For many individuals and families starting their journey with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), one of the biggest questions is: "Will I be eligible?" While every application is assessed on an individual basis, the NDIS maintains specific lists to help streamline the process.
At Westside Support Services, we frequently help applicants navigate these requirements. A key part of this is understanding List A, a group of conditions that the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) recognizes as being highly likely to meet the disability requirements for access to the scheme.
What is List A?
The NDIS is designed for people with permanent impairments that significantly impact their daily lives. Normally, an applicant must provide extensive evidence across several criteria, including permanence and functional capacity.
However, if you have a diagnosis of one or more conditions found on List A, the NDIA will likely decide that you meet the disability requirements without requiring you to prove the impact of your disability in the same exhaustive way as other applicants. Essentially, these conditions are pre-validated as having a "substantially reduced functional capacity" and being "likely to be permanent".
Why List A Matters for Your Application
If your condition is on List A, it simplifies your path to becoming a participant in several ways:
· Evidence of Permanence: The NDIA generally accepts that these conditions are enduring and likely to last a lifetime.
· Functional Capacity: Because these conditions typically result in significant challenges in daily activities (like communicating, moving around, or self-care), the NDIA often waives the need for a detailed Functional Capacity Assessment for eligibility.
· Lifetime Support: Once you are eligible via List A, it is accepted that you will likely need NDIS supports for your entire lifetime.
· Simplified Reassessments: This means you won’t have to "re-prove" your disability every time your plan is reviewed.
Conditions Frequently Found on List A
While the full list is detailed and updated by the NDIA, List A typically includes conditions that have a profound and permanent impact on a person's life from the point of diagnosis. These include:
· Intellectual Disability: Diagnoses where there is a significant impact on communication, learning, and problem-solving.
· Autism Spectrum Disorder (Level 2 or 3): Conditions that significantly affect social interaction and behavior.
· Cerebral Palsy: Specifically where there is a permanent and substantial impact on mobility and physical function.
· Genetic Conditions: Such as Down Syndrome, which result in permanent intellectual and physical impairments.
· Severe Sensory Impairments: This includes permanent blindness in both eyes or severe-to-profound bilateral hearing loss.
· Spinal Cord Injuries: Resulting in permanent paraplegia or quadriplegia.
For Full list click here
Does a List A Diagnosis Mean Automatic Approval?
While it makes the process much easier, a diagnosis on List A is not a "guaranteed" entry without an application. You still need to meet the NDIS "gatekeeper" requirements:
1. Age: You must be younger than 65 on the day you apply.
2. Residence: You must live in Australia.
3. Status: You must be an Australian citizen, a permanent visa holder, or hold a protected special category visa.
Additionally, even with a List A condition, you still need to provide formal evidence of your diagnosis from a registered Australian or New Zealand health professional (such as a specialist or doctor registered with AHPRA).
How Westside Support Services Can Help
Even if your condition is on List A, the paperwork can still be a hurdle. At Westside Support Services, we are experts at ensuring your application is complete and reflects your true needs.
· Evidence Verification: We help you ensure your diagnosis is documented correctly by the right specialists to trigger the List A streamlined process.
· Goal Setting: Once your access is met, we work with you to prepare for your first planning meeting so you can secure the funding that aligns with your life goals.
· Ongoing Advocacy: If your situation changes, we are here to help you navigate how those changes might affect your NDIS eligibility or plan.
Conclusion
List A is a vital tool that recognizes the lived reality of people with significant and permanent disabilities. By identifying conditions that clearly meet the NDIS criteria, the scheme allows those who need help the most to access support faster and with less administrative stress.
Do you have a condition that might be on List A? Don't navigate the application process alone. Contact Westside Support Services today for expert guidance on starting your NDIS journey.
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Complete List A: Conditions that are likely to meet the disability requirements. Check if your condition falls in this list
1. Intellectual disability diagnosed and assessed as moderate, severe or profound in accordance with current DSM criteria.
2. Autism diagnosed by a specialist multi-disciplinary team, paediatrician, psychiatrist or clinical psychologist experienced in the assessment of Pervasive Developmental Disorders and assessed using the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) diagnostic criteria as having severity of Level 2 (Requiring substantial support) or Level 3 (Requiring very substantial support).
3. Cerebral palsy diagnosed and assessed as severe (e.g. assessed as Level 3, 4 or 5 on the Gross Motor Function Classification System - GMFCS).
4. Genetic conditions that consistently result in permanent and severe intellectual and physical impairments:
· Angelman syndrome
· Coffin-Lowry syndrome in males
· Cornelia de Lange syndrome
· Cri du Chat syndrome
· Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18 – full form)
· Epidermolysis Bullosa (severe forms):
o YR
o Autosomal recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa
o Hallopeau-Siemens type
o Herlitz Junctional Epidermolysis Dystrophica
· Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
· Leigh syndrome
· Leukodystrophies:
o Alexander disease (infantile and neonatal forms)
o Canavan disease
o Krabbe disease (globoid cell leukodystrophy) – Infantile form
o Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (Connatal form)
· Lysosomal storage disorders resulting in severe intellectual and physical impairments:
o Gaucher disease Types 2 and 3
o Niemann-Pick disease (Types A and C)
o Pompe disease
o Sandhoff disease (infantile form)
o Schindler disease (Type 1)
o Tay-Sachs disease (infantile form)
· Mucopolysaccharidoses – the following forms:
o MPS 1-H (Hurler syndrome)
o MPS III (San Fillipo syndrome)
o Osteogenesis Imperfecta (severe forms):
o Type II - with two or more fractures per year and significant deformities severely limiting ability to perform activities of daily living
· Patau syndrome
· Rett syndrome
· Spinal Muscular Atrophies of the following types:
o Werdnig-Hoffmann disease (SMA Type 1- Infantile form)
o Dubowitz disease (SMA Type II – Intermediate form)
o X-linked spinal muscular atrophy
5. Spinal cord injury or brain injury resulting in paraplegia, quadriplegia or tetraplegia.
6. Hemiplegia where there is severe or total loss of strength and movement in the affected limbs of the body.
7. Permanent blindness in both eyes, diagnosed and assessed by an ophthalmologist as follows:
· Corrected visual acuity (extent to which an object can be brought into focus) on the Snellen Scale must be less than or equal to 6/60 in both eyes; or
· Constriction to within 10 degrees or less of arc of central fixation in the better eye, irrespective of corrected visual acuity (i.e. visual fields are reduced to a measured arc of 10 degrees or less); or
· A combination of visual defects resulting in the same degree of visual impairment as that occurring in the above points. (An optometrist report is not sufficient for NDIS purposes.)
8. Permanent bilateral hearing loss > 90 decibels in the better ear (pure tone average of 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz).
9. Deafblindness confirmed by ophthalmologist and audiologist and assessed as resulting in permanent and severe to total impairment of visual function and hearing.
10. Amputation or congenital absence of 2 limbs – for example, 2 legs, 2 arms, or a leg and an arm (not a leg and a hand, or an arm and a foot).
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- Applying to the NDIS (OG - Applying to the NDIS.docx)