​​Peta says that it hasn’t always been like that.  In the past, she had no say in who would be assisting her, or when they would come.  Often they were casual ‘fill ins’ that she didn’t know before they arrived, and they were often very late.  ​

​People tell us that their support workers are often involved in very personal parts of their lives.  They rely on them in very vulnerable times when they need assistance the most.  They can be the difference between a bad day and an awesome day.  
Support workers are often key tools in assisting with achieving goals and getting on with living our best lives. We know that people often spend a lot of time with a support worker, so having the right person is important.

6. Plan for meeting and interviewing 
Most people prefer to interview their potential support workers before agreeing to work with them.
You can organise to meet someone by phone, online (through face time, Skype or Zoom), email or in person.

This will give you the opportunity to ask them about:

• their experience with people with a disability
• their qualifications and other skills,
• maybe their find out about their hobbies and interests.  
• It also give you the chance to see if think you will get along.

Think about questions you would like to ask them beforehand and maybe write them down.
 
Also be mindful of things that are not ok to ask in an interview, because they might be considered private or could be seen as being discriminatory.
If you have decided to ask a disability support organisation to provide your support workers, ask the organisation about how you can meet and interview potential support workers before they commence working with you.
Some more tips for meeting, interviewing and deciding on potential support workers 

• Be careful when advertising and meeting people for the first time to keep yourself safe

• If you are meeting face to face - meet  in a public place the first time – for example, at a library, in a café or at the pub
• Think about questions you would like to ask them and what would you like to know about them.
• Ask for contacts for their referees – so you can find out a little bit more about them and what they are like to work with
• Check out if they have a current NDIS Worker Check , First Aid Certificate, drivers licence and car insurance (if you will be needing them to help with transport)
• Check if there have been any concerns with their work in the past or if they are not allowed to work as a support worker: 
• You might like to take a friend or someone you trust with you so that you can hear their thoughts on the person as well ​

7. Know how to make an agreement
Once you’ve decided on your new support worker/s, it’s a good idea to have a written agreement in place between you and your support worker or their organisation that you both agree to and sign.
The agreement should set out things like:

• What the support worker will assist you with and when
• Any expectations about how you will treat each other
• How much you will pay them and how you will pay them
• What to do if things go wrong
• How to end or change the agreement
• Any contact details for you, the person and emergency contact
• Space for signatures and dates 

If you are directly engaging your support worker, it should also include things like:

• Who is responsible for paying income tax, GST, superannuation etc
• Any insurance arrangements and who is responsible for those

It wasn't all that easy getting his power wheelchair. He and his mum had to go all the way to the AAT (the Administrative Appeals Tribunal) to get this chair funded by the NDIA.
 
Below we explore Assistive Technology (AT) a bit more and some tips for getting all your evidence together to get the piece of equipment you need.
 
What is Assistive Technology (AT): 
 
One way to understand assistive technology is to think of it as a bridge between a person with disability and their environment. For example, a wheelchair can be a bridge to get around in the community. 
 
Generally, AT are gadgets, tools, pieces of equipment that assist people to do something more easily or do something that without it, they could not do because of their disability.
 
The best starting point to thinking about AT and what the NDIA might fund, is to think about your goals and what you will need to help you to achieve those goals.  Perhaps you need to be able to move around in your community and you need a wheelchair to help you to do that. Perhaps you want to be able to help other people to understand you, and you need an app that helps you to communicate.  Or perhaps you want to be safe when you have a shower, and a shower chair would help you to do that.
 
When thinking about using your NDIS Plan to help you to buy the AT you need, it helps to think about it in terms of risks and cost.
 
Low risk (Low cost) items:
 
There are items that the NDIA considers to be low cost and low risk. Many people might find a reference to those in their plan in relation to core funding. The NDIA says this includes items that are:

• “unlikely to cause harm in day-to-day life
• available for trial and/or can be purchased in retail stores
• easy to set up and safely use without professional advice.”

