Budget 2022: Simply put, NDIS ‘is keeping my son alive’

The NDIS is expensive, but for many its their only chance to lead their best life, as one mother can attest.

Jo Van Dort with her boys Paddy, left, and Daniel Milsom. Picture: Aaron Francis

Two years ago, Daniel Milsom, then aged 12 and diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, quietly opened the door of his Melbourne home after 10pm, walked for some time before playing a real life version Grand Theft Auto with real cars on a busy main road.

Fortunately nothing terrible happened, Daniel’s relieved mother, Jo Van Dort, picking him up from the local police station in the wee hours.

In that moment she realised that Daniel’s NDIS package, supporting him with his autism and severe speech delay, needed to change. “He was bored being at home with me, and wanted to get out more. I was afraid to take him out. I couldn’t handle the stress or anxiety. So I applied to the NDIS for a change of circumstance to have a carer do afternoon activities with him,” Ms Van Dort said.

“The carers meet him after school each day and take him swimming or to another activity, he has dinner and then they drop him home.

“It gets him out into the community more, he can participate in activities and it stimulates him and his adventurous nature; he loves the excitement of what is going on around him in the world outside our home, and it meets his need to be independent and busy.

“It was such a relief. I’d go as far as to say that the NDIS is keeping my son alive,” she said. “And it means our family doesn’t revolve completely around him, which is important too.”

With debate about the sustainability of the scheme swirling after Tuesday’s budget revealed its cost to the government would rise by a projected 14 per cent annually through to 2032, Ms Van Dort said it was “simply too important to too many people to fail.”

“There’s too much good that comes out of the NDIS that outweighs the bad,” she said.

“There’s just no alternative to it for so many people, and unless it is sustained there will be a lot of ­people who are marginalised to the fringes of society. That’s not who we are as a country.

“I don’t think there is an alternative to the NDIS for Daniel.

“It gives me choice and control over the support he needs to improve and live his best life.

“What’s the alternative? A group home, like the old days? Institutionalising people with a disability? When I started out on this journey with Daniel, I only shared his diagnosis with his caregivers and educators. It took me until Daniel was eight before I would openly admit to people that he had autism.

“At the time I didn’t know how I would overcome the many challenges that autism presents daily but now I see that he can have a happy and meaningful life.

“But you need money for ser­vices to do it.”