Building Stronger NDIS Requests: Evidence Essentials for Participants - Webinar Replay

Webinar Replay
Written By Contact Kinora

No matter what type of NDIS request you’re facing, having the right evidence is so important.

In this session we look at:

  • The different types of evidence and assessments, and what might be most effective in different NDIS scenarios

  • How you can partner with your service providers to get comprehensive reports

  • What the NDIS looks for in your evidence

  • Strategies for strengthening your evidence, especially if you have limited funds to spend or are stuck on waitlists.

We want this webinar to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to put forward your best case and get the NDIS outcomes you need.

    • At application stage, your evidence should focus more on permanency, diagnosis, and functional impact. Other request types, for example change of situation, are going to need much more focused evidence

    • Make sure that your evidence covers off the reasonable and necessary criteria when seeking additional supports

    • Free or cheap evidence can include a lived experience statement, carer impact statement, GP or specialist notes, or support worker shift notes.

    • Work with your OT (and other professionals) for the best outcome: share your other evidence with them, talk through your goals and needs, be open and honest.

  • So hello everyone, and welcome to our webinar this morning, Building Stronger NDIS Requests. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today as we dive into the essentials of evidence for anyone that's on the NDIS or those that are looking to apply.

    I'm Erin. I'm one of the Kinora community coaches and I'll be hosting today's session. And we've also got Yvette from the team here with us and she'll be managing the chat throughout the webinar, so she might pop on and say hello. There she is. Hi there.

    If you're already a member, you probably recognise us from within the Community forum. We are so excited today to be joined by two special guests as well. First, we have Tracey Ginnane, Executive Director of Future Focus Support Coordination. Thanks so much for joining us, Tracey. Thank you. Tracey has over a decade of experience in the disability field and her and her team helped NDIS participants everyday to get the best outcomes from their NDIS plans.

    Also joined by Meghan Arendse an occupational therapist with Everyday Independence. Thanks for joining us, Meghan.

    Yeah, thanks for having me say Meghan's role as an OT is all about completing assessments for NDS participants and reporting against the NDIS criteria. So I'm really looking forward to hearing both of their insights today. So thanks again, both for being here and sharing your knowledge with us.

    So if you've been to one of our webinars before, you would know that we record these sessions and we share the video replay and any resources we mentioned within the Kinora community. If you're not a member, though, don't worry, we'll send the replay and resources direct to your inbox as well.

    If you need closed captioning today, you can click on the more button at the top. There's three little dots. Then choose Language and Speech and select Turn on live captions. There's also a chat button up there somewhere, so if you go ahead and click on that now, this is where you can introduce yourself. Add in any comments and ask any questions as we go.

    Like I said, Yvette will be keeping an eye on the chat and we'll address all the questions at the end of the webinar. If there's any that we don't get to. If we run out of time today, we will answer them in the Kinora community or Tracey and Meghan might be able to get back to you as well.

    A quick background on Kinora for those who aren't members yet. Kinora is a free, safe, and supportive online community where you can get support for your NDIS questions from us coaches and our community of thousands of other NDIS participants, their families, support coordinators, and service providers who are experts in their fields.

    We have lots of NDIS information and free resources that you can check out. So if you're not a member, I'd really encourage you to join. We would love to have you as a member. In the spirit of community, since we are an online community forum, I would love for everybody here to start sharing today because that's what Kinora is all about, sharing experiences. So if you feel comfortable, you can pop into the chat now and just let us know what you're hoping to get out of today's session.

    So if you've got a reassessment coming up, let us know if that's what you're prepping for or perhaps you're just at the application stage and you're just looking to learn more about what type of evidence you need to get the love. If you could pop in the chat and let us know because it be so great to know who we've got here today.

    Before we dive in any further as well, I'd just like to make an acknowledgement of country.

    So in the spirit of reconciliation, Kinora acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders, past, present and future. We acknowledge the culture, diversity, knowledge and experiences of First Nations people and celebrate their contributions and specifically those living with disability, their families, carers, and individuals dedicating themselves to a career in supporting people with disability.

    So no matter what type of NDIS request you are facing, having the right evidence is so, so important. But the what, the why, the how can trip up a lot of people. It's really hard to know what evidence you need and what the NDIS will actually consider in your request and how do you even know if it's good quality evidence. So that's what we're going to be looking at today. We'll look at the different types of evidence that might be effective in different NDIS scenarios.

    We'll talk about how you can partner with your service providers to get really comprehensive reports that will help lead to better outcomes. And we'll look at some other strategies that might be able to help strengthen your evidence, especially if you've got limited funds or are stuck on long waiting lists, which are two issues that can really significantly impact the evidence that you can get, unfortunately.

    So we want today's session to empower you all with the knowledge and tools you need to put forward your best case to the NDIS so that you can get the outcomes that you need. So let's jump into it.

    So I think the best place to start is probably just talking through the need for evidence when we might need evidence at different points on the NDIS journey. So Tracey, I'll start with you. Are you able to just give us an overview of some of the times where people might need to gather evidence on that NDIS journey? Sure. So the first in the step or the first step in anyone's journey on the NDIS is obviously getting access. So that would be your first time that you would be looking at compiling evidence and to support your application to be accepted.

