10400 – Individual submission

When there are changes the NDIA planners and Local Area Coordinators do not notify and let NDIS participants know. If an NDIA planner or Local Area Coordinator is no longer working there is no communication to let the NDIS participant know that NDIA planner or Local Area Coordinator are not working at a Local Area Coordination Service or for the NDIA anymore. Over the years have had many different local area coordinators and NDIA planners some local area coordinators have left and the management of the local area coordination service have not notified and informed me to let me know that Local area Coordinator is no longer working. While I asked the person on reception for a Local Area Coordinator who is supportive, is a very good listener, is experienced and an active listener and was allocated to someone that Local Area Coordinator that I was allocated to who is working as an Local Area Coordinator for a long time never contacted me to introduce herself, reception took messages and passed them on and while reception said that that Local Area Coordinator does call participants back within a reasonable timeframe had waited 6 weeks and didn’t hear anything, left several messages to follow up and have a short conversation to get to know the Local Area Coordinator, was advised that the Local Area Coordinator would call me to introduce themselves and see how I was going with my NDIS plan and the Local Area Coordinator did not call me back and I said to reception “if the person does not call me back soon then when they do call I will not be talking to them”. Doesn’t seem to matter when you call Local Area Coordinators or NDIA planners there is no effective communication and no one calls you back you are waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting a long time for a call back and when you ring the Local Area Coordination Service or the NDIA contact centre the same message is said “I can take a message and ask the person to call you back”. There is no timeframe or anything on when you will receive a call. No draft plans for people to view before the plan is submitted to make sure everything is correct before being submitted and sent to an NDIA planner to approve the NDIS plan. This is making a number of NDIS participants go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, participants are going backwards and forwards to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal all because the NDIS will not work the way people expect it to work and the NDIA refuse to come to an agreement that NDIS participants are happy with by involving NDIS participants in all decision making processes at all times from the very beginning. Instead of an agreement made by the NDIA talking, liaising and consulting with NDIS participants during the decision making process instead NDIA make a decision without asking NDIS participants making NDIS participants feel invisible, left out, isolated and silencing them. NDIS participants do not have a voice as the NDIA does not talk to NDIS participants when making decisions the NDIA expects NDIS participants to be happy with the outcome instead of asking NDIS participants for their view and opinion.