 
This might include items such as:

• an app that helps you understand something, 
• a whiteboard that helps you remember something, 
• a long handled mechanical reaching tool, that helps you pick things up off the floor, 
• a modified spoon, 
• a sock slider, 
• communication books and boards, 
• alerting systems
• and more …

 
Many of these AT tools cost below $1500.
 
Generally speaking, you do not need an assessment from an allied health professional.  (For items over $500, we recommend that you get an email or something from your allied health specialist saying why this item is necessary and reasonable for you and that you need it because of your disability.  This email or letter doesn’t need to be very long, just a couple of paragraphs).
 
If you have ‘low cost, low risk consumables’ in your plan and your plan is agency managed you need to go to a NDIA registered provider to buy the piece of equipment (your allied health person can help with that).

If you have ‘low cost, low risk consumables’ in your NDIS plan and it is plan managed, we recommend that you have a chat with your Plan Manager first and work out the easiest way to get the item you want. You can then also find out if there is a price limit on the specific item. Being plan managed, you can then buy what you need from pretty much any shop, you don’t have to buy it only from a shop that is registered with NDIA. 
 
If you are self-managing your NDIS plan, you can also purchase it from any shop. 
 
Please note that some low-cost AT items are considered high risk and, even if you are not sure if it is or not, you really should get advice from an allied health professional about purchasing your AT.
 
Higher risk (and higher cost):
 
Higher risk items include products that

• are complex, such as a power wheelchair
• are known to have injured people are to be used for a restrictive practice
• need to be fitted for the person who will be using it
• require professional advice, setup, or training to use safely.

 
Most higher risk items also come with a higher price tag. But some low costs items can also be high risk, so it’s important to talk this through with an allied health professional who is trained to know about them.  
 
If you think you need a higher risk or higher cost  AT item, you will generally need to have it specifically included in your Plan. To get it into your Plan you generally need a report (and a quote) from an allied health professional saying why you need this AT. 
 
It’s also important that you remember to also get funding to:

• trial new technology (short term rental arrangements), 
• repairs and maintenance of your AT, and 
• replacements of existing equipment if it breaks or wears out.

After months and months of pressure from the community, the Independent Assessments are on hold.

One of the players that helped put the pressure on was the Independent Advisory Council (IAC).
That Council advises the NDIA Board on issues affecting participants, carers and families. 
They wrote a report and recommended that:

 “All elements of the independent assessment design, including the toolkit and practice guidance, should be designed in partnership with the disability community to deliver flexible approaches to the greatest extent practicable for the most complex participants that do not have supports, have experienced trauma or have complex behavioural support needs.”
 
The IAC also spoke to what many of us have been feeling, which is that there has been a massive erosion of trust between the disability community and the NDIA, government and the disability services system more broadly.
 
 A speech made by the Minister since the announcement to put things on hold gives us all an idea of what’s on her agenda:

• “An assessment model that is consistent with the legislative requirements as set out under the NDIS Act. An assessment model that will deliver a fairer and more consistent scheme. A scheme that delivers more true choice and control.
• we need to build a unified understanding of financial matters and pressures on the system to inform the pathway forward.
• We commissioned further work by senior officials on the cost drivers and underpinning actuarial assumptions of the NDIA ahead of our next meeting in August
• We also agreed to work together to consider amendments to the NDIS Act to legislate a Participant Service Guarantee
• The legislation will further strengthen integrity measures and the draft legislation will be subject to public consultation 
• A new and improved National Disability Strategy will hold broader services and systems accountable to be more inclusive and supportive for people with disability, achieving better outcomes”

 
So be prepared and expect to hear lots more about

• Independent assessments: watch out for news comping think and fast and who is involved and what the processes are- there might be opportunities to contribute 
• Money and the scheme sustainability: there will be loads more backwards and forwards and disagreements and comparing apples with oranges and trying to understand what this all really mean s
• Changes to the NDIS legislation: Let’s watch this space carefully and look out for those public consultations the Minister mentioned in her speech 
• National Disability Strategy: Yeah, any movement and the revamping of the National Disability Strategy would be fantastic, and we would love to see something real happening there (instead of more and more disability specific)