National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

The NDIS provides Australians under the age of 65 who have a permanent and significant disability with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to enjoy an ordinary life.

The NDIS helps people with a disability achieve their goals. This may include greater independence, community involvement and improved wellbeing.

In 2023, DWA will not be registered with the scheme, and this will impact some members as follows:

  • Those with an agency managed plan will unfortunately not be able to claim DWA services on their NDIS plan.

  • Those who are self-managed or plan-managed and have adaptive snowsport included in your plan goals can claim back for guiding and adaptive equipment rental. You can either pay for DWA services yourself and claim back from your plan or we will forward invoices to your registered plan manager. 

DWA takes the safety of all of our participants very seriously, as volunteers and staff are still required to have Working with Children’s checks, comply with the National Integrity Framework and, with DWA policies.

The NDIS requires DWA to use paid staff with NDIS participants at this stage. This means we will charge hourly rates for members who are using an NDIS package to pay for their DWA program.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • If you have a plan with funds allocated to accessing adaptive snowsports and need assistance to access DWA services with it, please contact ksimmons@disabledwintersport.com.au to set up a service agreement.

  • Assistance can be provided under Assistance with Social and Community Participation in core support.

    For DWA membership the support item is:
    Community, Social and Recreational Activities (04_210_0125_6_1).

    For guiding the category is:
    04_104_0125_6_1 Access Community, Social and Recreational Activities -Standard - Weekday Daytime ($65.47 per hour).

    Equipment Rental is covered under:
    Recreation Equipment Rental (05_300000115_0112_1_2) in Capital Supports ($50 per day).

    The cost of camps may be claimed under short term accommodation.

    We recommend that members approach their support coordinator, local area coordinator, plan manager or case worker for advice on whether they have funds in an existing plan to use with DWA or about linking prospective funding to their personal goals.

  • It would help us if you:

    • Understand what your NDIS plan covers

    • Have an idea of what supports you want us to provide, how often and when. E.g. how many times a season will you go skiing or snowboarding.

    • Have an idea of which resort you will visit.

    • Know how your plan is managed and how payment is made.

  • Please contact Katherine Simmons: ksimmons@disabledwintersport.com.au to discuss setting up a service agreement.

  • You can use your supports on:

    • DWA membership

    • Guiding

    • Camps

  • The NDIS generally doesn’t fund the costs below unless it is part of a short-term accommodation component:

    • Rental of standard ski and snowboard equipment and clothing hire

    • Food and drinks at the resorts

    • Lift tickets

    • Group lessons

  • You will need to engage a separate service provider for:

    • Personal care – DWA does not provide personal care, if you need personal care while participating in snowsports you will need to engage an appropriate provider.

    • Purchase of adaptive equipment – DWA can refer you to manufacturers, but you will need to contract with them directly. Often only part of the cost will be funded.

    • Transport – If you have transport allocated in your plan for independent trips to the resorts, this will need to be organised separately.

    • Adaptive lessons- The snowsports schools are separate entities to DWA and are not NDIS registered. Plan or self-managed participants may be able to claim some of the cost of lessons.

  • Organisation camps are run by DWA in conjunction with a disability client group, who take your payment. If you pay an organisation other than DWA for your camp, you will need to complete an NDIS claim through them.

    Members camps are operated and invoiced by DWA. You need to approach DWA for all NDIS matters in relation to these.

  • You may be able to use funds under assistive technology in capital supports to cover a portion of the cost of adaptive snow sports equipment. DWA understands that this would require a quote and a report from an allied health professional.