“The only reason we were given for the application being rejected was that despite my severe cerebral palsy I wasn’t disabled enough.”

DARRYL

I am Dr Darryl Sellwood living in Adelaide, South Australia. I submitted an SDA application in December 2020. I have been living in a state government housing unit for over 30 years. Although it was fitted out for my needs back then, it is inadequate to meet my current or my future needs. The report for my application, prepared by an OT with assistance from me, was extremely in depth. I remember at the time feeling that the process was way too intrusive, having to share immensely private information about me and my life.  

I didn’t hear until March 2021 that the application was rejected 2 weeks after being submitted! During February and March 2021, I was contacting the NDIS to find out about the progress of my application but no one mentioned that it had been rejected. We only found out after my support coordinator agency asked questions higher up. The only reason we were given for the application being rejected was that despite my severe cerebral palsy I “wasn’t disabled enough”. 

We submitted a Change of Circumstance Request For Home and Living and Review on 9 February this year. Going against all our principles, this report primarily focused on my inabilities and support care needs rather than my abilities—not what the NDIS is supposed to be like! We even placed a photo of me in my large electric wheelchair in the middle of the front page, so they could see how disabled I am.

The long wait for these decisions really has put my life on hold. The place I live in needs work, but it is not worth trying to push for them to be done when I could be moving out soon to a better suited place. The waiting also has prolonged the time until I can become more socially involved with my work colleagues.