Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjara Women’s Council (Aboriginal Corporation) submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS Inquiry into NDIS participant experience in rural, regional and remote Australia

In this context they struggle to understand the role of the NDIS and the complexity of the bureaucratic systems involved and are therefore unable to help potential and current participants effectively. [...] For instance, the community connectors were asked to help with the men’s program by picking up the service providers who fly in for the program each week, but were unable to prioritise that activity, and this task is therefore performed by NPYWC Coordinator of Supports staff in the interests of maintaining the availability of the program. [...] Lack of understanding of the NDIS is also a problem with service providers on the Lands, who can spread misinformation, and who place all sorts of requests and expectations on the Coordinator of Supports, requiring significant time from the Coordinator of Supports to explain their role and that of the NDIS to providers as well as participants. [...] Another barrier is the inability of many Anangu to read and comprehend the forms they are offered, and to understand the binding nature of signing the piece of paper. [...] To take one of the simplest examples, a person who has used all of their Coordination of Supports hours early in the plan will be given the same or a smaller number of hours as in their previous plan when the plan is renewed, despite what is written in the end of plan report.