16/01/2026
NDIS plan reviews come with an emotional toll that is far too high, and it raises serious questions about whether the planning and review process itself is ethical. Parents are repeatedly asked to justify their child’s needs as if love, lived experience, and daily advocacy aren’t already enough. Families are required to relive their hardest moments, focusing on deficits and risks, just to prove their child is “eligible” for support. When a system designed to help instead causes distress, fear, and burnout, it’s worth asking whether the burden being placed on families is humane and ethical.
Therapists are caught in this same ethical tension. Reports become more than clinical tools — they turn into bargaining chips in a system where therapy hours are bartered between families, providers, and the NDIS. This pressure risks distorting the therapeutic relationship, shifting focus from care and collaboration to survival within a funding framework. Therapists feel compelled to write in ways that will “convince,” while parents worry that honesty, hope, or progress might jeopardise future support. When funding decisions strain trust, alter language, and place everyone in a transactional loop, it’s not just emotionally costly — it undermines the integrity of therapy itself.
Going into an NDIS planning meeting or preparing for one is beginning to feel uncomfortably similar to going into a car yard to buy a car but the importance of the outcome determines the direction of your child's life or your life. You just want what is fair but you have to play a game first to get there.
