Rainbow Speech Pathology

22/04/2026

I watched the Press Club conference today where a man resembling the fresh faced liar Mark Butler MP agreeing that Every Australian Counts back in 2013 spoke and this is what he said:

Summary 22.4.26:

Words mentioned so frequently you would be dead if you had taken a shot each time he said them- shonks, fraudsters, crooks, dodgy, unqualified, unregistered providers ☠️ on repeat. The whole time.

Mandatory NDIS registration for providers will be coming- main focus today was on SIL and support workers providing personal care and medication support and other high risk activities.

Social and community participation funding to be cut from plans starting now- Mark mentioned bringing this back to 2023 levels with a max $26,000 per plan.

Marky B said the plan is for all payments for services to be directly from NDIS to the providers- no third parties. Removal of plan managers? Removal of self management? Not clear.

‘Objective re-assessments with independent assessment tool’ ( I-CAN wasn’t mentioned but it sounds like that) Mark said all current participants will have their functional capacity re-assessed as part of usual assessment processes at the end of their plans. Yes ALL current participants.

Currently 760,000 participants on NDIS Mark wants this down to the anticipated 400,000 they had planned for (poor planning there sometimes people acquire disabilities) lots of people will be booted off over the next 4 year ‘reset’ period.

Mark stated he wants the growth of NDIS to be down to 2% which is less than inflation- so basically going backwards.

No means testing- this has been ruled out. Marky B wants universal access- but only for ‘eligible participants’ so not autistic or children with developmental delay or anyone with a condition they will decide us not a disability.

New eligibility rules will be established by January 2028.

Choice and control for participants- they will be able to choose between a range of commissioned registered NDIS providers- not whichever local provider they want.

Foundational supports for children under 9 with developmental delays and autism- Mark continuously re-iterated this is now the states responsibility. NDIS is to be for ‘significant permanent disabilities’ over 9 years and the states need to provide early intervention.

Marky boy is in a stand off with QLD premier Cristafulli over Thriving kids. The premier won’t sign up to the massively underfunded program that won’t work for kids. Lots of thinly veiled threats from Mark in this press conference about removing the promised hospital funding if Cristafulli doesn’t ’bend the knee’

My advice to all participants- don’t answer the phone to unknown numbers for that un-scheduled plan review!

Anyone else watching did I miss anything? I will post a link below and the transcript will be available shortly.

21/04/2026

For every $1 spent on the NDIS $2.25 is returned to the economy.

The NDIS has created jobs for providers and enabled people with disabilities to access the workforce more than ever before.

Businesses have been able to open in rural and regional areas to provide much needed NDIS services, create jobs and supporting the local economy.

Cutting the NDIS will save money in this years budget- but we will be paying more down stream in unemployment, carers allowance and health costs.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BNsryQC67/

20/04/2026

This article explains everything I was trying to say in my last reel. Our country has money and resources. We just choose not to tax billionaires who can afford it, punish children and people with disabilities, remove human rights one by one and spend our money on war. Worth a read.

https://cheekmedia.substack.com/p/labor-is-manufacturing-an-ndis-crisis?r=3nwz8i&utm_medium=ios&utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e223_tv0&triedRedirect=true&fbclid=IwY2xjawRSvfhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDak2OgJZWj8P13efb03Hl79PPZtBIeri0tkE08zG9R5FFH82KFLs8LcJq4U_aem_x6cTRUP948GQSt3L3Bz4ig

By Hannah Thomas

19/04/2026

Art is an outlet for so many people with disabilities. Last year the government cut the rates for art therapy by $50 an hour. People like Ethyn in this video are only able to access art groups with a support worker to assist. Take that funding away and you take away quality of life, regulation and respite for the family.

18/04/2026

Sharing because we all need some good news!

A Noosa woman who began dancing at three to manage Down syndrome will make history representing Australia at the World Championships in Orlando this April.
https://bit.ly/41EQTtT

17/04/2026

Prefacing this reel by saying this is satire based on the current media coverage and messaging from the Labour Party foreshadowing cuts to the NDIS in the upcoming May budget. I’m not an actual politician who holds these views…

I’m a neurodivergent speech pathologist who had to close my clinic and make 6 staff redundant due to NDIS cuts. I have a child who is an NDIS participant and benefited enormously from individualised early intervention. He’s likely to be kicked off to Thriving Kids. I’m a member of the NDIS Providers Union and I won’t be quiet about this harmful narrative that children and adults with disabilities are expendable.

If you don’t want this to be a real news story. Speak up. Talk to your MP. Tag them in this post. Tell them to tax billionaires rather than stealing from the most vulnerable Australians.

Visual description: a blonde woman dressed as a politician wearing red lipstick a red top and a black pencil skirt is holding an inflatable nuclear war head and looking directly at the camera. Video pans to a lifeboat floating in a pool with dolls dressed as children, adults with disabilities and NDIS providers being thrown into the water.

