When we decide whether an assistance animal is related to your disability, we’ll ask you about your support needs. We’ll discuss how the assistance animal can help you do the things you can’t do because of your disability. This usually means you’ll need less of other disability-related supports.
For example, if you have a vision impairment, we’d think about whether a dog guide would help you do some things you currently can’t do in your life. We’d also think about what other supports we’d need to fund if you don’t have a dog guide. A dog guide could help you move around the community safely, do daily tasks at home, or get to and from work.
Another example is if you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and can’t leave your home because of your disability. An assistance animal would have to be able to help you do some things your PTSD stops you doing in your life. An assistance animal could help you get out into the community, meet with friends and family or go to work.
Example
Joe has low vision and has a goal in his plan to travel by himself on the train to and from work. Joe can mostly get around in less crowded spaces but isn’t confident in crowded spaces.
Joe and his orientation and mobility specialist look at how an assistance animal could help him and whether it’s suitable for his disability support needs.
We may be able to fund a dog guide so Joe can travel on public transport by himself. He needs the dog guide because he can’t access public transport on his own due to his disability.
Is an assistance animal effective and beneficial for you?
We need to make sure that an assistance animal will be effective and beneficial for you, taking into account current good practice. Effective and beneficial means it will help you and be suitable for your disability support needs.
When we think about good practice, we look at how effective the assistance animal has been for other people with similar support needs and in situations like yours. If you’ve had an assistance animal before, we’ll look at how the animal has helped you in the past.
We’ll think about:
- the benefits of having an assistance animal compared to not having one
- if you have any experience using an assistance animal, such as a trial of using it as a support. A trial is generally done after you’ve tried other best practice supports, which should be described in your assistive animal assessment
- if the assistance animal has done, or will be able to do, all the relevant training. This includes being qualified as an assistance animal and passing the public access test
- if you have the experience and capacity to take on the ongoing responsibilities of a primary handler.
If you have PTSD there is evidence that, in some cases, an assistance animal can be effective and beneficial in helping you actively take part in your community. But we need to know from your treating health professional that you’ve recovered enough and are ready to have an assistance animal. This means you’ve completed your other treatments and have recovered to a point where you’re ready to take those next steps into the community.
Sometimes a companion animal may pass the public access test but is not specially trained. Although a companion animal may give you the confidence to go into the community, it doesn’t meet our definition of an assistance animal. This means a companion animal is not an NDIS support and won’t be funded by us.
Not everyone with PTSD will be eligible for the NDIS and an assistance animal may not meet the NDIS funding criteria for everyone with PTSD. There may be other supports that are better value for money and more effective and beneficial.
Example
Mandy has PTSD and lives with her partner. She has a goal in her plan to do her grocery shopping on her own. Mandy can’t leave the house on her own, and relies on a support worker, her husband, or a friend to be with her. She wants an assistance animal so she can leave the house on her own.
Mandy provides her my NDIS contact with an assistance animals assessment template which was filled out by her psychologist and assistance animal provider. The information Mandy provided tells us that Mandy had a 2-week trial with a fully trained and qualified assistance animal.
Based on Mandy’s evidence, the assistance animal was seen as effective and beneficial.
This is because the trial with the dog showed that, with its help, Mandy could do her grocery shopping on her own. There is clear evidence the assistance animal did 3 tasks that helped Mandy successfully do her shopping independently.