Finding Disability Support for Your Kids

Regardless of their intellectual or physical capacity, the primary need of any child is support and care from their parents.

If your child is suffering from a disability, then it’s your duty to seek out and provide the necessary resources and assistance to help promote their well-being and development.

For Australian-based families, multiple available support systems exist and can help foster your child’s growth and development. This consists of both government and non-profit organisations.

These disability support options aim to provide resources that can improve the quality of life of your children, regardless of what they’re dealing with. 

These resources consist of education, protection, assistive technology, therapy costs, and out-of-home arrangements, among other things, all driven by funding.

If you need disability support for your kids, this article will give you some disability support options and other pertinent information to help enhance your kid’s quality of life.

Get Government Funding Through the NDIS Scheme

The first thing parents should apply for is support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). 

This national scheme grants funding to support disabled or developmentally delayed children. It also empowers people with disabilities by granting them more control and choice on how they can claim their support.

There are around 500,000 Australians who have received funding support from the NDIS. Many of these beneficiaries have marked NDIS disability support as the first type of support they’ve ever received for their disability.

To apply for the NDIS, you need to contact your state’s NDIS office or your local NDIS partner. Once you’re on a call with them, they will make a preliminary judgement of your kid’s condition. 

From there, they’ll either connect you to another local disability support program or to NDIS support themselves. You won’t be in just yet. You’ll have to let your child pass the eligibility requirements of the scheme.

Some of the eligibility requirements include being an Australian citizen (or permanent resident) who lives in Australia. The applicant must also have a disability that’s classified as permanent and significant enough to limit your ability to carry out everyday tasks.

Furthermore, there’s also an age requirement you need to follow before applying for the NDIS. If your child is under 9 years of age, they won’t be eligible to apply for the NDIS program just yet, but may instead be redirected to other disability treatment plans.

If your child is eligible for the program, then you’ll be connected with an NDIS consultant. These specialists have become more efficient over time due to specialised NDIS Software helping them manage their client base, granting more favourable outcomes for patients like your child.

What Type of Disability Support is Available for NDIS Patients?

Parents should talk with their local NDIS provider to discuss their child’s needs. Open communication between provider and parent can help the child with the disability gain access to the best support resources to allow them to live their life independently and to the fullest.

Here are some modes of support that NDIS providers can provide to their patients: 

• Special teaching support

• Respite care

• Supported accommodation

• Furniture and home modifications

• Transport costs

• Nutrition cost

• Equipment

• Counselling and therapy

• Personal care assistance

• Social and community participation assistance

• Referrals to disability-specific communities

• Subsidised services

• Financial assistance ($46K-$51K per year on average)

• Carer and parent training programs

All these programs can be accessed by NDIS patients. That said, not every Australian with a disability has accessed this plan due to a combination of low awareness and a complex application process, with just about 10% of Australians with a disability utilising this scheme. 

Regardless, the benefits of getting approval for this program are undeniable. However, it’s not the only option to support children with disabilities.

5 Australian Government Assistance Schemes for Disabled Children

These are additional Australian government schemes that can also provide resources for children with disabilities. 

These are:

• Carer allowance

• Carer payment

• Child disability assistance payment

• Carer adjustment payment

• Disability gateway

The first of these services we’ll touch upon is carer allowance. 

This scheme provides supplementary payment for carers and parents who provide daily care for their child with a disability. This allowance covers the cost of medical expenses, therapy, equipment, respite, and incidental expenses.

Carer payment is another allowance that helps support the income of parents and carers who need to look after a child with a disability. 

In particular, this payment covers the loss of income a parent has to bear in order to care for their child (and themselves through self-care, to an extent).

Another annual payment you can also claim from the government is the Child Disability Assistance Payment Scheme. 

If your case is deemed eligible, you will receive an automatic annual payment of up to $1,000. Your child must be younger than 16 on the 1st of July of the same year you’re claiming to be eligible. You must also be getting Carer Allowance.

If your child under 7 has suddenly been diagnosed with a major disability because of an accident, Carer Adjustment Payment can cover the hospital expenses. 

This scheme grants parents a one-off payment as financial assistance for the kid to help their family deal with the financial aftermath.

While not providing tangible assistance, the Disability Gateway helps kids with disabilities, their families and carers to navigate the internet to locate the most relevant resources to help support their living. 

It’s an initiative pushed by the Australian Government and is meant to act as a single point of contact to bridge people with disabilities and the right health services and programs.

5 NGOs That Support Disabled Children

Besides government-funded services, there are non-government organisations that may also provide resources and assistance for families with a child with a disability. 

These are:

• NextSense

• Vision Australia

• Autism Spectrum Australia

• Down Syndrome Australia

• Cerebral Palsy Alliance

For parents of a child who’s deaf or blind, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children offers educational resources and medical assistance to children suffering from visual or auditory conditions. They have provided implant and vision repair services to over a thousand kids. 

Vision Australia has the same advocacy as RIDBC but at a smaller and more specialised scale.

If your child has autism, Autism Spectrum Australia provides a broad range of services to help support your child, from alternative education to therapy services.

Furthermore, there are other charities that specialise in specific conditions that your child may suffer from. 

Down Syndrome Australia advocates for children with Down syndrome and their families, for instance. There’s also the Cerebral Palsy Alliance that supports children with this condition by providing equipment and education services for carers.

General Disability Support Advocacy Groups

Each territory has both a government program and a handful of organisations with a primary objective of empowering disabled adults and kids. 

One Australian-wide advocacy group is People with Disability Australia (PWDA). This group represents the rights of people with all kinds of disabilities.

There are also more localised groups that offer support to disabled individuals. 

In New South Wales, there’s Disability Advocacy NSW. For Queensland-based families, Disability Advocacy Pathways is a group you can contact. People from Victoria can contact the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID) group.

With Australia being ranked 5th overall in healthcare in the 2022 World Index of Health Innovation, there’s a clear focus on healthcare and supporting people with disabilities in the country. 

We hope the organisations and government schemes we’ve touched upon will help you find the right disability support for your child. Your precious ones deserve to be treated with respect and utmost care just like every other healthy individual.