NDIS Home and Living Options

It can take many things to make your own home a reality. It requires vision and commitment to what typically and fundamentally makes home. It can be a challenge, an often treasured opportunity, the chance to grow, the opportunity for relationship and autonomy and a building block for a great life, as well as an act of revolution. In this article, we share some of the key ingredients that make all the difference in creating your own chosen place and home. It is based on experience in working with people with disability and families. There is no one ‘recipe’ for creating a home as it’s unique to each person, but there are some important common elements. Sometimes, within the NDIS , this is talked about using terms like ‘explore’ and ‘design’. Home: What’s your vision? Not so long ago, large institutions were seen as the only possible place for people to live. This was then replaced with group homes or other grouped arrangements. This can make it feel very hard to create something differ

Living independently is an exciting step and finding the right housemates is an important part of this. Great housemates may help you create a happy home where you feel safe and understood. They don’t provide professional support like an independent support worker would, but they may be able to help you and provide companionship. Sharing a home with housemates is just one way to create an individualised living arrangement - this could be living with a housemate who does not have a disability or who does not have significant support needs. If you or a loved one is ready to share a home, this article is for you. It has insights from Resourcing Inclusive Communities (RIC) about finding housemates who fit your life and can help you meet your goals. RIC is a fantastic capacity building initiative of Family Advocacy in NSW that supports people with disability to live independently and stay connected to their community. They are different from an NDIS provider so you don't have to use your

Living with multiple chronic health conditions since he was born, Uli has experienced life within foster care and group homes. Being both an NDIS participant and also working for disability services, Uli has gained a unique insight into the disability sector. Now, he is using his knowledge to improve the mental health and disability sectors, as well as improving the quality of life for NDIS participants. The role of a Support Coordinator in living independently “When I was in my late teens, my relationship with my foster mother broke down and I began living in a group home,” Uli shares. Living within a group home model, Uli says, is like “being homed in an old-style institution with restricted access to decision making and other freedoms”. In addition, being in constant contact with people within your home who can hold opposing viewpoints is challenging, he says. “It can contradict your own beliefs and wishes with minimal opportunity to refute decisions. It is as thou

The thought of independent living can feel overwhelming for NDIS participants, their families and carers. However, we are here to support you and move forward in creating a home for you. As part of our webinar series , Libby Ellis, lead consultant at Mable Home and Living Consultants , shares valuable tips and information to help you get started on the journey to independent living. Below are some of the main highlights from the webinar, "From worry to confidence—how to really get started with independent living." Challenges with independent living and NDIS "I know that independent living is a big, emotional issue, and when you add the NDIS to the mix, it can feel overwhelming", says Libby, who has supported hundreds of individuals and families in navigating the NDIS and funding and achieving their goals of living independently. "Many people struggle with not knowing where to start". Independent living under the NDIS can be overwhelming because of the complex funding options and th

Peter Gregory is an individualised service design practitioner. Peter talks to Mable’s Individualised Program Manager Libby Ellis about how a clinical role can contribute to individualised living . Tell us about your work For a long time now, I’ve been focussed on creating really individualised support with people who are regarded as complex for a variety of reasons. Typically, they or their families might have very negative reputations and the kind of language that gets used around them are things like ‘challenging behaviour’ or ‘difficult to house’. They are also people who often have restrictive practices in place. Individualised supports are home and living opportunities that are tailored to the requirements of the person with disability. They are not constrained by inflexible rosters of care and policies and procedures that limit individuality. Individualised supports show that there are different options available than shared Supported Independent Living (SIL). Examples of t

Jacob, 25, works part-time at WeFlex, an NDIS-registered provider that upskills personal trainers through disability inclusion principles so that everybody has access to fitness support. Jacob’s story Jacob, who is a survivor of spinal cord injury , believes in using his experiences to help people in a situation that may be similar to his. “I believe being vulnerable makes the next person feel safe when sharing their story. I’ve always been passionate about thinking outside the box and solving problems. I advocate for accessibility to be incorporated into design stages. If we take accessibility seriously, it should not be an afterthought.” He adds, “I have a trade background in construction, which has allowed me to think fast, work collaboratively, and know the importance of contributing to society.” Finding a home Finding an accessible home to live in was fraught with challenges, Jacob recalls. “While in rehab my social worker told me I had to find a place to move. I wanted t

For the longest time, Samantha lived with her family in homes that had no semblance of accessibility for the 36-year-old to get around independently. “The kitchen was always inaccessible, so we had to have various step stools around the house. If I wanted to cook something in the oven, I struggled because it was either too high or too low for me to safely use independently,” she recalls. Samantha explains, “I was born with an ultra-rare genetic condition that has had a significant impact on my physical abilities throughout my life, as well as resulting in my short stature.” However, two years ago, life changed when a friend, who works in the disability sector, told her about Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). My SDA journey For Samantha, getting herself approved for an SDA Fully Accessible home became her mission. A home that met not just her current needs, but future needs as her condition progressed. “It was also incredibly important to me when I began my SDA journey to mai

Have you ever felt that you had to accept a model of support that was designed by a service to meet their own needs instead of yours? Or that your housing funding and housing options were based on wrong assumptions about you? You may have heard comments like, ‘this is how it’s always been’ or ‘this is how we’re funded to do it.’  Having the right support when and how you need it is critical to living in your own home. A very important step to achieving this is to describe your support needs and preferences in as much detail as you can, so that everyone’s clear about what you want and need. This kind of description can also help you provide the right information to the NDIS.  In this article , we talked about making a ‘schedule of supports’. This article will help you to do this; but it’s only a start. Your support needs and preferences will keep changing throughout your life, so it’s good to think of it as a work in progress. Think about it regularly and make changes so that the descr

In a recent interview with Mable, Gibbs Hatendi, Area Manager at Care Force (a Tasmanian NDIS registered Service Provider), talked about the housing challenges for people with disability that act as barriers for them to live independently . In the interview, Gibbs also discusses a recent ILO experience. What are some of the housing challenges for NDIS participants? Participants find it very hard to secure accommodation in Hobart as the demand for housing continues to rise. Some participants have been on the social housing priority waiting list for over two years and are still waiting to be allocated a house. Sometimes participants can identify housing opportunities within the private rental market, but they are unable to secure the housing because they do not meet the rental requirements. Can you give us an example of how you have addressed these barriers? We recently assisted a man to move into a private rental with his cousin. In the ILO Exploration and Design stage, we worked clo