    That's a different type of evidence or the then sorry, I'm a bit tongue tied. It's first thing in the morning. So you talking you have that a different level or type of evidence as compared to if you're looking to put through a change of circumstances. So yeah, so you need to get everything together as easily as you can to get to get onto the onto the scheme. But then you might find down the track that

    your circumstances have changed or your symptoms and your disability has progressed. So you actually want to have your plan reassessed for additional funding or different types of funding. So you'd be looking at lodging what they call a change of circumstances request. So if you're putting one of those requests through, you need to then gather the evidence that can support what you're saying that and how your, your disability has changed and why you need additional support with different supports

    then towards the end of your plan. So plans were traditionally 12 months in length, but we find more and more now we're looking at two year, three year, even up to five year plans are gonna start coming through apparently. So when you're looking at the end of plan review, so getting prepared for your next plan, then you're looking for evidence to support the maintenance of the level of funding that you've been given. Or if you feel that you need more support

    in your new plan, you once again, you need to actually provide the evidence as to why you feel that is is needed. So yeah, they're the three main types of evidence so that the access then possibly an early review or a change of circumstances and then lead up to your plan review at the end of your plan. Yeah, yeah. And as you said, they can be quite different types of evidence as well. So obviously for access, everyone is trying to prove

    the same thing. No matter what your circumstances are, you still need to meet those access requirements, right, Which is the same for everyone. So that's probably gonna be more diagnosis focused, Is that right? Yeah. And that's exactly right. And the impact and the. And to have it proven that it your disability is a permanent thing. It's not just a one, isn't it? Yeah, Yeah, That is permanent. Permanent disability is actually one of the main criteria for getting onto the scheme. Yeah, Yeah. And there is, the

    NDIS has a couple of lists, there's List A and List B of specific conditions that, yeah, generally you won't need as much evidence. You just sort of need that diagnosis. Yeah. But for everything else, like you said, you really need to focus on the impact as well as the permanence and everything like that. So with those other types of evidence that you'll need for different points in time, the change of circumstance that's going to be a lot more focused isn't on whatever that current situation is. You don't need to show your diagnosis

    again or anything, but yeah, you basically that at that point, you just need to be able to evidence the impact that it's had on your life, the progression of your disability, you know, depending on your position, your condition, you know, something like multiple sclerosis, for example, you know, that can change and yeah, often does. So your circumstances at the start of a plan might be, you know, circumstances a, but then your ability or your function

    functional capacity decreases. And so you need to actually be able to prove or evidence that that has happened since the start of the first plan. So yeah. So it's more pointed towards the impact it's having on your life. Yeah. Yep. And what are the main types of evidence that you would see at these different stages? Like what are people going out to get to show these things? It can vary according to your disability as to why you're applying for access. So for example, going back to MS, for example,

    that is one of the, the conditions on list A, I think it is where it is a pretty much a standard thing. Basically just a, a diagnosis, for example, will be enough to get you on there. But it does help if you can actually provide some other evidence to say how it's impacting your life, how it's impacting the, the people around you, your family, your informal support network and that sort of thing. Whereas, and I think I may have

    going off track from the question, I'm sorry, no, no, you're right. If you're on the, on the NDIS for MS and halfway through your plan, you, you find you're having more difficulty, you need further support. That's when you then pull that evidence in to say, well, this is now what's happening. You know, my, my husband is now having to do all of the housework because I can't do it or I can't walk as far as I used to be able to walk. So therefore, you know, I might need, you know, more intense physiotherapy or occupational therapy or even,

    and some, yeah, a wheelchair or, or you know, those sorts of things. So that evidence for a change of circumstances is very, very different to the access evidence. Yeah, yeah. And does the, so the NDS obviously looks for different things at those points as well. But can you just give us some sort of brief overview of what the NDIS is looking for as far as do they have criteria that they tick off that you know? Yes, yes, yes. OK, we'll approve that.

    Yeah, yeah. So the NDIS work on a guideline, if you like, called reasonable and necessary. So there's a reasonable and necessary checklist. So there's all sorts of questions that you need to be able to, to say yes to, you know, does this impact your life? How the supports that you're looking for, are they, you know, value for money? Are they supports that can be provided by another agency, whether it be the health department or, or your family, that sort of thing

    that they're looking for evidence to say that, um, the disability is permanent and it isn't the, the, the support you're looking for aren't able to be provided elsewhere from another agency. They're looking for,

    like I said, value for money. So making sure that you are going to get some benefit from, from the supports at the DIA are going to fund. Yeah. So there's a whole list. I, I could pull up the, the reasonable and necessary checklist or you can look at that yourself because that's a very handy tool to look at when you are looking for, for supports and that will help you then. Absolutely. Yeah, it works.

    We might have a fact sheet that includes it. So if Yvette has the link, she'll pop it in the chat. If not, we'll send it out in an email to everyone so that you can use that list to go through and sort of make sure that your evidence is actually looking at these specific things.

