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Kathryn Mills, Community Engagement Lead, Jigsaw Australia (Adelaide)

Data released last month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirmed Australia’s unemployment rate had fallen to 3.5 per cent – the lowest rate recorded since August 1974. However, while high job availability can be good news for individuals, it is causing widespread problems for employers and the economy – leading to workforce shortages and stagnated growth.

As someone with a disability, and as a disability advocate, I am frustrated to see that – despite the nation’s desperate need for workers – employment rates amongst people with disability are not improving. Indeed, Australia’s rate of employment for people with disability is one of the worst of the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to the ABS, in 2020 there were 113,000 people with disability in Australia actively looking for work, and the current Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has said that improving their inclusion in the workforce could ensure essential jobs are filled and contribute an extra $50 billion to Australia’s economy by 2050.

I lead community engagement in Adelaide for Jigsaw Australia, a social enterprise that trains and transitions people with disability into open employment. We recently commissioned a YouGov poll of more than 500 Australian managers and human resources professionals to examine why employers are not harnessing the skills and talents of people with disability to solve their workforce woes.

It turns out that half of all managers have never hired – or worked with – a person with disability. Sadly, this will not come as a surprise to many people with lived experience.

However, our poll also showed that attitudes are changing. Many employers agreed that increasing inclusion was important and would bring benefit to their workforce – but said they didn’t know how or where to start.

Of those who had hired a person with disability through Disability Employment Services (DES), 91 per cent had experienced challenges with using DES for the process. Their feedback was the same as that which Jigsaw hears from many people with disability looking for work – that DES had placed someone into a role that wasn’t a good fit for them and didn’t offer enough support.

Jigsaw is an end-to-end pathway to employment, taking school leavers with disability through training in core work skills and paid employment experience, and transitioning them to an award wage, mainstream job.

We developed our model together with our community, focusing on soft skills and direct, paid experience within a workplace to best position people successfully for work. Earlier this year, we opened our fourth hub in Adelaide’s CBD.

In my role, I engage daily with people with disability who are targeting employment, and I hear their stories – stories like Bradly’s.

A 30-year-old trainee at Jigsaw, Bradly has always wanted to work, but until recently he has only been able to access day programs – despite leaving school 11 years ago. Bradly’s legal guardian believes his blindness has been an ‘issue’ for many employment programs, and sadly, his story is not uncommon.

As a person with a disability, I know all too well the discrimination that exists, and the lack of opportunities there are for people with disability in the workforce. I’m passionate about making a change for our community so that everyone with a disability has the right to work on an equal basis with others – and in a work environment that is supportive and inclusive.

Now, in this post-COVID era of supply chain issues and workforce shortages, not only are inclusion and empowerment in the workplace essential to the rights and wellbeing of people with disability, but they have also become an economic necessity.

Jigsaw Australia has hubs in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide and is welcoming people with disability targeting mainstream employment now.

A guest article by Chris.

My initial reaction to learning of the Senate Select Committee on Autism’s recommendation that the Australian Government introduce a National Autism Strategy was not positive. There has certainly been a history of governments in this country making rules and regulations for minority groups that end up hurting, rather than helping, some within those groups.

However, reading that (if the recommendations of the Committee are adopted) the Australian Government will create the strategy in conjunction with the nation’s autistic community gave me hope that perhaps people with autism will finally be heard and our needs, as we stated them during the Committee’s inquiry, will be considered.

It was good to read the executive summary of the Committee’s report, Services, support and life outcomes for autistic Australians, which stated that during its inquiry the Committee had heard that many National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff and service providers ‘seem to lack even the most basic understanding of autism and the kinds of supports autistic people need’. The Committee went further to say this was ‘particularly troubling’ given the high number of autistic participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

“However, resolving problems with the NDIS for autistic participants will require a more focused consideration of the issues than was achievable within the broad terms of reference for this inquiry,” said the report.

“Accordingly, the Committee recommends an inquiry be undertaken by the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme to examine how the NDIS supports autistic participants.”

This was a welcome surprise, and I would wholly embrace such an inquiry as I’ve been fighting the NDIA for what I consider to be my basic human rights for the past 16 months.

So, if the Australian Government puts in place a National Autism Strategy to improve autistic lives, what will it look like, and how will it help us?

The extensive report, which was delivered following a two-year inquiry, suggests the Strategy should look at whole-of-life needs for autistic Australians. I’m hoping that means it will look at the things we need over our lifetimes.

