NDIS Melbourne

NDIS Melbourne or the National Disability Insurance Scheme is effectively bringing much-needed support in the form of benefits for Melbourne residents living with a permanent and significant disability. The NDIS is still ongoing with its success in bringing quality support and care to people with disabilities in Melbourne and allowing many more to increase their quality of life as they manage their disability.

Many people with a permanent and significant disability living have already received from support from the NDIS and are seeing the benefits brought by the continuous aid in their day to day lives. NDIS Melbourne participants in Melbourne are given the unique opportunity to receive a customised plan of support. With the help of professionals that met the NDIS standards, NDIS Melbourne participants have increased their chance of meeting their unique needs and achieve their personal goals. This is all possible for NDIS participants as they are given support with managing their disability along with aiming for goals of living their daily lives as normally as possible.

Since its rollout throughout the entirety of Australia back in 2013, the NDIS has given benefits and support to hundreds of thousands of Australians living with a permanent and significant disability. Current data indicates that, in the state of Victoria, 100,000 people with disabilities are receiving benefits from the NDIS. Over 30,000 of these participants have reported receiving support for the first time.

What is NDIS Melbourne?

The National Disability Insurance Scheme or simply known as the NDIS is a scheme put forth by the Australian Government to give reasonable and necessary support to eligible Australian citizens and residents living with a disability.

Administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency or simply known as the NDIA, the NDIS began its operations as early as July 2013. Over the years, the NDIS has progressively rolled out throughout all the states and territories of Australia and eventually completed its rollout in 2020. The NDIS is estimated to help and support about 500,000 Australians with a permanent and significant disability through funding their disability needs.

With the NDIS, people living with a permanent and significant disability living in Melbourne will be given the means to avail of different support, services, and resources of their choosing. Unlike a welfare programme, the NDIS gives its participants the freedom to pick and choose the support that they need and include it in their treatment plan.

A treatment plan in the NDIS is known as an NDIS Plan. Each NDIS Plan is customised and tailor-made to the unique needs and personal goals of each participant. This is because the NDIS Melbourne understands the importance of having a holistic approach in giving support to its participants, who are made up of a diverse group of people with varying forms of disability.

Each participant also has their own set of unique needs and personal goals that will influence the development of their NDIS Plan. With this in mind, the NDIS understands that there is no one size fits all solution.

The NDIS is always ready to support people experiencing everyday life with an intellectual, physical, cognitive, sensory, and psychosocial disability. It also emphasises early intervention for both child and adult participants to reduce any negative impacts and developmental delays that their disability may bring in the future.

The support that the NDIS gives to its participants will not be possible if not for the work and collaboration of registered NDIS Melbourne Providers. These are professionals that can be in the form of individuals or organisations that has expertise and qualifications to give needed support to people with disabilities. The NDIS has curated these qualified professionals to provide their services to NDIS participants. In Melbourne, there are multiple Local Area Coordinators, professionals working with the NDIS that helps NDIS Melbourne participants in the city connect with the right NDIS Provider.

What are the Support and Benefits that NDIS Melbourne gives to its participants?

NDIS Melbourne Participants are given the freedom to pick and choose the support, services, and resources to include in their NDIS Plan. Many are also given the option to receive guidance with choosing the right support and providers to include in their plan.

The NDIS will provide funding for the support that the NDIS Melbourne Participant choose to include in their NDIS as long as the chosen support is both reasonable and necessary. The chosen support should also be able to help the participant meet their needs and help achieve their goals.

To facilitate the process, the NDIS has created different support budgets its participants can sign up to. Each Support Budget is developed to manage different kinds of needs brought on by a participant’s disabilities as well as to meet their needs and personal goals.

Three Types of Support Budget

Core Support Budget

This is the most flexible support budget for NDIS Melbourne participants where the allocation of the funds can be moved between the budget’s four categories. The Core Support Budget is focused on meeting the participant’s everyday disability needs and help support them as they go through everyday activities.

Below are the 4 categories of this budget:

Consumables;
Assistance with Daily Life;
Assistance with Social & Community Participation; and
Transportation.

Capacity Building Budget

The Capacity Building Budget is focused more on helping the participants achieve their long term goals through learning skills and gaining independence. Unlike the Core Support Budget, participants with this support budget can only use their funding for supports within one category.

Below are the 9 categories of the Capacity Building Budget:

Support Coordination;
Improved Living Arrangements;
Increased Social & Community Participation;
Finding & Keeping a Job;
Improved Relationships;
Improved Health & Wellbeing;
Improved Learning;
Improved Life Choices; and
Improved Daily Living.

Capital Support Budget

Capital Support Budget is meant for funding the purchase of higher-cost pieces of technology or modifications that the participant may need to improve their quality of life.

Below are the 2 categories of the Capital Support Budget:

Assistive Technology; and
Home Modification.

How to Know if You can Become an NDIS Melbourne Participant?

If you are living in Melbourne and want to get support for your permanent and significant disability, you can become an NDIS participant as long as you meet all of their requirements. The NDIS has developed criteria for eligibility for applicants. Below are the requirements that the applicants must meet to become an NDIS participant:

Must be between the ages of 7 to 64 years old;
Must be living in Australia and is an Australian Citizen or have a Permanent or Special Category Visa;
Must need support from another person because of a permanent and significant disability;
Must use special equipment because of a permanent and significant disability; and
Must need support at present to reduce the need for future support.

Applicants must meet the first 2 statements and at least 1 of the last three statements above to eligible to become an NDIS Melbourne Participant.