    But, um, Tracey, I'm just being curious, how do you know, obviously you've got that criteria list there. Is there anything else you can look at to sort of prioritise what you've got? You know, the NDIS looks at this type of evidence better than this type of evidence or anything like that? Or how do you sort of go about, you know,

    prior, yeah, prioritising everything out there? Um, OK, so prioritise the impact that that your disability has on your life and that around you, you know, so if you're unable to work anymore or if you're unable to do housework or, you know, prioritise your evidence around what impact it is having on your, on your life. And like I said, that of the, the people around you

    also, I've lost my train of thought now, um, mostly the impact, mostly whether the, the condition or your condition or disability will change, if it's a, a static disability or whether your circumstances are likely to change given time. And you can work with that, point that out. One of the big things is when you are speaking, if you're contacting a, an OT for a functional capacity assessment or any of your providers is to

    actually make sure that you provide our understands what evidence you're looking for and why. You know, is this evidence you're looking for to get onto or get accepted onto the scheme? Or is this because you are looking at a plan review and you're wanting to increase your services for the following plan? So knowing that and having that conversation with your provider will actually help them pull the information in that you're looking for. Yeah, yeah.

    Perfect. So you mentioned OT reports there. So Meghan, I might just jump over to you now and ask you a bit more about that because OT reports in the, you know, kind of NDIS sphere are sort of seen as like top level evidence. You know, a lot of people say

    get an OT report, you know, for whatever the request is. That's not always the case. Obviously you don't always need one, but I'd love you to chat through, you know what, at what points you normally see clients to get reports and you know, yeah, when people should involve an OT and their request.

    Yeah, of course. So I'll probably build on what Tracey said. But as artists we do a wide variety of assessments. So I understand how it's confusing because there's a lot we can do. But basically we are not really involved in the NDIS application space. As Tracey said, we come in during the change of circumstance or early review as well as towards the end of the plan for your progress or your outcome report. So, yeah, yeah,

    there are a lot more assessments, but I think what I find comes up quite often is that people come to me asking what's the difference between a OT assessment versus a functional capacity assessment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for the purpose of today, I'll probably give a bit more information on the two of them and then I'll break down the other reports we do. So the functional capacity assessment or the FCA, to put it simply, it's a detailed assessment of your abilities,

    our needs across various aspects of life. So this could include communication, mobility, self care and social and community participation as well as learning and working. So at the end of the FCA, you'll then receive a very detailed report that outlines the necessary supports you need. But the FCA doesn't include the therapy plan or delivery of any services. So that's where the

    OT assessment comes in. The OT assessment is rather focused on a specific outcome or a specific goal that you want to achieve. So for example, using public transport or finding a job, Right. But it wouldn't cover the whole range of tasks that the FCA does. Yeah. So yeah, once you've had your OT assessment, your funds are then used to develop a therapy plan to achieve the goals. And once we've completed therapy, you'll then get.

    That outcome or progress report for the end of your plan review? Yeah. But we would never complete both a FCA and an OT assessment because it would be an unnecessary duplication. Yeah, OK. Yeah, I was. I was just gonna ask, does an FCA ever lead to an OT assessment? Because it sounds like you could start with sort of the more broader FCA to sort of get a big picture of your life. But then I suppose that would include those smaller goals that would normally be in an OT.

    What is that? Right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So if at the end of the FCA you would then like to start therapy, we would draw on the goals identified during that FCA process. We wouldn't start right at the beginning. Yes. Yeah. Fantastic. That's really good to know. And so I guess knowing what is right for which person all depends on what they're trying to achieve with their NDIS, whether that's sort of a general increase in funds to sort of see where there might be gaps, or if, like you said, a specific goal, like using public transport or something like that.

    Yeah, it's completely dependent on the person. And that's what we find out in the first session. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. And do you know what the key elements that the NDIS are looking for in these reports are? Obviously, Tracey spoke a bit about the reasonable and necessary criteria. What do you use when you're doing these reports and assessments to sort of make sure that it's what the NDIS wants to know?

    Yes. So it's definitely, it will differ for each assessment and it's really dependent on what you are looking for. So besides the general OT assessment, which we use to therapy plan, the FCA is then if you are wanting a change in your circumstance, if you're wanting for example some extra support work hours, then we've also got our home and living assessments. We've also got the specialist disability

    assessment, which I saw someone popped in the chat, as well as assistive technology and home modifications assessment. So yeah, the process for each of them looks very different. But at the end of the day, again, what Tracey said, it comes back to does your request meet the reasonable and necessary criteria. So whatever we are requesting, it would need to relate back to your disability and would need to show how its value for money.

    Yeah, OK. Yeah. And a big focus on that functional capacity obviously with the FCA's. I imagine that's what it's all about, particular life areas. Yeah. The transaction before, yeah um, if someone hits oh, sorry, you guys didn't mean cut off. Go ahead. That's OK, I'll probably answer what you were going to ask anyway.