I’ve been reading this report and it’s divided up into sections, as one would expect. The first section past the Executive Summary covers the recommended actions the Australian Government needs to take to better the lives of autistic Australians – there are 81 in total. After two years, I would have hoped for more calls to action from the inquiry, but the fact they’ve taken the betterment of our lives seriously is a step in the right direction.

I was pleasantly surprised by the bi-partisan support for, and involvement in, the inquiry.  Maybe it’s a tug of war for our votes, who knows? I just hope that whichever party is elected this weekend honours these recommendations and starts to make some real, tangible improvements for us.

Chapter 4 of the report is titled ‘The cost of failing to provide adequate services and support’, and it is what I believe the politicians are likely to really pay attention to – the cost of doing nothing.

Synergies Economic Consulting’s Economic Costs of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Australia report (the Synergies report), updated in 2011, estimated the annual economic cost of autism in Australia was in the region of $8.1 billion to $11.2 billion (2010 dollars). So, if that is the cost of doing what the Committee’s inquiry showed to be not looking after the autistic community, then surely – if nothing else does – that should help to motivate Canberra to better support our needs.

I do have one gripe about the Committee’s report – and that is that it is a list of recommendations that the next Australian Government can simply ignore. They are not new laws, they’re just a list of suggestions, and if the next Prime Minister, whomever that might end up being, decides to ignore them, there isn’t anything we can do about it.

Well, there is one thing we can do – we can band together and inundate every Member of Parliament, every senator, and the Prime Minister themselves, with emails and complaints about failing to uphold the recommendations. The figures vary, depending on the source, but it is estimated that approximately one in every 70 Australians is autistic. That’s a lot of people, and when you take our friends, family and support networks into account, that’s a huge group of people who can cooperate with each other (with or without assistance) to fill the email boxes of those in power until they have to listen to us.

The more I read the Committee’s report, the more hope I feel for a better future for me and other autistic people.


Hi, I’m Chris. I’m an autistic person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference, especially when that difference wasn’t widely known about. On top of that, I didn’t even get a diagnosis until my adult years. Looking forward, I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.


By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

A note from My Plan Manager: The tips and information in this blog are taken from personal experience and may not mirror your own National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) journey. If you haven’t yet read ‘Need help with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)? Here’s where to get it (starting at pre-access)’, turn around and start there!

Once you’ve read that, come back to this article where Chris shares his NDIS tips from personal experience.

The process of becoming a participant in the NDIS can begin with a verbal access request, where a person with disability, their family member or guardian calls the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and asks to apply. Another option to apply for the NDIS is to submit an access request form. Both of these require supporting evidence from a treating professional.

Note: We recognise that everyone’s experience with the NDIS is different. However, you can contact a Local Area Coordinator (LAC) free-of-charge to help you apply as the first step when you are thinking about requesting access to the NDIS.

Once done, contact a disability advocacy organisation for support. Most advocacy organisations will help to unpack the terminology and jargon that is often used in the disability sector and having someone by your side who is familiar with those terms and phases really helps. Most advocacy organisations will do this for free.

If your application to access the NDIS is approved, the first thing to do is to go to a pre-planning meeting that’s usually held with a Local Area Coordinator – or LAC. LACs help NDIS participants to develop, review and implement their plans. During the 90-minute catch-up, the LAC will gather information and work with you to determine what to put in your plan.

You can ask your current providers to help you prepare for this meeting, and they can even join your pre-planning call with your LAC. 

The process is challenging, but with patience and perseverance, you can make it through the experience.

If your application to access the NDIS is turned down, don’t panic. This decision can be challenged through a number of review pathways that you can find at the end of this article.

Once your eligibility is established, the NDIA will contact you to set up a planning meeting. During this meeting they will ask a series of questions about your experiences in regard to your disabilities, what disabilities you are diagnosed with and what services you think you will need. There may come a point in this meeting where they ask you to justify your needs, so it is a good idea to have someone from the organisation that helped you with the pre-planning meeting there with you for support.

It is always good to have someone else with you to take notes when you speak to the NDIA. If you’re not able to have a third person with you then politely tell the NDIA that you can’t talk at the moment and arrange a time when you can have someone else take part in the conversation. Do not take no for an answer to this request as they cannot force you to talk to them.

After the meeting, the NDIA will present you with your NDIS plan. If you’re happy with it, that’s great. If not, you have 90 days to request a review. Often people aren’t aware of the 90-day limit, so keep it in mind, because you have a time limit to challenge the NDIA’s decision. If you can’t resolve the matter by way of a review, this is where legal aid and/or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal come in. These are both free services and both have specialist teams that deal with matters relating to the NDIA.

