The NDIS and the importance of history

As someone living with disability, nearing my fifties, it is timely to consider consistency and change in disability policy. In my case this is significant considering that as I was growing up I had access to services provided by ADHC, and now that has changed with the introduction of the NDIS. In my thesis, I use a historical framework to chart the forces that have shaped disability policy and law in Australia today. This history reveals the ebbs and flow in the relationship between charity, family and the state. Underpinning the role of these institutions were certain ideologies which have also changed across time. Through this analysis, I explore the question: ‘Does the NDIS enable people with disability to live an ordinary life?’ By taking an historical approach, the thesis exposes how the understanding of what a life should be like for people with disability has been shaped by competing understandings of who is responsible for their welfare. This provides a basis for understanding the approach of the NDIS, as it has shifted responsibility to individuals with disability in an age presumably of human rights, but also of dominant free market economics.