The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme and disability identity: how welfare policy impacts narratives of disability

Abstract

The Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) application process solicits storytelling from people with disability about what their lives are like to determine funding for that individual. This chapter argues that the NDIS application process impacts narratives of disability in a way that is contrary to the disability self-advocacy movement and to Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The NDIS co-opts applicants to construct a deficit-oriented narrative of what it means to be disabled and limits the capacity for people with disability to cultivate pride, both in the language of the application and in the supports eligible for NDIS funding. To illustrate these claims, the chapter examines academic scholarship, grey literature and non-scholarly sources from people with disability. Understanding how policy influences the narratives people with disability people share has significant implications for disability culture more broadly, and as such the ideological implications of welfare policy should not be understated.