Access to the NDIS for people who have been involved in the justice system
Earlier this year there was some discussion in the media about the NDIS for people with disability who have been involved in the criminal justice system.
We are very concerned about the messages in these conversations and the suggestions that people who have been incarcerated or have had other contact with the justice system do not ‘deserve’ the NDIS.
We wrote to NDIS Minister Bill Shorten in May about our concerns.
We have also signed on to a joint letter from other disability advocacy and community organisations, academics and stakeholders.
In June this year, Minister Shorten announced a new panel of experts to look at how people with disability who are leaving prison access NDIS supports. We were glad to see this, but we also had some concerns that the panel did not include anyone with lived experience of intellectual disability.
We wrote another letter to Minister Shorten to ask for a meeting to talk about how the needs and experiences of people with an intellectual disability might be addressed by the new panel. You can read our letter here: