An Open Letter to NDIS Decision Makers: How Many More Must Die?
From a therapist, parent, and participant who refuses to stay silent
Dear Decision Makers,
I write this letter not as a professional courtesy, but as a desperate plea from someone trapped in every corner of the NDIS crisis you’ve created.
I am a participant. I am a provider. I am a parent to a participant. There is no escape from what you’ve done to us.
The Weight of the Names I Cannot Share
When I go to work each day, I carry the weight of real people - not statistics, not case numbers, but human beings with names, and loved ones. I cannot share their names to protect their privacy, but some I’ve known and I’ve supported them for years. They’ve watched me grow as a therapist and neurodivergent person, and I’ve watched them fight for dignity in a system that increasingly denies it to them.
These are the people whose progress you’re threatening. Whose hard-won funding you’re cutting. Whose very survival hangs in the balance of your spreadsheets and budget meetings.
They have names. They have families. They matter.
The Physical Pain of Watching You Fail Us
As a neurodivergent person, I feel things deeply. I give away my time far more than my accountant would recommend because I see the constant pressure on people who are already fighting just to exist. And right now, I am pained, and I don’t mean metaphorically. I mean literally, viscerally, pained.
But my pain isn’t just about being a deeply feeling human, or about my income, or even about how these same cuts hurt my own child and me.
It hurts because you KNOW this will harm people. And you’re doing it anyway.
You know disabled Australians already have significantly lower life expectancy. You know families are breaking apart under the strain. You know children are going without support. You know we are in a cost of living crisis. You know that hospital beds are filling up with people whose preventable crises could have been avoided with proper NDIS support.
You know people are dying. And it’s already happening.
The Questions That Haunt ME
So I ask you directly: How many of us have to die before you stop?
How many families must be broken up?
How many children must go without support?
How many hospital beds must be filled with preventable crises?
What price must the disability community pay to deserve what you promised us?
We were promised dignity. Protection. Compassion. Basic Human Rights.
Instead, you’ve given us cuts, delays, and bureaucratic cruelty dressed up as “sustainability.”
You’re Not Listening
My voice calling you out isn’t the first. It won’t be the last. But I hope it’s one you finally start hearing.
The pricing report said don’t do it. You ignored it.
The co-design process told you we aren’t being heard. You dismissed it.
The Royal Commission gave you a clear roadmap. You’re not following it.
Why do the voices of the disability community not matter to you?
A System That Pretends to Care While Causing Harm
What devastates me most is the masquerade. You present yourselves as disability advocates, as supporters of marginalised people, while actively making choices that harm us. You speak of “participant outcomes” while creating policies that worsen them.
This isn’t just policy failure - it’s moral failure.
The Time for Excuses Is Over
I don’t know your names. I’m sure you have families and reasons for your decisions. But frankly, I don’t care what they are anymore.
What I care about is the person I support who might lose the first support they have ever trusted. The child who without supports, faces removal. The family that might not survive another hit.
What I care about is the fundamental question: Do disabled lives matter?
Your actions suggest you believe they don’t.
Do Better. Do It Now.
This is not a polite request for consideration. This is a demand for basic humanity.
Stop the cuts that kill. Fund the supports that save lives. Listen to the voices of people with lived experience. Follow the evidence from your own reports.
Most importantly: Remember that behind every NDIS number is a human being whose life has value.
We are watching. We are counting. We are remembering every choice you make that prioritises budgets over breathing, systems over survival.
The disability community deserves better than what you’re giving us.
We demand better.
We won’t stop fighting until we get it.
Do better. Before more of us die waiting for you to care.
This letter represents the views of a concerned member of the disability community. If you are struggling with the NDIS system, please reach out for support. If you are an NDIS decision maker, please remember that real lives hang in the balance of your choices.
#NDISCrisis #DisabilityRights #Dobetter #ListenToUs