Funding support

NDIS funding is allocated according to an individual’s specific needs within eight outcome domains, depending on their life stage:

• Choice and control
• Daily living
• Relationships
• Home
• Health and wellbeing
• Lifelong learning
• Work
• Social, community and civic participation

Some of the types of supports that can be funded through your NDIS Plan include:

• Daily living activities
• Transport, to enable participation in the community, social, economic and daily living activities
• Workplace support that enables you to successfully gain or keep employment
• Therapeutic supports, including behaviour support
• Support with household tasks to allow you to maintain your home environment
• Support provided by skilled personnel in aids or equipment assessment, set up and training, and
• Home modification design and construction.

An NDIS Plan is designed in consultation with a participant and their families or carers, and identifies Goals and Aspirations as well as how support will help these to be achieved.

NDIS support can assist autistic individuals to:

• Pursue goals, objectives and aspirations
• Increase independence
• Increase social and economic participation, and
• Develop capacity to actively take part in the community.

Autism SA provides a range of supports and services to individuals of all ages with a National Disability Insurance Scheme Plan.

These include, but are not limited to:

• Speech therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Personal care support
• Behavioural support
• Mealtime and continence therapy
• AAC assessments and therapy
• Developmental education support
• Aquatic therapy
• School inclusion programs
• School transition support
• Individual mentoring and support
• Supported independent living, and
• Community-based support.

Autism SA My Pathways Consultants can act as advisers to individuals on the autism spectrum and their families, and assist in the preparation of your application to become an NDIS participant.

Preparing for an NDIS planning meeting

An NDIS planning meeting is an important part of the process, as it is where you are able to define your goals and reasonable and necessary needs. Our Pathways Consultants can assist you to prepare for this meeting.

Once an NDIS Plan has been approved, the My Pathways team can assist in determining the best means of utilising your funding, and help you to access relevant programs, therapies and services, either through support that is available at Autism SA or from other providers.

Autism SA Support Coordinators help NDIS participants to coordinate and implement the supports in your plan, form formal and informal support networks, and build capacity to manage your supports independently.

The Carer Allowance is a payment for parents or carers who are caring at home for an autistic child or adult. It is means-tested, and if you are eligible it is paid as a fortnightly cash payment. Additional one-off payments are also available from time to time, and it is adjusted annually in line with inflation.

If the person being cared for is a child under 16, they may also be eligible for a Health Care Card, a concession card that gives access to cheaper medicines and discounts on some services.

If you are caring at home for an autistic child, and this means you are unable to work or support yourself, you may be eligible for the Carer Payment. There are different rates of Carer Payment for single people and couples, and both the carer and the person you are providing care for need to be eligible. This is a fortnightly cash payment that is means-tested.

If you are receiving a Carer Allowance to care for an autistic child, you may also be eligible to receive an annual Child Disability Assistance Payment, made as a one-off payment each year on 1 July.

If you receive the Carer Allowance or the Carer Payment, you may also be entitled to a Carer Supplement. This is an annual, one-off payment on 1 July which assists in meeting the costs of caring at home for a child or adult on the autism spectrum. No application is required, as Centrelink will automatically make the payment if you are eligible.

If you are on the autism spectrum, aged over 16 years, and autism prevents you from working or being able to support yourself, you may be eligible for a Disability Support Pension. There are both medical and non-medical criteria that must be met before a Disability Support Pension can be received.

Health Care Card

If you receive the Carer Allowance for caring for a child under 16, they will receive a Health Care Card which provides discounts on medicines and some services (such as travel concessions, bulk billing and higher refunds through the Medicare Safety Net).

Carer Adjustment Payment

The Carer Adjustment Payment is an annual payment for parents/carers caring for a child under seven who is on the autism spectrum. To receive the payment, you must already be in receipt of a Carer Allowance, and there are other eligibility criteria in place as well.