    Um, I was just gonna ask if someone's got an OT that obviously you're very well versed in the NDIS, you deal with it a lot, but not all OT's do we hear of a lot of allied health professionals, OT and other types that just don't know that much about the NDIS, So they probably wouldn't know that kind of reasonable and necessary list to sort of focus their reports on. Just wondering if you have sort of any, anything that participants can do to make sure that they're providers, their, you know, allied health professionals are reporting in a way that

    will actually help them get what they need from the NDIS. Is there anything they can do to to help that? Yeah, it's a bit of a tricky one because I think Tracey mentioned as well, it's your providers responsibility to advocate for you and to know what that we are looking for. And I suppose all companies have a different type of assessment and reporting style. No one does report the exact same way. What I can do is give some

    information on the way everyday independence, the way we look for information, and then hopefully that way you know what you can ask your provider to add into the report. That would be really helpful. Yeah. So what we use at the start of all our assessments, regardless whether it's an OT assessment or an FCA, we use a tool called the Everyday Lead and it's an acronym basically for Life Enhancing Ability Development System. So this was created by

    Everyday Independence’s founder. It's basically designed to explore what your participation looks like across 35 different life task activities and your day, as well as what support you need to complete these tasks. And this is exactly what NDIS wants to know. So what your level of participation or what your level of function looks like, as well as where the gaps are. So then that way they know what supports to provide in order to get you to increase your level of participation.

    So how would, how it works is we'd work together with the person and their supports, whether it be family or career, anyone who knows the participant really well, we would sit down, gather information and then this is where it gets very individualised because the assessment process would look different for each person. But I suppose whatever we are requesting, it comes back to does it meet your, does it relate to your disability? Right. So I suppose it's good to know if you are requesting something,

    um, that's possibly related to mobility or movement, right? So like assistive technology, we want to make sure your disability is evident and highlighted in your NDIS plan so they know what your primary diagnosis is.

    And does our request relate back to it? Yeah. OK. So very thoroughly sort of just checking off that list of those daily tasks and yeah, yeah. Fantastic. So for anyone that has an OT that sort of doesn't have that framework, people can go and say, OK, I need to sort of show the NDIS these exact things. Right, The list. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything else that people can do to prepare for assessments that might help get a better outcome?

    Well, I suppose what's always helpful is to just be prepared to discuss some background information. So it's not the same level of evidence as when you first apply to the NDIS. But we'd need to know your primary disability, what's listed on your plan.

    We want to know what support you currently have. So that's a really big one, I think as well to know who are the people in your life, what support are they currently providing and is this support they provide in feasible long-term. And that's really important. If we are asking for things like an increase in support workers, it's then that justification that NDS would need to provide the support.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, fantastic. Um, now, Tracey, I might just jump back to you for a little bit because obviously, like we said, you know, OT reports are so thorough and comprehensive, but they're not the only type of report that people can get. You know, people are working with different providers every day or, you know, every week. How can participants work with other types of providers if they, you know, have some kind of request or perhaps an application, they might not have support workers yet or

    anything like that, but how can they work with those other types of professionals to get different types of evidence? OK, so another big report or another good provider of some of evidence is a physiotherapist. If you've been working with one or if you haven't, you know, have a, a conversation with a, a physio about your physical abilities. So they can then possibly, well, they would be able to

    assess what you can and can't do. And then they can put together a report about what your limitations are at the moment and what suggestions could be made or they can make to actually help with that. You know, whether it be, you know, some exercises to strengthen your legs or, you know, things with your hand, for example, you know, they can make those suggestions and they can evidence that to the NDIA and say, right, well, Tracey can only walk

    50 metres unaided, so she would benefit from some walking aids or yeah. So they can actually help with the more physical side or of things as well as not just the function that the OT's can do, but the the physical, more physical side. Speech therapists are another one. If you're having trouble with them, you know, communication,

    they can put together an assessment or a report as well. Um, your doctor, your GP can even actually be really good source of information because if you've been seeing your GP or a neurologist or a specialist of any type, they're actually also a well placed to put some evidence together as to what your deficits are or what your limitations are and what support they feel that you could be benefiting from.

    So, um, yeah. And then there's, so they're the professionals, but then there's also things that you can do yourself so you can do an impact statement yourself. So I'm not sure if you wanted to go down that track just yet, Erin, about the other types of reports. So if you just talking about the allied health at the moment, yeah, maybe we'll just stick with allied health for just a little bit longer and then we'll get into those sort of types of evidence that you can create yourself or that might be low cost or free. But just,

    I guess, um, in the context of working with your provider. So how can we better, you know, build up a relationship with someone to get the best results from the evidence that they're going to supply? You did mention at the top, you know, it's really important to sort of give them the background of what you're trying to achieve. Yeah. So how much information should people be giving providers as far as what their goals are, what they're trying to do with their NDIS request? How crucial is that? OK,

    so it's, it's, it's very important that you are always open with your provider because they can't support you and provide the service or help you if they don't know what you're what you're wanting. So I would encourage everybody if you've, if you've got an OT in place at the moment, be open with them and tell them everything because that's

    they can't do their job if they don't know what you're wanting, alright. And that the same for if they're writing reports, they can't do their best job if they don't know what you're aiming to achieve from this report or what you're hoping to report. So be open with all of your providers as much as you can, and they're not going to run off and tell people next door about what they've done with you or anything, but they can't work with you properly if you're not giving them every bit of information that you possibly can.