Both options have resulted in positive outcomes for me, so I leave the choice to you. Just remember, these people are on your side, so always be polite with them.

You can find more information about getting a decision from the NDIA reviewed here: https://myplanmanager.com.au/not-happy-with-your-ndis-plan-heres-what-you-can-do-to-request-to-change-it/.


This month on Kinora, our online community for people with disability, their supporters and service providers, we’re exploring eligibility and access to the NDIS. If you have questions about applying for the NDIS or this pre-planning phase, log on to Kinora to connect with a coach who can point you in the right direction.

Log on to Kinora now.


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference, especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old.

By Marie-Louise Carroll

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

It was hard knowing which direction to turn to when my son Jordan – who lives with a disability – became an adult.

His vision issues weren’t the problem, but his short-term memory loss was a different story. I saw a program called Rewire that was run at the local campus of TAFE SA, and it seemed perfect for Jord. It was aimed at young adults with different kinds of brain disorders, and it went through varied topics to help young people make decisions about their pathways into adult life.

While Jord was at Rewire, TAFE SA facilitators came to give a presentation about what they offered, and after reading the information they provided, Jord decided that it might be for him. Enrolling in TAFE SA involved making an appointment with the inclusion officer, filling in forms about Jord’s disabilities and medical issues and, of course, Jord knowing what course he wanted to do.

There were some problems at the start. Jord’s original course was cancelled and the only other course he wanted to do was a diploma, which was a huge challenge. We then had to see the facilitators running the course as they wanted to make sure Jord would be able to handle the content.

The thing I want to say is that, although the course is meant to be completed across a 12-month period, Jord doesn’t go to TAFE SA every day. Instead, he goes just once a week – and then he has another day set aside for revising and doing his assignments. Jord has a support worker with him both days and, in the early days, he had access to a TAFE SA support worker too.

A tip from me – never rule out an opportunity by looking at the usual length of time for a course, because these things can be worked around. TAFE SA has been brilliant at accommodating Jord’s needs – the facilitators of his course have been extremely supportive, and for Jord, the course will take about four years to complete.

“Never rule out an opportunity by looking at the usual length of time for a course, because these things can be worked around.”

– Marie-Louise Carroll

Being at TAFE SA has really helped Jord’s concentration and, to a degree, his social skills too – but it’s really important to get the right support worker and it can be hard to get the right fit sometimes. The support worker Jord works with now is older and patient, and Jord is thriving, concentrating, and doing all of his work himself, with some occasional help.

There are lots of things to consider if the person you care for decides to try TAFE. A big one for us was that diplomas cost a lot of money – more than certifications! We learnt that one the hard way, but we got there in the end.

I have to say, I still find it more difficult for me now that Jord is an adult. The demands are different to when he was a child. For example, he has tried to get work by himself, but it’s just so hard for him. He had a traineeship once, but not one of the four interviews he had turned into a job, because the potential employers were concerned about the health and safety issues that might arise because of Jord’s vision. It was frustrating, but there’s not much you can do about it except to look at other options – which is what we did.

“Being at TAFE SA has really helped Jord’s concentration and, to a degree, his social skills too – but it’s really important to get the right support worker.”

– Marie-Louise Carrolll

It’s also taken Jord a few years to know what he wants to do once TAFE is finished, but he wants to put the skills he has learnt into his own business with his photography, so there might be even more TAFE needed for that.

Trying to help your children find something that gives them satisfaction and pride in themselves isn’t always easy to do, but when you can, they feel like they are achieving, and it’s pure happiness to see that.

Marie-Louise Carroll is a mother, carer, nurse, advocate and support worker to her beautiful son Jordan, who is 24 years old. When Jordan was 11, he had a massive bleed in his brain which caused a stroke. Marie learnt to be an occupational therapist and support worker to him and then (to pay for his skiing goals) she became a support worker at Vision Australia. In ‘past lives’ a singer, dancer, office worker, lollipop lady, dance teacher, Marie is currently a disability rights advocate with regular public speaking engagements.

By Briar

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

Briar has a number of conditions that aren’t just painful; they see her juggling a never-ending schedule of allied health sessions and doctors’ appointments. Keep reading to find out how she manages the professional care in her life.

