INT101 | International Relations | The Implementation of NDIS

Identify and describe NDIS as a social policy that has been introduced by the Australia government.

Discuss the history and reasons behind the social policy change as well as examine the effects and impacts of the change within Australian society.

Introduction

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was introduced by the government of Australia which was designed for the Australians who had disability. The people in Australia suffering from intellectual, sensory, physical and the psycho-social disability can avail the services of National Disability Insurance Scheme. NDIS came into effect with the help of National Disability Insurance Scheme Act in the year 2013 (Ndis.gov.au., 2018).  NDIS was rolled out on national basis from the 1^st of July, 2016. This essay discusses about the purpose and the eligibility criteria in relation to NDIS. The essay discusses about the history and the reasons for the implementation of NDIS. The essay elaborates on the effect of the NDIS within the framework of the Australian society.

"text-align: justify;">Description of NDIS

The NDIS works with community for the promotion of community awareness and it emphasizes the principle that people having disability have fundamental rights. An individual who is under that of 65 years can avail the benefits related to NDIS scheme. There are residency requirements like the individual taking the benefit of the scheme should have permanent visa or a protected special category visa. The disability of the individual should be permanent and when the impairment of the individual reduces his ability of participating effectively in various activities or performing the tasks (Townsend et al., 2018).  The eligibility criteria in relation to NDIS is that the individual have impairment that affects his capacity in relation to economic along with social participation.

History and reasons of NDIS

In the year 2010, Productivity Commission was asked by the Australian government to undertake public enquiry into that of the long-term disability care. Productivity Commission was able to receive more than 1000 submissions from various people who were suffering from disability. The Council of the Australian government agreed to the fact that reforms should be brought about in the arena of disability services with the help of National Disability Insurance Scheme (Duckett & Willcox, 2015).  There was a meeting of the Select Council on the Disability Reform in the year 2011 when the Council Ministers laid down the foundation pertaining to NDIs by the middle of the year 2013. It helped people who had disabilities in getting support at an earlier point of time. The legislation in relation to NDIS was passed in the month of March in the year 2013 and the NDIS Act was created in the year 2013 (Carey et al., 2017).  Federal Election was held on the 7^th of September 2013 when the incoming government stopped using the name of “Disability Care Australia” and started using the name National Disability Insurance Scheme (Brien, Page & Berman, 2017).

In the earlier times, there were large institutions called asylums that housed people having mental illness along with disabilities. These were built from that of 1850 that reflected the revolution taking place in the realm of science. These asylums acted in a cruel manner that paved the way for the emergence of NDIS in Australia. In the asylums, the residents had to give up the ability of decision-making along with identity to the system that had grave repercussions on the people having disabilities (Miller & Hayward, 2017).  This led to the call of their release from these institutions into that of the community. Resettlement into community started in the era of 1970 within Australia. The changes were done to the disability related services in Australia as they were not able to provide all the benefits that can help the people suffering from disabilities and their families. The policies of Community Care aimed at providing education, employment along with housing facilities to the disadvantaged people.  A report that was on the basis of consultation revealed that the quality of the disability services were poor and there was high amount of unemployment within Australia. Block Funding helped in providing the services to the provider of the service and not directly to the person who are buying the service (Simpson & Baldwin, 2017).   The services that were provided were of limited range that could not respond properly to the different needs of the people having disabilities.  Productivity Commission found out in the year 2011 that the people could not get access to the appropriate supports that provided stimulation for the creation of NDIS.  The Report brought out the fact that since the families were not able to prepare for the financial impact of the disability within their family hence the NDIS should be implemented. The NDIS was created so that these vulnerable groups can come back into the community and live with other people.

Effects of the change in Australian society

The NDIS had a great effect on the Australian society and it brought about a transformation in the lives of the disabled people living within Australia. The human rights of the people suffering from the brunt of disabilities were recognised with the help of NDIS. It provided them with the things that can help them in leading a good life. They were provided with better health care and good education with the help of the NDIS. Social Care Foundation Australia has revealed that there are around 460,000 Australians who have disability and NDIS has been successful in lending extensive help to these group of people (Carey et al., 2018).  It has helped in improving the lives of the people suffering from disabilities and has been successful in changing the lives of the people living in Australia.

Conclusion

The Australians who has physical and mental disability can make use of the services of NDIS. In the event of the disability of an individual being permanent one can take recourse to the services provided by NDIS. One can take the advantage of NDIS service if the impairment that an individual has should reduce the ability of his participation while executing tasks. NDIS legislation was passed out in March and Act of NDIS was brought into effect in year 2013. In previous times there were institutions that were called the asylums within which lived people who had disabilities. Block Funding was unsuccessful in providing necessary support to the people having disabilities that led to the birth of NDIS. NDIS was able to make the lives of the people having disabilities in Australia and it helped them in leading a healthy life.

References:

Brien, J., Page, J., & Berman, J. (2017). Enabling the exercise of choice and control: How early childhood intervention professionals may support families and young children with a disability to exercise choice and control in the context of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 37.

Carey, G., Dickinson, H., Malbon, E., & Reeders, D. (2018). The vexed question of market stewardship in the public sector: Examining equity and the social contract through the Australian national disability insurance scheme. Social Policy & Administration, 52(1), 387-407.

Carey, G., Malbon, E., Reeders, D., Kavanagh, A., & Llewellyn, G. (2017). Redressing or entrenching social and health inequities through policy implementation? Examining personalised budgets through the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme. International journal for equity in health, 16(1), 192.

Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford University Press.

Miller, P., & Hayward, D. (2017). Social policy ‘generosity’at a time of fiscal austerity: The strange case of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme. Critical Social Policy, 37(1), 128-147.

Ndis.gov.au. (2018). NDIS. Retrieved from https://www.ndis.gov.au/ndis-access-checklist

Simpson, A., & Baldwin, E. M. (2017). Googling NDIS: evaluating the quality of online information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme for caregivers of deaf children. Deafness & Education International, 19(1), 22-28.

Townsend, C., White, P., Cullen, J., Wright, C. J., & Zeeman, H. (2018). Making every Australian count: challenges for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the equal inclusion of homeless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with neurocognitive disability. Australian Health Review, 42(2), 227-229.