    Yeah. Do you feel that as well, Meghan? When you work with clients, the more they tell you sort of the better results you might get out of an assessment. Yeah, absolutely. Just been open so we can figure out the problem from the beginning. And we work collaboratively, so we'll tackle whatever comes together.

    Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it, I guess it can be a bit of a vulnerable spot to be, and especially if you're just meeting someone for the first time and having to go through your entire history again and all of this stuff. But I guess it's just really important to remember that these are professionals that you're working with. They do this every day with so many people and they're there to help you. So to get the best out of it, you want to be, I guess, working together. Hey, so Tracey, you did mention progress reports earlier as well. I just wanted to touch on them a little bit more because are they,

    um, are they actually required? Like how crucial are progress reports do it? Could you, you know, lose funding if you don't have progress reports showing what's happening? Is it only when there's big changes, like big need changes that you would know progress reports are very important. So, OK, yeah, no, no, they are important because and, and they're important if you're putting through a change of circumstances request or an early review or at the end of the review,

    end of plan review, because that shows the NDIA what benefit is coming from the, the supports you're getting. So if you've got a progress report from your physio saying that, you know, at the start of the, the plan or at the start of me working with, with Tracey, she could do 10 sit stands, you know, in a minute. But because I've been working with her, she can actually do 15 now. So I would like to continue that support.

    It could be that, you know, if you're not making any progress, well, maybe we still need funding. We still need that funding, but we wanna try some different things, you know, or we want to increase the level of support that we're giving on the levels help we're we're providing Tracey. So there hasn't been any progress or hasn't been much progress just yet, but we feel that continuing I was just a a slight increase or a slight improvement of the service will help them even further. So progress

    reports are really good. Um, yeah, are really important, yeah, yeah, really important to highlight that benefit that you're getting from the GIS, yes, leading up to that reassessment, right, yeah, yeah. And if someone doesn't have, sorry, I was just gonna say to make sure that you word it or ask make sure the provider words as well that if the progress isn't outstanding or there hasn't been that massive improvement, But we feel that if we do something different or add to it, we can actually, you know, find that level of, of improvement that we've been looking for. So

    just because it hasn't been improvement doesn't mean you necessarily going to lose your funding, but it just might mean that we there's a support or evidence to support a request for additional funding for the physio in the next plan. Yeah, Yep, Yep. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. If someone doesn't have a regular physio or OT or any kind of allied health professional, are there other professionals that can do progress reports? Is that still warranted, do you think? Like if someone doesn't have capacity

    putting funding, perhaps you know, they just got support workers make discussed that maybe a support worker. So if you're, if you're having regular support from a support worker, whether it be weekly, daily, couple of times a week, they are spending time with you, They know how you're going, how you're progressing or dig if you're your condition is decreasing. And so they are also a good one to be able to say right. Well, I've been working with Tracey for the last six months and

    I've seen, I have seen a the decline in her capacity. So, you know, are you, she used to be able to do such and such for herself, whereas now I'm actually having to support her to do that. So that in itself is evidence that your, your condition or your disability is progressing and that support is your need for support is increasing. Yeah, yeah. And I suppose it's also

    important to have some kind of evidence to show why you're not using funding as well, right? So say you're stuck on a wait list trying to, you know, get a regular OT so you're not using your funding during that time. Then I could look at that and say, well, you don't need it. You would need to have that evidence to show you. Actually, I'm trying my best to find someone. Yeah, please don't take that funding away. Yeah, that's right. You have to be prepared to advocate for that yourself. And if you're funding is

    you have support coordination in your plan, well, that's something that you're support coordinator would put through. OK, yeah. On their, on their report. So, and I know not everybody has support coordination, but as support coordinators, we, we submit reports at the start of a plan but also towards the end of the plan that outline that, you know, we have to explain, you know, well, he had $10,000 say funding for physio and OT, but due to the long wait lists,

    we haven't been able to engage one as yet. Yeah. Therefore the funding is still required. We expect to see further or better utilisation in the next plan. That sort of thing. So that's just support coordinator's job. But if you're representing yourself or you're, you're doing this yourself, yeah. You must remember to to explain why. Yeah, Yeah. Why you haven't spent that money?

