To be eligible for the NDIS you generally must be under 65 when you first apply, be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or hold a Protected Special Category Visa, and live with a permanent and significant disability that affects your everyday activities. You apply by making an Access Request to the NDIA.
Eligibility rests on age, residency, and disability criteria that the NDIA assesses together. Meeting one criterion alone is not enough; an Access Request looks at your whole situation against the legislated rules.
Permanent means your disability is lifelong or unlikely to improve significantly, even with treatment. Significant means it has a substantial impact on your ability to do everyday things such as communicating, moving around, learning, or managing self-care.
Conditions span physical, intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory, and psychosocial disability. Some conditions are recognised as likely to meet the criteria, which can streamline the evidence you need to provide.
If you do not qualify, the NDIA and Local Area Coordinators can still connect you to mainstream and community services through information, linkages and capacity-building supports. People aged 65 and over are generally directed to aged-care programs rather than the NDIS.
Children under seven follow the early childhood approach, where an early childhood partner can offer short-term early intervention without a full access decision.
Use our tools to understand support pricing and prepare for conversations about your needs before you apply.
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