity streams; 2) ILC must acknowledge and build on the existing and unique capacities, strengths and resources of women and girls with a disability at local and systemic levels; 3) ILC must acknowledge and engage the capacity and rights for all people with a disability to lead the decision-making processes that affect their lives, consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability (CPRD); 4) ILC must clearly distinguish between the needs, identities and rights of individuals with a disability, and the rights of families and carers in all aspects of design, implementation and evaluation; 5) Capacity building with mainstream organisations needs to foremost address existing gaps in service access and support for women with disabilities; 6) A strong evaluation framework that has places the expertise of people with a disability and their representative organisations front and centre, must underpin ILC.