The NDIS belongs to us. We fought for it. We sustain it. We'll protect it. By Laura Pettenuzzo
Wednesday 6 May
This year feels like it's been one blow after another for disabled people in so-called Australia, and this week delivered the biggest blow of all.
My mood has been fluctuating between fury and despair as I think about the massive changes facing current and potential NDIS participants, including myself. When the federal government targets us and our supports to save money, it reduces our quality of life and, in some cases, our very existence, to a number on a budget. When the Australian Financial Review repeatedly publishes misleading headlines like 'NDIS spends $12b on support for walks, movies, haircuts,' our right to personal care and community participation becomes a luxury.
My despair comes from a sense of powerlessness, as I witness the proliferation of narratives and decisions about disabled people which will have real and potentially devastating impacts on our lives. But we're not powerless. We never have been and we never will be. The NDIS exists because of collective action and belief. It exists because disabled people and our allies banded together to make it a reality, and I believe we can band together again to save it now, to remind politicians and those in power what the Scheme really means.
Here's what Anthony Albanese and Mark Butler and everyone else responsible for the new NDIS Bill might not recognise or care about. Behind every NDIS plan is a disabled person whose life is better, easier, possible, because of the Scheme. I know, because the scheme makes my life possible. It allows me to maintain a careful balance of work and leisure by funding support workers and allied health professionals with whom I can manage my disability.
Because of the NDIS, I can work almost full time. My energy isn't depleted from forcing my body to do things that exhaust or hurt it. I can ask support workers to do those things instead.
Because of the NDIS, I can look after my cat, Giles. My best friend and the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'd wanted a cat for a long time, but worried about how I'd manage cleaning its litter, getting it in a carrier, taking it to the vet or doing any of the other more physically demanding tasks that cerebral palsy makes difficult. And because I have Giles, my mental health is better than it's ever been.
Because of the NDIS, I can exercise my right to access the community, with minimal pain and fatigue. I can visit places with my support workers and manual wheelchair that I wouldn't be able to safely enter or get to without them.
Because of the NDIS, I can maintain my current level of function. The Scheme funded my power wheelchair, Maria Lucia. When I use Maria Lucia, I can move around fast and freely. The Scheme funds physiotherapy sessions that decrease my pain and muscle spasms and increase my mobility.
And that's to say nothing of the ways it helps so many others.
Because of the NDIS, my friends can safely shower, can use their bathrooms, can get into and out of bed each day.
The NDIS is the reason we can live and learn and work. The reason we can have some semblance of equity in this world not built for us.
This week, and in all the weeks to come, I'm going to hold onto that knowledge like an anchor amidst the rising tides of ableist rhetoric.
The NDIS belongs to us. We fought for it. We sustain it. We'll protect it, together.
