WHAT ARE COMPULSORY INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENTS?

The Morrison Government is planning to introduce compulsory 'independent' assessments to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by the middle of 2021. This is a significant, and extremely worrying, change to the NDIS and the way that it works for people.

Under the current process, applicants submit evidence from experts, including their specialists, and these reports are evaluated by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The Morrison Government wants both applicants and existing participants to undergo a compulsory 'independent' assessment by assessors employed by one of eight contracted providers, providers who are paid by the government.

For so many disabled people in the community who have spent our lives trying to navigate a medical and social system that is drenched in discriminatory attitudes and practices, the thought of having overcome another hardly to get the support we need is frustrating and really concerning.

The Morrison Government is hell bent on introducing these changes without even properly consulting the disability community, or collecting any meaningful data on whether they work for NDIS participants; the whole process has been designed with the hope of saving a few pennies for the government's coffers, not with the needs of disabled people, in mind

THE FLAWED PILOT PROGRAM

Back in November, 2019, the Government completed its first pilot program of 'independent' assessments across a relatively small geographic area in outer metropolitan Sydney and regional areas just outside of greater metropolitan Sydney. 

But, because the government has not released detailed information about the trial we have no idea whether important factors were considered, such as a participant’s living situations, their different backgrounds and circumstances, where they live, their geographic location relative to services or their transport needs.

There is also no clarity about whether the pilot program considered the experiences of First Nations people, people with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds or people who are living in remote and regional areas.

Of the 511 people who participated in the pilot program, data was only collected from 145 of the trial participants. No baseline information was collected from participants before the trial began, either. This survey used to justify the success of the pilot program, containing 145 participants responses, is also incredibly misleading as only 35 disabled people actually filled out the survey themselves. In the other 110 instances the survey was filled out by either a support worker, a carer or a parent. 

There is no way that a trial of this size, in this location could accurately capture the full range of geographical factors that participants experience. 

This initial trial also only included three diagnostic types - autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability and psychosocial disability - which is just a fraction of the range of disabilities and support needs presented across the NDIS.

It would be impossible to generalise and extrapolate the results of such a limited trial to the disability community at large!

So far, no data about the second independent assessments trial has been made public although it is supposedly underway.

WHY THE COMMUNITY IS SO WORRIED

The proposal to introduce independent assessments into the scheme after such a short trial is rushed, and has the potential to move the scheme even further away from the foundations on which it was built: the social model of disability.

For so many in the community, the prospect of attending a single compulsory session with an unknown assessor and trying to communicate the complex support needs and the range of factors that exist in your life is highly distressing.

Many disabled people have spent years, if not decades, building trust with the people in their life who support them - their doctor, allied health professionals and support workers - and rightly feel that these people are the most qualified to provide the necessary supporting evidence that accompanies an NDIS application.

For disabled people who have experienced violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect the thought of having to discuss in detail the complex support needs is extremely triggering.

What happens if you disagree with the independent assessor's opinion about your life and your support needs? 

The government has dismissed these concerns as baseless, but we know them to be true. Insurance companies regularly engage independent assessors who are more likely to terminate or minimise supports in other areas, such as worker’s compensation. The same could become true for the NDIS.

ANY NDIS REFORM MUST BE CO-DESIGNED

There is a well known saying in the disability community which the Morrison government would do well to learn: nothing about us, without us.

Any change to the way that NDIS participants are assessed must be co-designed with disabled people, our advocates and our peak bodies. The only way to fix the NDIS so that it works for us is to ensure that disabled people are leading that process