Access Request Form: the form that a young person has to fill out to apply for the NDIS. They can download it from the NDIS website or ask for a copy to be mailed to them.  

Acute episodes: a period of time when the symptoms of a mental illness (psychosocial disability) are most intense. 

Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT): an independent body that reviews decisions made by the Australian government, including NDIS related decisions. Learn more about applying for a review here

Capacity building funding: to be used so the participant can learn new skills. Example: sessions with a physio or occupational therapist might allow a participant to play a new sport. 

Capital funding: to be used for equipment that a participant needs to achieve their goals. Example: a manual or electric wheelchair.

Core funding: to be used for things a participant needs everyday. Example: a support worker. 

Disability Employment Service (DES): any organisation that helps disabled people to find work and keep a job. 

Formal supports are disability specific, such as a wheelchair.

Health and hygiene: Same as self-care (see below). This involves how well a person can keep themselves clean and well. 

Informal support: help that a person can get from their family or community. 

Local Area Coordinator (LAC): Someone who works for the NDIS. Their job is to support disabled people to find the supports they need. 

Map Your Future: A free online program designed by YDAS that supports young people to understand the NDIS and their goals.  

National Relay Service: A service for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, instead of phone calls. 

NDIA Managed: One way for an NDIS participant to manage their plan. The National Disability Insurance Agency pays the people and organisations that support a participant. 

Necessary:  means that it is something the person needs to have because of their disability.

Plan managed: One way for an NDIS participant to manage their plan. A Plan Manager will pay the people and organisations who are supporting the young person/participant. 

Plan manager: Someone who works for the National Disability Insurance Agency to help people use their NDIS money to get supports. 

Planning meeting: A conversation between a young disabled person and someone who works for the NDIS. They will talk about the young person’s goals and how NDIS money could support them.  

Primary disability: The disability that has the biggest impact on how a person functions. 

Psychosocial disability: the term that the NDIS uses for severe mental illness that impacts an individual’s ability to attend work or school, or to be part of their community. 

Reasonable: means that a support has to be fair. For example, a wheelchair might be funded, but not a wheelchair that is decorated with diamonds. 

School Leavers Employment support: A program that supports NDIS participants in their last year of school to move from education to employment. 

Secondary disability: The disability that has less impact than another disability on how a person functions. 

Self-care: For the NDIS, this means looking after yourself in a literal sense, by showering, brushing teeth and hair and other grooming tasks.  

Self-managed: One way for an NDIS participant to manage their plan. They are in control of how their NDIS money is spent. This also comes with responsibility as they have to report the spending of their NDIS money to the NDIA. 

Support coordinator: someone who assists NDIS participants with their services. Not every NDIS participant will have a support coordinator.  

Next: Conclusion

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