Who is Eligible for the NDIS?

The National Disability Insurance Scheme, or also better known as the NDIS, is a scheme rolled out by the Australian Government to provide individualised support to people with disability and make it possible for them to lead productive and fulfilling lives. Whether the disability is physical, intellectual, sensory, psychosocial, or cognitive, a person may be able to access the supports and services offered by the NDIS if they satisfy the Scheme’s access requirements.

An individual must meet the following to be eligible for the NDIS:

• live in Australia
• be between the ages of 7 and 65
• have a permanent and significant disability
• be an Australian citizen, or hold a Permanent Visa or a Protected Special Category Visa
• need support from a person or special equipment to carry out everyday activities
• require some supports to reduce future needs

Whether an individual’s impairment came from birth or is caused by a disease, injury or accident, they may satisfy the NDIS access requirements. In order to be eligible for NDIS funding, the medical condition or disease must cause permanent impairment resulting to significant disability. A permanent impairment may be physical, intellectual, neurological, cognitive, psychosocial, hearing, or visual.

List A Medical conditions
are likely to meet NDIS access requirements because these conditions can significantly impair an individual’s functional capacity. These conditions include genetic conditions, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, permanent blindness, spinal cord injury, brain injury, and amputation, among many others. If you, your loved one, or your patient is dealing with any of these conditions, you only need to prove that they are dealing with the condition and that it has been officially diagnosed by a professional in the medical field.

List B Medical conditions
are also considered to cause lifelong impairment. These include intellectual disability, Asperger syndrome, Alzheimer’s dementia, chromosomal abnormalities, amputations, and more. However, having one of these conditions doesn’t automatically mean that you meet the disability requirements.

To be eligible for NDIS funding, persons diagnosed with List B medical conditions will need to demonstrate that their functional capacity is substantially reduced, that their capacity for social or economic participation is affected, and that they are likely to require the support offered by the NDIS for the rest of their lives.



To see a complete detailed list of List A and List B medical conditions, click here for List A and visit this link for List B.

Persons with time-limited medical conditions are not eligible for NDIS funding. For example, if the condition is likely to resolve with enough treatment and rest (like a bone fracture), it will not be covered the NDIS.



Moreover, persons diagnosed with chronic conditions that are not related to their disability will not meet the NDIS access requirements. For instance, if an individual has a physical impairment resulting in disability secondary to a health condition, they may be eligible for NDIS funding. But if a person only has a medical condition that doesn’t result to any form of disability, they will not receive funding from the NDIS.

If you think that you might be eligible for the NDIS, you can download the NDIS Access Request Form on the NDIS website and then follow the instructions there for submitting. Or if you are already an NDIS participant and want to connect with an NDIS registered care provider that can support you in your goal to remain independent, click here to find out more.