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The NDIS Was Built on Hope. It Now Punishes Those Who Defend It.



For more than fifteen years, I have watched Louise Braithwaite devote her life to ensuring her son could live with dignity, freedom and the ordinary experiences that every Australian family hopes for. Through her tenacity and vision, we created a highly individualised support arrangement that rescued him from an abusive group home and enabled him to build a life surrounded by family, community and genuine belonging. For more than a decade, it has been a remarkable success story, one that demonstrates exactly what the NDIS was intended to make possible.


Today, that life is under threat. Despite overwhelming evidence that the arrangement has transformed her son's life while saving the Scheme hundreds of thousands of dollars, the NDIA has substantially reduced his funding and forced the family into a lengthy legal battle before the Administrative Review Tribunal. As Lou struggles to keep his supports in place while the appeal process drags on, she finds herself confronting a system with vastly greater legal, financial and administrative resources than her own. Her story is more than the story of one family. It is a powerful reminder that when participants must fight simply to preserve lives they have already built, the promise of the NDIS is at risk of being replaced by a system that punishes those who seek to defend it.


You can read the full essay by downloading this file.



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