Our open to Bill Shorten Minister for the NDIS

Open letter to Bill Shorten To: The Hon. Mr. Bill Shorten, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme 
Cc: State & Territory Disability Ministers Lizzie Blandthorn, Kate Washington, Craig Crawford, Joanne Palmer, Nat Cook, Don Punch,
Ngaree Ah Kit, Emma Davidson
 
Date: 08/10/2023
 
Dear Mr. Shorten,
 
We are writing to you as a group of people living with Psychosocial disability.  We have the support of our peers, families and allies, who also sign below. We sincerely appreciate your ongoing support for people with disabilities and ask that your support extends to people in our circumstances.

We are not the so-called ‘missing middle’, or the people who live with mild or even moderate mental health difficulties. We are people who live with long-term mental ill-health that has a severe and profound disabling impact on all aspects of our lives.

Many of us are also people who are survivors of trauma and childhood sexual abuse, who far too often have felt the ignominy of neglect and indifference to our daily challenges and needs. The statistics tell us we are indeed ‘missing’ – from our communities, from participating socially and economically in Australian life.

We are people whose life expectancy is 20 years shorter than the average Australian, who continue to experience discrimination and prejudice and who often have been let down and mistreated sometimes by the very same mental health system that was set up to support us.

We ask that you, and your government, prioritise preserving and building support systems funded by the NDIS that will maximise our capacity to live ordinary lives. We ask that you allow us to exercise choice and control like all other disabled people under the principles of the NDIS. We ask that you co-design with us in a genuine manner.
 
We express our dismay at your comments where you stated your government’s intention to redirect 27,000 people with a psychosocial disability from the NDIS in coming years (ABC Radio National 28/06/2023)

We are distressed to hear your understanding of psychosocial disability is that it is somehow less deserving or requiring of support under the NDIS than other disabilities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are concerned about the impact changes will have on our lives; how you will make the decisions about who gets support from the NDIS and who does not; and the nature of the services, if any, that will be offered to us as alternatives.
We are seeking that the debate about changes to NDIS eligibility for people with psychosocial disability be undertaken in a transparent and public manner.
 
Currently, we are fearful about the upcoming NDIS Review final report, and the conversations that appear to be occurring behind closed doors or through large provider-led peak bodies, regarding our future access to the NDIS and other services. We are concerned that we will be excluded, and that our broad range of needs will not be met. Please do not allow policy segregation or NDIS exclusion to occur on your watch, as Minister for the NDIS.
 
There is a well-documented need for psychosocial support that enables us to live as contributing members of our communities. These supports optimally sit alongside but separate from the clinical treatment and care some of us continue to receive.

We are concerned that there are plans in progress that will determine what future services and supports will look like, that limit support options and revert to retrograde models of care, and that we are not part of the conversation.

In summary, please use your voice and position to ensure people with psychosocial disability are granted equitable access to supports funded through the NDIS and the opportunity to live an ordinary life. We experience barriers and challenges just like other Australians living with a disability. Like them, we need to be active partners in the design of any changes made.
 
Thank you for listening,
 
With respect,

Sue, Kristin, Stuart, Rachel, Alan, Zoe and Neil, members of the Australian Psychosocial Disability Collective

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