It is hard to believe that in a democratic country as wealthy as Australia that people with a disability and their families are still left to struggle alone every day. Most Australians assume that if people are born with a disability or acquire one later in life, that some system, somewhere, will take care of them.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

People with a disability and their families know only too well the daily struggle for services and support, how often the system fails to deliver essential services. They know how often desperate families are left to fill the gaps. There is also considerable inequity, with people receiving different levels of support depending on how, when and where their disability was acquired.

And the situation will only grow worse in the future. As the population ages, the number of people with a disability will increase. At the same time, the number of unpaid carers willing and able to provide support will decrease.

It is therefore time to take stock and plan for the future.

A National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) represents a fundamental reform to the way services are funded and delivered. It is a social reform on the scale of Medicare.  Click here to visit the NDIS website.