Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

The NDIS has achieved a new low: its Fraud Fusion Taskforce or some other internal “integrity” unit is sabotaging supports for some autistic NDIS participants with high and complex needs.

A4 received evidence that a secret entity in the NDIA is withholding payments for essential supports for NDIS participants with high and complex needs including supports that the NDIS agreed to provide in AAT s42C settlements.

The NDIS, in its 19/12/2024 newsletter said:

Introduction of Notice of Impairments

A4's Co-convenor wrote to the NDIS and the responsible Ministers with questions about the changes to the NDIS that came into effect on 10/10/2024. Many people feel the NDIS's descriptions and explanations were very confusing.

The Acting Deputy CEO, Service Design and Improvement replied on 2/2/2025. There is a link to the emails below.

Sadly, the response is not very helpful. 

One of the big changes is the two new lists that are meant to list things that the NDIS can fund, and things that it cannot fund. There are many problems with this approach.

For the past seven years, Peter Thorn has thrived under his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

As someone who is non-verbal with autism, the support he receives allows him to live alone, volunteer regularly, go to the gym and be part of a Special Olympic swimming squad.

He has also been receiving overnight support — a time where he is most vulnerable.

But 10 months ago, he was told there was an "error" in his plan, turning his seven days of overnight support per week into seven days a year, without explanation.

A4, with many other disability advocates, wrote to the Prime Minister explaining why Australia needs a dedicated Minister for Disability and a dedicated Department of Disability Equality & Inclusion that is staffed by and for people with disability. The letter says: 

The proportion of young children (age 0 to 6 years) diagnosed with autism in the NDIS has declined significantly since the full roll-out of the NDIS. The number of autistic NDIS participants aged 0-6 years old in the NDIS decreased 32% in the 2 years from 30/9/2022 to 30/9/2024.

The following chart shows the number of children in the NDIS with different types of "primary disability" according to data published by the NDIS on their website. 

Updated data ... Dec 2024