Learn to speak NDIS

When you first start engaging with the NDIS, the terminology will appear unfamiliar. You may even feel like you have stepped off a rocket and entered a new planet!

Trusted Care can help you to navigate some of the more common terms and anacronyms, so you will be speaking NDIS in no time at all!

Participant – someone who has an NDIS plan and receives funding.
Provider – an individual or an organisation that delivers support or a product.
Supports – the things that help you do your day-to-day activities to be part of the community and reach your goals.
Plan – the document that has your goals and what your funding and support is for.
Respite – short-term accommodation.
Access request – how you check if you are eligible for the NDIS.
Local Area Coordinators – NDIA staff who help link you to information and support in the community and make sure it is more welcoming for people with a disability.
Mainstream services – services that provide support to a range of people (not just people with a disability).
Community engagement – the ways you are involved in your community.
Formal supports – the kinds of support you pay for.
Informal supports – the kinds of supports you do not pay for. For example, things that your family or friends might help you with.
Multidisciplinary team – a team of people with different skills working together to support someone.
Plan nominee – someone who can make decisions for a person that needs help but does not have a parent or guardian.
Price guide – a really long list of what everything costs under the NDIS.
Psychosocial disability – when a person’s mental health issues cause disability.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) – the organisation that runs the NDIS.
The sector – the businesses and organisations that give services to people with disability.
Service agreement – a document that explains what supports you will receive from a provider and how much they will cost. It will also explain what you are responsible for, and what your provider is responsible for.
Prospective participant – Someone who is waiting to hear whether they will be covered under the NDIS.
Review of decisions – the process you go through if there is a decision in your plan that you think is wrong.