As a person with a disability and multiple health conditions, I have a lot of people in my life who provide professional care. I have support workers to come and help with the day-to-day tasks of life. I see a minimum of four allied health professionals each week, and in between all that I see my doctors. Although it seems like a lot of people are involved in my life, I know that they each play a vital role in helping me maintain my health and wellbeing. I know that I wouldn’t be functioning as well as I do, without the support of these people.

However, there are difficulties in having a lot of people involved in your care. You can be forever telling the same story over and over again. It can be challenging keeping everyone in the loop, and remembering who knows what. You’re also dealing with a wide range of opinions, and can be left feeling dazed and confused as to which direction you should take.

“There are difficulties in having a lot of people involved in your care. You can be forever telling the same story over and over again. It can be challenging keeping everyone in the loop, and remembering who knows what.”

Briar

Over the years I’ve tried many different things to manage the ever-growing number of people providing care.  Although I don’t necessarily think this is a formula for everyone, here are five tips to help you navigate the complex maze of professional care:

  1. Where possible set up a routine to your week. See if you can schedule appointments at the exact same time and day each week. This helps you to keep track of all your appointment times. It also helps you to schedule other appointments into your week.
  2. Not everyone needs to know everything. You may not have time in an appointment to give an update on your health. Therefore, prioritise what information needs to be known, and tailor it to the health professional you are seeing. However, this can mean that nobody really has a complete picture of your health.
  3. A way to overcome time constraints preventing you from giving comprehensive updates is by encouraging your medical team to communicate with each other. Encourage your doctors to include everyone in written communication. If possible, find a practice where you can have the majority of your allied health appointments in one place. That way they can communicate with each other. This takes the pressure off you to keep everyone in the loop.
  4. Remember that you know your body best. Sometimes my head is filled with so many voices and opinions on what I should or should not do. I’ve come to realise that I need to work out what is going to work best for me. Provide feedback to your medical team if things don’t work, and tell them what does work for you.
  5. To manage information or ‘homework’ overload, tell your medical team that things won’t be remembered or completed unless it’s written down. Tell them they need to prioritise what needs to be done, because if you’re like me, you would never leave the house if you did all the exercises you were given to do each day.   

You can read more of Briar’s work on her own blog Strength, Dignity, Hope.

If you are struggling, you are not alone and there is help available. Call any of the following phone numbers to talk to a trained counsellor:

Lifeline 131114

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Headspace 1800 0650 890

SANE Australia 1800 187 263

Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467

Australian Government Department of Health 24 hour Coronavirus hotline 1800 020 080



Briar has cerebral palsy, two mental health conditions and a number of other medical conditions. She has trained as a social worker, as well as a policy writer but her disabilities have prevented her from developing a career in these fields. Briar hopes her writing can encourage others in a similar position and provide them with useful advice. You can read more of Briar’s work on her own blog Strength, Dignity, Hope.

If you’ve ever had a dream that’s felt too big, this guest blog is for you.

Gretta has a Bachelor of Arts that she finished in 2019. She lives independently in Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) that she’s been able to access through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). She hires and manages a team of carers, and has secured two jobs through contacts she’s made. Rewind eight years, and her life today was just a dream.

If you like this blog in Gretta’s words, you can follow her journey at On Our Own Tracks.

A dream… What does this word mean to you? A hope that your life was completely different or something on your bucket list that you’re hoping to achieve in the future? Whether it’s a recreational activity like skydiving or a goal that you have been wanting to achieve for years like attending university, I’m sure that all you want to do is to achieve this dream as fast as possible.

Hi my name is Gretta and I am a thirty year old woman from Western Sydney. Growing up with severe Cerebral Palsy always meant that journeys to achieve my own dreams seemed to be much longer than my abled bodied peers. When I was around the age of twelve these dreams included one day being able to attend university, and to be living independently in a location that would be close to a town and have substantial work. As I sit here eighteen years later, I am proud to say that I have achieved these dreams, which really has turned them into goals.

A photo of our guest blogger Gretta in a wheelchair when she was growing up.
A photo of Gretta when she was growing up.

By looking at all of these three goals and how I have achieved each one of them, the interesting thing is that every single one has been achieved in very similar ways. The first way is the biggest lesson I have learned and that is patience. The most recent example of this was finally moving out of home. When I thought about this goal when I was younger, I was hoping to be living independently by the time I was 21. Although this goal took me an extra 8 years to achieve, I now recognise that this time and the steps I went through were extremely necessary, as they helped me achieve the skills and lessons I needed to be able to live independently as a mature adult. The other reason that I now feel that this is worth the wait is because I am now in the most perfect situation for me, as I live in a highly supported apartment with access to 24/7 hour care onsite.

