A National Disability Insurance Scheme : what social work has to offer

This paper appraises key features of the recently proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia and explores underpinning conceptualisations of ‘disability’, ‘autonomy’, ‘choice’ and ‘assessment’. In particular, it examines the ways in which the Scheme reconfigures a continuation of individualised payments and care package policies. These proposals can be seen to have international significance in terms of how new policy is formulated and also implemented in this controversial field. It is argued that, by utilising embedded human rights perspectives, social work practice principles and social model understandings of disability, social workers can play a crucial role in reframing the opportunities presented by key policy changes.