16/04/2026

We will keep banging on about this until you listen. Kids with ‘moderate’ support needs or level 2 autism have a significant and lifelong disability. These kids have spiky profiles and fluctuating needs. They are are often verbal, intelligent, great at maths or drawing or writing about their special interest. But they also experience school can’t, anxiety in social situations and unfamiliar environments, melt downs, biting, shut downs, absconding, depression, feeding disorders, stuttering, situational mutism, self-harm. They need support. Their parents need support. If you take that support away the outcomes will be bad. For the child, the family and society as a whole.
Don’t do it. Jenny McAllister

I will not be quiet about this. Listen to families in the thick of it.

Minister, the assurance that the NDIS will always be there for people with "permanent and significant Disabilities" in conversation with Aspect - Autism Spectrum Australia - published today by the charity and service provider - does not align with what your policy is doing in practice.

As a Disabled People's Rep Org who are all over the issue, we know that the majority of children being redirected into Thriving Kids are Autistic children assessed at Level 2 under the DSM. That means requiring substantial support.

These are children with:

> marked communication differences

> significant functional impacts across daily life

> and a clear need for ongoing, structured support to participate in education and community life.

Autism is lifelong. These support needs are enduring and serious: in other words, permanent, and significant.

Under section 24 of the NDIS Act, a person meets the disability requirements where they have a permanent impairment that results in substantially reduced functional capacity.

Under section 25, they must also be likely to benefit from early intervention that would improve their functional capacity across their lifetime.

Level 2 Autism meets both tests.

So the issue is *not* whether these children qualify. We know they do.

The issue is that they are being diverted out of a statutory scheme and into non statutory programs, where support is discretionary, capped, and not enforceable.

That is not a neutral pathway change. It is the removal of a legal entitlement, without having been debated in Parliament or provided for in law, and against strong public opposition.

Importantly, this is being done without an evidentiary foundation, and without the consent or endorsement of Australia's Disabled People's Organisations - in breach of Article 4 (3) of the UNCRPD.

And the consequences are immediate. Reduced therapy, longer waitlists, missed early intervention are already happening. Increased pressure on families is already building, and fast. Thriving Kids will not relieve that pressure on Disabled children and the families that support them.

Changing the pathway does not change the child. It changes whether they can access support at all.

If children who meet both section 24 and section 25 are being moved out of the NDIS, then it is not accurate to say the scheme will always be there for people with permanent and significant disabilities.

Thriving Kids children *are the kids intended for the Scheme* under the core purposes outlined in the NDIS Act. They belong there. It is their right.

Why does the Federal government feel so entitled to take money from the hands of children who need it -
..and exactly where will it be spent instead?

13/04/2026

Why is choosing a harmful narrative to demonise vulnerable people the government’s go to strategy? We’ve heard the term dole bludgers, dodgy providers and now it’s targeting the people the NDIS was designed to support- people with lifelong disabilities.

It’s not easy to get NDIS- it’s actually really hard, cost a lot in reports from doctors, OT, psychologist etc to prove you have a disability. It takes months. Then they get just enough to provide essential care like: therapy, support workers, specialised equipment. Many of those things you actually need to wait even longer and do more paperwork to get (do not get me started on the 17 page form to get a communication device)

Nothing about being on the NDIS is bludging. It’s almost a full time job being a participant or a carer of a participant and doing the documentation, jumping through the hoops. People are not doing it for fun. They do it because they need it.

The more the commentariat talks about the NDIS 'ballooning', the easier it will be to convince the general public that cuts are necessary.

12/04/2026

Thank you ABC news and NAS Campanella for highlighting this important issue! Moderate support needs are fluctuating support needs. Autism is a dynamic disability. Kids who may look like they are functioning well in one inclusive supportive environment- need a lot more support in others. They often completely fall apart at home and parents deal with the fall out of their masking. These kids need early intervention support from NDIS. They will lose it if the “Thriving Kids” program goes ahead as planned.

With just months to go until Thriving Kids starts, parents and experts are warning a particular cohort of children is at risk of falling through the cracks.

11/04/2026

Did you know the movie 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) is based on Shakespeare’s play Taming Of The Shrew (TOTS)

In TOTS, “the shrew” refers to Katherine, and, in the film, it’s Katarina (or ‘Kat’)

If you look at this play and film through the Lense of neurodivergence- with Katherine/ Kat being autistic with a PDA profile- then is doesn’t seem like such a rom com with a happy ending.

PDA stands for Pathological demand avoidance but is also known as Pervasive Drive for Autonomy. For someone with PDA every day demands are perceived by the brain as threats causing an involuntary panic attacks. A fight/flight/freeze response is often triggered when someone tries to exert their power or authority over a PDAer, taking away choice and control and tell the PDAer what to do.

While perceived as defiant and aggressive- Katherine is actually highlighting the deeply ingrained inequity in her patriarchal society. In reality, she is experiencing debilitating anxiety about relinquishing control of her life.

This play/ film is about women learning how to mask- to suppress their natural instincts, to conform and become more ‘palatable’. Why do we see compliance as success? Masking is not sustainable long term and leads to burn out and mental illness. We should be supporting PDAers to have more agency and autonomy in their lives.

Be difficult, be defiant. Call out inequality. It’s ok to not be pretty, polite and socially acceptable all the time.

Thank you for reading my essay 🤓

What book/ play/ film with an ND character should I do next?