Aussie Mum claims NDIA staff unfairly spying on autistic son’s social media

A mum claims staff working for the National Disability Insurance Agency, who are involved in decisions about her son’s NDIS plan, have been spying on them.

A woman who has publicly criticised the National Disability Insurance Scheme claims staff responsible for making decisions about her son’s funding have been “spying” on their social media.

Annette Andersen, whose son Axel, 20, is autistic, non-verbal and has the developmental age of a toddler, said people who have been involved in her son’s case have been looking at either or both of their LinkedIn accounts.

She has been openly critical of the NDIS on social media and recently set up a second LinkedIn account on behalf of Axel, creating an AI avatar for him which voices his “thoughts”.

Axel Andersen, 20, has severe autism and an intellectual disability, as well as a painful condition known as "Man on Fire Syndrome". Picture: Supplied

She said while LinkedIn has given her an outlet for her frustrations, she is now concerned it has impacted her son’s funding.

“It feels like I’m under surveillance,” Ms Andersen said.

One NDIS Executive Director, who we are not naming, sent a letter to Axel on December 17 requesting a meeting to discuss his “goals”, prior to his plan reassessment on February 20.

Ms Andersen said she could see from the accounts that the same NDIS Executive Director looked at both their pages on December 23.

Axel’s mum Annette Andersen claims agency staff have been ‘spying’ on their social media accounts.

Before a meeting could be arranged, Axel received a letter from another NDIA executive on January 16, saying the agency had become aware of a change in his “functional capacity”, cutting his support co-ordination to a third and his behaviour support in half.

Other people who have started following Axel include an Australian Government Solicitor, who was previously special counsel for the NDIA and an Assistant Director of the NDIA.

Another NDIS executive has also viewed Ms Andersen’s profile in private mode.

“How is it that these people knew to look us up? Because they have access to our personal information? Privacy breaches,” Ms Andersen said.

The agency said an administrative error in one of Axel’s previous plans saw him get an overpayment, making it appear his next plan had been cut. It said Axel’s funding had actually increased over the last three plans.

Annette Andersen has launched a LinkedIn account and website on behalf of her disabled non-verbal son, where he features as an AI avatar.

Ms Andersen said none of this has ever been communicated to her.

She said the change in funds had made her wonder whether staff had mistaken Axel’s AI avatar for him, when he is non-verbal, or he was being punished for her criticism of the agency.

While the agency staff, current and former, may just be interested in following people with opinions on the NDIS, Ms Andersen said it was unsettling.

An NDIA spokesman said the agency “does not use social media monitoring to inform decision-making for plan funding, and there is no policy or operational process for the agency to do so”.

“Any inference the NDIA uses such practices are wrong and have the very real potential to cause unnecessary concern for our participants,” the spokesman said.

The practice of using private investigators and social media monitoring on welfare recipients have been employed in the past.

Three years ago an Administrative Appeals Tribunal heard how agency staff reviewed Facebook and LinkedIn accounts of a woman applying for the scheme. Their “intelligence report” was criticised by the tribunal reviewing her case as being “far from sound” because they had cherry picked social media posts.

Originally published as Aussie Mum claims NDIA staff unfairly spying on autistic son’s social media