“Although this goal took me an extra 8 years to achieve, I now recognise that this time and the steps I went through were extremely necessary, as they helped me achieve the skills and lessons I needed to be able to live independently as a mature adult.”

Gretta

As well as being able to live independently I’m also able to manage my own NDIS package. Along with organising all of the payments for my plan and the services I use, I am also able to hire and manage my own team of carers, which is sometimes challenging but worth it as I absolutely love it and definitely have the best carers. Having my amazing team behind me including my carers, family, friends and support professionals, I feel like I am able to live my life my own way just like everyone else my age.

So, if you are anything like I was about fourteen years ago, imagining your life when you are an adult, living your dreams you are obsessing about right now, I encourage you to keep aiming for your goals and don’t worry if they take longer then you expect you will get there in the end.


Hey I’m Gretta, I’m a thirty year old woman from Western Sydney. I also have a tiny bit of Cerebral Palsy affecting my movement and ability to talk. Despite this I love my life and love doing thrill seeking activities such as skiing. I also have a blog called On Our Own Tracks.

By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

This is another sensory blog. This one is related to sound. This blog is about some of the auditory issues such as hearing difficulties that Autistic people often struggle to cope with.

Let’s get started with an especially difficult condition called Auditory Processing Disorder. The modern thought on the condition is that the brain of an Autistic person is unable to process the enormous amount of sound of every day life. This is incorrect. The cause is that we hear absolutely every sound around us which makes it impossible to pull the single thread of sound from the ball of tangled ball of sound-yarn. I myself have been diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder and when it is noisy it’s hard to understand a person talking right next to me but when it’s quiet I can hear individual sounds over a distance of more than a kilometre with relative ease.

There are many issues with my having a heightened sense of hearing: I can’t stand fireworks, parties, night clubs, or anywhere there’s loud noise. That’s almost everywhere outside of my own house so most days I’m content to stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet of my single room flat. I can’t even tolerate living with other people.

Some helpful tools include ear plugs, noise cancelling headphones, and living in the country. The headphones actually work very well. It doesn’t cancel out noise 100%, nothing can do that, but it reduces the noise to a more tolerable level. That makes things much easier to cope with out there in the big, bad world. The best part is they come in an incredible variety of styles, sizes and colours. The down side is the better ones can be very expensive, up to $500+ in Australia.

If you’re on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for Autism, the noise cancelling headphones can be purchased through cooperative vendors or reimbursed through your plan manager or directly, if you’re not plan managed as they relate directly to treating Autistic auditory difficulties.

Alternatively, there are Autistic people whose Autism makes it difficult to hear the sounds around them or even cause deafness. This is what I would call Auditory Processing Disorder if I had the power to change the way things are labelled. These are the people who cannot hear because they’re Autistic. It’s the other side of the coin from having over-sensitive (or heightened) hearing. There are treatments for this as well, such as hearing aids.

Both conditions make life for Autistic people more difficult than it should be. Loud neighbours are a special kind of hell, especially the type that bring people over and have impromptu ‘gatherings’. If you live next to someone with Autism do show them a little courtesy and keep the noise down.

There is a minor caveat – Auditory Processing Disorder can exist without the individual being Autistic. Though it is very rare for this to occur, it does happen from time to time.


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic Person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old. Looking back I now realise how miserable I was and how badly I was being treated by everyone. Looking forward I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.

By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

Today’s blog is the start of a series covering the sensory issues of Autistic People. Most of us have heightened senses that can cause a problem dealing with everyday life. It’s a large topic and could easily cover far more blogs than I have time to write, so I’ll focus on the five main senses (there are far more than five but I’m keeping it simple). 

As usual I’ll be writing from personal experiences. I’ll start off with writing about my extreme sensitivity to light. I wear the darkest sunglasses I can find (the Cancer Council has the best for the price, in my opinion). Even with these on, a cloudless Australian summer day can be so bright I have to walk around with one eye closed (fortunately nobody can see my eyes behind the glasses). 

My sensitivity to light is so strong on some days that even the light of a full moon can be ever so slightly too bright. 

As with everything related to our senses, the level of sensitivity fluctuates. 

However, my senses seem to be getting sharper as I age, instead of getting duller as one would normally expect. Sometimes when it’s overcast, I don’t need to wear my glasses, but I always keep them with me in case the sun breaks through the clouds. 

There are some wavelengths of light that affect me emotionally – the setting sun shining between the earth and an overcast, rainy sky is my favourite light of all. 

