The National Disability Insurance Scheme: voices of adults with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new individualised disability funding scheme (full rollout commenced in 2016) in Australia that focuses on personalised planning. This article reports the perspectives of a small group of adults with intellectual disabilities as they engaged in the scheme. A focus group was used to collect the data. Lived experience of adults with intellectual disabilities highlighted how they viewed themselves and the negative positioning they perceived through the lens of the NDIS. The NDIS has potentially created new opportunities, but the ideals of inclusion are challenged in practice.