    Yeah, yeah. And that could just be an email with the request or, you know, talking on the phone with your check in, leading to resentment. Just letting them know in some way. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, um, will get onto this again in the next section, I'm sure, but as part of like a, a career impact statement or a lived experience statement, that sort of thing. Yeah, that's exactly right there because,

    yeah, there are a lot of people that, you know, expensive reports are just out of reach, particularly for people that maybe are still the application stage. They don't have the funding to pay for allied health professionals or anything like that. Did you just want to give us some ideas of types of evidence that could be used that are either low cost or no cost, you know, things that people can write themselves or find somewhere. So the first one is a what they call a lived experience statement. OK,

    so that's for you to sit down. If you're, you're the one applying to, to get on to the scheme, you write down how your disability affects you, alright, How it affects your, your day-to-day life, your family life, your community participation,

    whether it is meant that you can't work anymore or, you know, even if you're doing it, if you're applying to, to put a, a child onto the scheme, for example, you would be then writing the report on their behalf, but you would be saying that I can no longer work because I need to be home looking after my child. So, and that whole impact statement of how it affects your life, there's also the carer impact statement as well. So, you know,

    I'll just keep going back to the same example for, you know, you've got somebody has Mrs but their husband now has to support them doing a lot of the things that they would normally do, which then impacts on their life. So the husband then

    as a carer could also write that a bit of a statement, a bit of a blurb, a few paragraphs, as long as you like just explaining how your disability is impacting on the people around you and your life. So, yeah, they can be quite envious. I supposed to be there for, you know, the whole family. Isn't it Like it's to support. Yeah, yeah. Person with disability, but everybody around them as well if they need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So another thing that you can.

    Get going back to the, the support workers. You know, they can actually cause most support workers have they, they, they write up notes at the end of a shift, you know, or at least once a week, you know, if you can ask for copies of those reports, you know, they can actually be used as evidence as well. They can support your application or they can support your request for additional funds. So they don't necessarily cost as much as an OT or a physio report if you're funding this yourself.

    So there's that. Yeah, there's I'm just trying to think what else? Um, you mentioned GP earlier. Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean no, that's exactly what I was just heading. That was my next point. No problem. I'm glad you're prompting me though, because it's very different to know these things, but to try and think of it all when you're talking to people. So your, your GP or any specialist that you've been seeing, you know, and neurologist or a I'm just trying to think of another type of specialist that bet anyone that you're seeing

    anyway your history from them. They can provide you. If you've been seeing somebody for, you know, a couple of years or however long and they know your history and why you've been visiting them and why you've had your regular appointments. Those case notes from them as well could also be really, really good evidence because they can show that you've been turning up at the GP clinic every few months because you know, this is happening all, all that's happening. You know, they

    and provide a fair amount of, of good supporting evidence as well. So, yeah, yeah. Cause a whole new report might cost a lot of money for them to make. But if they've already got those notes in the system, you know, Freedom of Information, you can access that information about yourself and use that. And like you said, it's gonna show you that sort of timeline of your ups and downs and what you've struggled with along the way. Yeah, that's yeah. I'm just trying to think of other things off the top of my head. As I said, it's one, you know these things, but it's different to to talk about them. So what we've covered now, is there anything else you can think of that can help people, you know,

    just make the request stronger? Yeah. OK. So for an example, if if you are looking or you're working with a child, for example, you know, notes from the school, from the teachers can certainly help as well because they're working with the child all the time. So they can see, you know, any progress they're making or any difficulties that they're having in the classroom and what support they could benefit from.

    And so definitely support from the, the school or from the education department. Another good thing too, is to actually be able to put down a the timeline, if you like, of how your your disability has impacted you. You can start from, you know, I was diagnosed with such and such five years ago, but then

    within 12 months I noticed this had been happening. And then within another 18 months, I noticed this. And when I looked back to now compared to five years ago, and I compared my ability and my capacity from then. This is where I'm at now. And I have, you know, I, my, my walking ability has changed, my cognitive ability has changed, all those sorts of things. So give them a, a, an idea rather than just saying, you know, my, you know,

    mother was diagnosed then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So be able to show that there has been progression or decline in your your capacity or your ability so that they understand, you know, that this is, you know, something that needs to be looked at.

    Yeah. Yep. So maybe like a yeah, concise timeline just with dates. And this is what happened. This is where I was then. Yeah, Yeah, yeah. So just thinking about everything that you've said, one way that might be helpful to people for people to look at, it could be, you know, imagine like concentric circles, you've got yourself in the middle. So what kind of evidence can you put down yourself that's going to show your point of view on what's happening? You know, like riding that impact statement or lived experience statement, timeline, everything like that. Then go out a little bit further. Who am I, you know,

    family and friends that see me all the time that might be impacted as well. What can they put down and go out further to, you know, your paid supports, your doctors, any specialists? What do they already have out there that I could use as evidence? And then maybe look for, you know, is there anyone else that I need to see? Are there gaps in there that don't really show, you know, the functional impact or something? Maybe I do need to see an OT because, you know, it just there's a few gaps in there. Yeah. And we have heard recently

    when people are moving over to the new PACE system, um, some of the evidence is getting lost somehow in the system. Just thinking about all these different types of evidence. Do you have just any quick tips for how can people make sure that the evidence is safe and accessible if they are moving over to Pace, just in case that is something to be worried about. Even before them, the introduction of Pace, I would always recommend people keep their own copies of everything that they have and NDIS or anything else.

