Since the NDIA came along, I’ve noticed that many disability-related conversations have become more aspirational. This is partly due to the NDIS Act putting Australia’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) into actions. The CRPD is a watershed human rights document that requires a shift to both our thinking and actions. It is a shift away from making decisions and acting in another person’s best interests to enabling people with disabilities to be “citizens with rights” on an equal basis with others.

“People with disability have the same right as other members of Australian society to be able to determine their own best interests, including the right to exercise choice and control, and to engage as equal partners in decisions that will affect their lives, to the full

extent of their capacity”. (NDIS Act 2013: Ch1, Part 2, Sect 4 (8) p6).

At this early point in the NDIS journey, the ongoing debate between disability service providers and the National Disability insurance Agency (NDIA) around perceptions of “conflicts of interest” brings this clause’s challenge to us all sharply into focus. Continue reading . . .