17 August 2026
Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) is deeply disappointed that the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee has recommended the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 proceed despite failing to adequately respond to expert evidence and serious concerns about the impact on essential supports.
BCA is particularly concerned about the proposed definition and assessment of functional capacity, with the Senate Committee itself acknowledging that more work is needed to get this right.
The Bill risks reducing functional capacity to an artificial assessment of what a person can do in a controlled setting, ignoring the real-world barriers that make everyday tasks inaccessible for people who are blind or vision impaired.
“Across both our submissions to government, we’ve highlighted the importance of bringing expertise in blindness and vision impairment into these assessments,” BCA President Andrew Webster said.
“Without it, there’s a real risk of missing the everyday impact of inaccessible environments, navigation barriers, digital exclusion and communication challenges.”
The Bill’s definition of functional capacity would exclude environmental factors, despite the fact that a person’s ability to function safely and independently cannot be separated from the accessibility of their environment.
“The Bill’s definition of functional capacity is fundamentally at odds with the lived reality of blindness,” BCA Policy Officer Melanie Chatfield said.
“You cannot assess someone’s capacity by stripping away the environmental barriers that determine whether they can participate safely and independently. That is an assessment disconnected from reality.”
When functional assessments fail to understand blindness, people risk losing the very supports that enable them to live safely and independently. That includes access to orientation and mobility training, assistive technology and Social, Civic and Community Participation funding, which is already facing a 50 per cent cut.
BCA is also deeply concerned the Bill removes critical safeguards by limiting people’s ability to challenge decisions that affect their NDIS supports. This includes changes to plans, funding reductions, automated decisions and decisions made under expanded ministerial powers.
BCA urges the Government to work closely with us and the broader blindness and vision impaired community to ensure its implementation does not compromise safety, independence or equal participation.
The risks are clear. People must have access to the essential supports they need, decisions about their lives must be based on a proper understanding of disability and they must have a meaningful way to challenge decisions that affect them.
BCA acknowledges the Australian Greens and Senator Jordon Steele-John, together with Senator David Pocock, for listening to people with disability and reflecting their concerns through their respective dissenting reports.
The legislation may be moving forward, but the Government must not move forward without the people whose lives it will shape.
Media Contact:
Amila Dedovic – Communications Coordinator
amila.dedovic@bca.org.au
0403 967 406