It’s a mystery to me why my brain processes light the way it does and why it changes the way it processes it, or what triggers that change and its various intensities. 

Since sunglasses are basically Personal Protective Equipment for me and many other Autistic People with the same sensitivities, I have sometimes had to wear them indoors – especially if there is bright lighting. For this I have been called names, endured cowardly passive aggressive bullying, and even had to leave a class because the people running the art school were so narrow-minded. 

The point I’m making here is it’s tough just trying to get by when small-minded and ignorant people make life more difficult than it already is for someone just because that person is trying to protect themselves enough to live a semi-normal life with as little pain and discomfort as possible. 

The same sensitivities that make bright light painful make things like eyedrops and contact lenses next to impossible to endure. However, this ties in more with my oversensitive tactile sense. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I can tell when a picture is off centre by a little as 1mm (literally) as well as ‘eyeballing’ whether something is level when building something; that in particular is extremely useful as you can imagine. 

So as with most things Autistic, there are good and bad aspects. I try to embrace the good and cope with the bad but it’s not easy. 


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic Person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old. Looking back I now realise how miserable I was and how badly I was being treated by everyone. Looking forward I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.

By Tina Kraja

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

I want to share how to budget. I hear stories from families who do not know how to share out their funding, saying things like, ‘we used it all in 3 months, there is nothing left’. This needs to change! Many people just do not understand how to budget the funds in their plans. Here are my tips for parents to plan ahead and get the most out of their child’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

1. Do the sums on regular expenses

I religiously budget down to that last dollar. I divide and conquer, quite literally. I take the full amount in my plan and I divide it by the hourly rate, so I know how many hours I have for a year. I then divide this by therapists, taking into account which therapist we will use fortnightly and who will be more beneficial to use weekly. This way I know exactly how many appointments to book for each therapist, so I get the most out of my plan without overspending.

2. Do your research on providers

I search for good therapists who are flexible to stretch my hours, for instance my physio and occupational therapist (OT) for my six-year-old both do 45 minute appointments, which saves us 30 minutes a week compared to having 1-hour appointments. This means we then get an extra hour a month to use on a weekend group session. Look out for those added extras, like travel charges.  These can certainly eat into your funding, so have a look for providers that don’t charge for travel, or go to the office for appointments, as long as it won’t be too tiring for your child or too disruptive to their routine.

3. Look at the calendar

I study the school terms and see where our appointments fall. If we do weekly appointments, I might cancel week 10 as most kids finish early and have a fun day that Friday so OT is pointless this day. For speech therapy, my daughter will be so overwhelmed at the beginning of term 1 that weekly will be too much, but in term 2 and 3 she will be more settled, so more therapy is ok.  

4. Getting the best value

There are some other things you can consider to make every dollar go further. Some therapists hold appointments at the school and do not charge travel.

Weekend group sessions are cheaper with our Occupational Therapist, so they are a good option for both the budget and for extra social skills outside of school. We pay for an hour with both the OT and Physiotherapist.

Therapy tools can be purchased cheaply from retail giants like Kmart – just do some online research.

Visit the Special Education Resource Unit (SERU) and toy libraries for therapy tools also.

5. If your funds really won’t last

If you are finding that you’re still struggling to make your funds last you can ask your GP about a Medicare chronic disease management plan or mental health care plan. These can help cover part of the cost of therapy appointments – but they are separate to the NDIS, which means you may need to pay a gap yourself.  You can find out more about chronic disease management plans or mental health care plans on the Department of Health website.

My Plan Manager also has some advice about keeping your plan in good health and what to do if you’re overspending.

Don’t let that money fester because you are on a waiting list, get on lots of lists, ask on social platforms. Use My Plan Manager to help you see the most used therapists and ensure you have continuity of therapy.  We asked our school which organisations regularly visit, as we knew they were likely trusted in the industry.

Don’t be scared – be smart!


Tina is a mum of two girls: Miss 6, who is on the Autism Spectrum level 2 and also has Sensory Processing Disorder, severe phonological speech delay and severe anxiety, and Miss 8, who has severe anxiety and has recently been referred for an assessment. Tina loves numbers and is passionate about helping other families to get the most out of their NDIS plans. She is studying to be an individual disability support worker and is awaiting the world to return to normal so she can do some work experience and get her certificate 3. Tina has been a client of My Plan Manager for two years.

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My Plan Manager acknowledges the objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

My Plan Manager acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders both past and present.
© My Plan Manager 2020
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