TY - JOUR
T1 - Opportunities to enhance relational wellbeing through the National Disability Insurance Scheme
T2 - Implications from research on relationships and a content analysis of NDIS documentation
AU - Meltzer, Ariella
AU - Davy, Laura
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Institute of Public Administration Australia
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - Interpersonal relationships are critically important to ensuring that people with disability can access the benefits of individual funding models such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS aims to enhance participants’ self-determination of supports and social and economic participation, but the emerging evidence indicates that achieving these policy outcomes requires stronger recognition of participants’ relational context, even in a system focused on individual choice and control. This paper reports on a content analysis of the NDIS Act, NDIS Rules, Operational Guidelines, and Price Guide to examine the extent to which the scheme's conceptual foundations and funded supports in individual plans enable it to support relationships. Implications are drawn from this analysis and theory and evidence about the importance of relationships for disability policy and practice. The paper outlines three areas where the approach of the NDIS to relationships is limited and can be improved: first, by conceptualizing relationships as relationships rather than simply sources of informal support; second, through provisions to actively support relationships; and third, by considering the relational appropriateness of support provided by family, carers, and friends. It concludes with suggestions for how relational considerations can be enhanced, including implications for government in administering the scheme.
AB - Interpersonal relationships are critically important to ensuring that people with disability can access the benefits of individual funding models such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS aims to enhance participants’ self-determination of supports and social and economic participation, but the emerging evidence indicates that achieving these policy outcomes requires stronger recognition of participants’ relational context, even in a system focused on individual choice and control. This paper reports on a content analysis of the NDIS Act, NDIS Rules, Operational Guidelines, and Price Guide to examine the extent to which the scheme's conceptual foundations and funded supports in individual plans enable it to support relationships. Implications are drawn from this analysis and theory and evidence about the importance of relationships for disability policy and practice. The paper outlines three areas where the approach of the NDIS to relationships is limited and can be improved: first, by conceptualizing relationships as relationships rather than simply sources of informal support; second, through provisions to actively support relationships; and third, by considering the relational appropriateness of support provided by family, carers, and friends. It concludes with suggestions for how relational considerations can be enhanced, including implications for government in administering the scheme.
KW - National Disability Insurance Scheme
KW - individual funding
KW - people with disability
KW - policy implementation
KW - relationships
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062995619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8500.12373
DO - 10.1111/1467-8500.12373
M3 - Article
SN - 0313-6647
VL - 78
SP - 250
EP - 264
JO - Australian Journal of Public Administration
JF - Australian Journal of Public Administration
IS - 2
ER -