    I always keep a copy of any documentation that I have, whether it's not. Yeah, I keep a copy, not necessarily a, a paper copy, a hard copy. It could be just on your phone or it could be on your computer, but any reports that you have folder or something full of it, definitely keep a copy for yourself. A because at the moment, yes, as you said, with the transition to PACE, things are going astray within the agency. It happens all of the time,

    but also for your reference as well, if you want to go back and have a look at anything, if you've handed your originals off to to the NDIA or to anybody, you've got no access to it. So for sure keep a copy of yourself. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And just for those that don't know, sorry, I should have explained this first, but PACE is the new NDIS computer system that they're sort of slowly transitioning all the plans over to. So if you are coming up to a reassessment, you might find that your new plan is now on the Pace system. There's not too many big changes

    you will affect your day to day, but it has caused some backlogs and some, you know, computer issues and stuff like that. So if I go down that fast today, we don't have, no, I don't have to whole different. Yeah. So Meghan, from your point of view, is there anything that people can do to, if they do need to have an OT assessment or you know, I think they might there anything they can do to sort of save costs there or any strategies they can use?

    So, Tracey, I think you mentioned everything, but just to summarise what you said, I suppose getting those reports from your providers, whoever else you've been seeing, your GP's, your other allied health providers. So that's evidence in itself. But also for me as an OT when I'm writing my reports to reference what they've said, because that's additional evidence. Yeah, interesting. I wouldn't have thought of, you know, bringing evidence to your OT, but that makes complete sense. You get a full picture of the whole background and everything like that. Exactly. Yeah. I suppose let's see the functional assessment. Functional capacity assessment is the one that's quite costly, but the progress report and

    we support letter, we could do that if there's limited funding. So it wouldn't be a very detailed assessment. We would just have to sort of justify why this assessment's been done in this way, whether it's because there's limited funding. You were on the wait list, so we didn't have time to see you just explaining the main reason for this. I think you brought up a very good point where it's use it or lose it. So just to find where that went. Yeah, yeah. What else? I suppose

    from my side, we work in a very teams based approach. So although as OT we complete the reports, our other therapists such as physios, speech therapist, they are also more than qualified to do your initial assessment. So that first one, so they could do that first session with you, get to know you, and then sort of set your goals with you, come back to OT when we do have time to see you, and then we can pick up where they've left off.

    Yeah, Yeah. Fantastic. So again, sort of. Yeah. Working together as a team, everyone together on the same page, knowing what you're trying to achieve and everyone working together to get there. That sounds like it's the best way forward. What about things like telehealth? If someone's on a wait list, is that a good idea to sort of, I don't know if that changes the cost, but I guess

    you wouldn't be paying for travel. That might be one way to save money or. Yeah, in terms of saving travel costs, what I would recommend, and this is different for every therapist, but I'm happy to do it, is instead of doing multiple assessments across two or three different days, I like to book in a full day of assessment. So it can be quite long and tiring, but I'm happy to take breaks in between. That just means this one day of travel, spending the day with the participant gives me a very good

    picture of what's actually happening. Uh, telehealth we can, but I only do it if it's necessary because yeah, obviously we want to see you in person. We want to see exactly how you are participating. But telehealth we do. If you are maybe based in a regional area and the travel would just be too far or perhaps if you are sick and usually want to keep your appointment for the day instead of rescheduling, then I'm happy.

    Would you telehealth? But it's on a case by case basis. Yeah. OK. So definitely would be your first choice. I imagine it be quite hard to be pretty comprehensive like this through a screen, but it's good to know that it is an option in some cases if it's, you know, really tricky to get there. Yeah, um, alrighty, well, I can see we've got about 10 minutes left, so we might, yeah, get a vet to jump in and see if we have any questions from from everyone here today. I'm feeling a bit there's a few few questions, maybe more statements I'm just wanting to give our presenters. Thanks so much for sharing. Some huge,

    huge things to digest, great information. An overview of people who have shown up today. So we've got a few people who are going through a full plan review at the moment. One specifically an SDA application and an original application was produced by a previous psychosocial support organisation which has since been dismantled and updates are details of disability and documentation in that process have been lost, which so it's not even associated with the pace. Yeah, well, over. So I know

    one question for someone who is applying for the first time, they were querying whether to apply with one or two disabilities and if that actually effects the application process in the 1st place, If there was a best practise way to go about doing that and how you would actually determine what your primary disability is. Is that something that the participant determines, or is that something that the professionals that you're working with

    put your, uh, application together? Would, uh, state for you, Meghan, do you have a perspective? Defer that to me because we work with participants once they've been accepted onto this game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I suppose it's really case by case situation. You'd have to know what your primary diagnosis currently is on the NDS and then once we know it's already been accepted to, they want to know,

    uh, how they would actually fill in the application. Which one, Which one would be their primary? Yes, yeah, yeah. OK. That's tricky because I also don't work with getting NDS applications in. So it would be dependent on the person who is doing the assessments to see which one has a bigger impact on you. But I don't see why you couldn't put both in and then it's up to NDIS to decide. Yes, for sure. So the evidence out there

    and then see what comes back to you for sure. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I, I do know with the, you know, all the review stuff going on as well, one of the recommendations has been that they don't have a primary diagnosis as well. It's sort of more just, I can't remember the wording they use, but I'm going to look it up and send out the link to people. But they are looking at changing the way that is right now, because right now it is you need a primary disability listed and then the other ones below it. But as we all know, they all sort of, you know, affect you

    in different ways and sometimes it's hard to pinpoint 1. So they are looking at changing that a bit. But yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all going to be from what the review says. And I'm like you, there was a term for it, but it's all going to be based around your capacity rather than your diagnosis. It's going to be about your capacity to partake or participate in everyday life. So yeah, yeah. It's not gonna be as diagnosis pointed or focused pointed. Yeah,

