On this page:
- Is the social and recreation support an NDIS support for you?
- Reasonable adjustments
- Is the social and recreation support related to your disability support needs?
- Does the social and recreation support help you pursue your goals?
- Is the social and recreation support value for money?
- Is the social and recreation support effective and beneficial for you?
- Is the social and recreation support legal and safe to use?
There are many different supports available to help you join in with social and recreation activities. We’ll work with you to find the best way to get the NDIS supports you need because of your disability. We also know your support needs might change over time.
All supports we fund must meet the NDIS funding criteria. This includes that it’s an NDIS support for you.
The questions below will help you think about whether we’ll consider funding social and recreation NDIS supports for you.
Is the social or recreation support:
- an NDIS support for you?
- directly related to your disability support needs?
- helping you pursue your goals?
- value for money?
- effective and beneficial for you?
- legal and safe?
- something we expect family, friends or the community to provide?
Is the social and recreation support an NDIS support for you?
Social and recreation support will be an NDIS support for you if either:
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the Rules say that the support is an NDIS support for everyone, or
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the Rules say that the support is only for a specific group of people and you are part of that group.
NDIS supports are the services, items and equipment that can be funded under the NDIS. Supports that should be funded by organisations or services outside of the NDIS aren’t NDIS supports.
Many local clubs and community organisations provide social and recreation activities you can join in with. If one of these services provides the type of help you need, you might not need NDIS funded supports.
Your my NDIS contact or support coordinator can help you connect to other organisations in the community. They can help you find information on what’s available or help you develop the skills and confidence to connect with those services.
Example
Jo loves heavy metal and wants to go see some live music but needs some support to do this. Jo’s local area coordinator suggests a community group that connects people with a disability to volunteers so that they can go and see bands together. Jo is connected with a volunteer who also loves heavy metal.
The volunteer is the same age and lives close by. Now Jo and the volunteer are catching up every fortnight to see a band and they both enjoy the live gigs. Jo and the volunteer continue to learn just how Jo wants to be supported and they are planning some other activities together.
Reasonable adjustments
Community organisations, shops and sporting clubs must also take steps to remove barriers you may face because of your disability. This is to make sure you receive the same services as everyone else. We call this a ‘reasonable adjustment’.
Reasonable adjustments could be things like:
- physical access such as ramps and wide doorways
- giving you the same opportunity to participate. For example, making changes to standard golfing competition rules to allow you to use a motorised buggy
- adapting to suit your communication needs, like using a flash instead of a noise to signal the start of a game or race.
Example
Adeem is a teenager who uses a wheelchair and loves robotics. Adeem is very keen to meet others who have the same interests. Adeem and his mum learn from their local area coordinator about a robotics group running at the local library every Tuesday after school. Adeem, his mum and local area coordinator talk about whether Adeem will need any extra NDIS supports to attend the group.
The library already has a ramp and accessible space. This is part of their reasonable adjustment to make sure all community members can access the library. Adeem will need extra NDIS support to get in and out of his wheelchair to test the robots on the floor.
Adeem doesn’t want his mum to stay with him during the robotics group. As a teenager, building independence can be very important. We could fund a support worker to help Adeem get up and down as needed during the robotics group.
For more information on reasonable adjustments check out the Australian Human Rights Commission website . You can also ask your my NDIS contact or support coordinator.
Is the social and recreation support related to your disability support needs?
We can only fund social and recreation supports if they’re directly related to your disability support needs. This means that you need the extra NDIS support to take part in the activity because of the effects of your disability.
We don’t fund registration fees or standard equipment for social and recreation activities. You’ll need to pay these costs yourself.
Does the social and recreation support help you pursue your goals?
When we fund social and recreation supports, we need to know these NDIS supports will help you pursue the goals in your plan.
For example, you might have a goal to make new friends and start a new hobby. The NDIS support we fund will need to help you pursue that goal.
Learn more about setting goals .
Is the social and recreation support value for money?
Your social and recreation supports must be value for money compared with the benefits for you, and compared with other supports that would achieve the same outcome.
We’ll think about whether:
- there are NDIS supports that might achieve the same outcome that are less costly. For example, you might be able to share NDIS supports, rather than needing individual supports
- your social and recreation supports will increase your independence, or reduce your support needs in future
- the assistive technology or modified equipment you need could be hired or leased instead of purchased.
Is the social and recreation support effective and beneficial for you?
We need to check that the social and recreation supports we fund will be effective and beneficial for you.
We’ll look at whether the NDIS supports will help you to participate in a social and recreation activity. This might be something that you haven’t been able to do or has been difficult to participate in because of your disability.
We also look at how effective the support has been for other people with the same type of needs as you.
Is the social and recreation support legal and safe to use?
We need to make sure the social and recreation support is safe and legal. We can’t fund social and recreation supports if they’re likely to cause harm to you or others.
For example, before we fund adapted sporting equipment for you, we may ask an occupational therapist to check that the equipment is safe to use and won’t hurt you or others.