    I think I feel like we are holding out a lot of hope in regards to this new legislation. That's too in so many ways. In so many ways we did. We did have another comment from another support Canada probably commenting on a similar theme in that the better the types of evidence or what is being requested seems to be shifting for different applications in the sense of some home and living applications have been rejected. And I made the assumption because they've then said that they work with psychosocial participants. That may then because

    obviously we've got Meghan who is an OT and Meghan, do you work with psychosocial participants as well? Yeah. OK. So your OT assessment crosses all of it's not just physical and psychosocial impact as well. Yeah. So, Tracey, have you seen any changes with different sorts of evidence or, um, you're going through processes that you've been through before with evidence for change of circumstance or whatever and been getting different results from those, those submissions or personally? I, I will say no, I haven't seen that. I've seen lots of changes in the other areas, more about the, the delays and things like that. But as far as the level of funding goes, no, I can't say that I've seen that. I know

    with a lot of there is a lot of negativity out there about that. But when we look at the, the people that we support and there's, you know, 700 odd people that we support across our company, our overall feeling is that apart from the delays, we're not noticing any great decrease in the funding at the moment. Or maybe the the different sorts of that the evidence being submitted is

    insufficient or not supporting those changes. No, not seeing that, which is that. I mean, it's, it's unfortunate that the person has seen that, but that is comforting at the same time. So I was just going to say, I'm not saying that doesn't happen anyway. It doesn't happen. But you know, the biggest problem we've had is because of the delays, you know, if we submit quotes and things, we can come back and say, well, this quote is no longer current because it's over six months old, completely different issue. But that, that's the biggest complaint that

    we, we, I see amongst our work, our support coordinators at the moment. So, but like I said, I'm not saying it's not happening, but it's not a, a, a big issue or concern with us or for us. And I feel like the last comment that I'll make that was submitted into the chat at the moment, I'll just have a look. I think there's a few other questions, but this last one that I've written down,

    one person that's written is said that they're waiting on the review of an internal decision over duplication of services for physio and OT, despite both the physio and OT writing comprehensive reports on the details of the different things that they're working on. Um, could you put that down to the fact that because of delays, there is, I mean, potential rushing in process and that reports aren't necessarily being viewed correctly And then by going through the review process, that's literally unfortunately what needs to happen in that case or what would you? The delays at the moment are definitely causing some issues. And

    it has always been an issue though with, um, not the reports. Sometimes we can rock up or attend a plan review meeting, for example, can have submitted all the evidence and all the reports, but the, the LAC or the planner hasn't had the opportunity to read those yet. So it has, that has always been a problem or a concern. And

    just as an aside, you know, in that case, they don't always have them given to them because, you know, the inquiries email address is thousands and thousands in the inbox. So I always make it a point of emailing the reports directly to the LAC or the planner the day before. So I know that they've got them and we can refer to those during the planning meeting. But you don't always have direct access to the LAC or the planner as support

    coordinators. We we have a little bit more of that knowledge. But, you know, somebody that's doing this themselves might not have that that advantage. But yeah, and that's the case to put the review of a reviewable decision appeal straight in once the plan has been is is the best option. So that person has done the right thing. Yeah, amazing. Well, that's just wanna make a comment on that. That also in that. You can add in extra evidence if you, if you've managed to find anything else like yeah, yeah, they can when they get to that review of the decision, any new evidence that you've got in that. Can also be, you know, taken into consideration,

    sorry, you can use that time to, you know, if you didn't have a self impact statement or anything like that, maybe write that and add it just for a little extra or something, you know. Thanks ladies.

    OK, so that brings us to the end of the webinar today. We always say though, the conversation doesn't have to end here. If you've got any questions that you didn't bring up today or just want more information or anything, jump into the Kinora community and we'll keep the conversation going. Like I said before, it's free to join. If you're not already a member,

    we'd like you to yeah, come and share your experiences with us. Thank you so much, Tracey and Meghan for joining us today. Just so much incredible information from the both of you and insights that I'm sure will really help everybody watching today to put forward a, a stronger NDIS request.

    I'm Erin that was Yvette in the background as well. And today we've been joined by Tracey from future Focus Support coordination and Meghan from Everyday independence. Thank you again for coming and thank you everybody else for joining us.

    Thank you. Thank you. See you next time, everyone. We'll see you in the community.

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