NDIS lists tampons and pads as 'Lifestyle related' causing concerns
Menstrual items have been listed as 'lifestyle related' products, in lists defining what NDIS money can and cannot be spent on, during the transition to new rules. For those with physical and intellectual disabilities products like adaptable period undies and tampon inserters are necessary to manage bleeding without hurting themselves.
Transcript
00:00Women with disabilities are really worried that they could lose access to essential period
00:06care as the NDIS transitions to some new rules. So the federal government's put forward legislation
00:11to make some pretty significant changes to the NDIS and it's hoping to pass that before
00:15the sitting week is out by next Thursday. The changes include developing a new definition
00:19of what constitutes an NDIS support. That's something that needs to be negotiated though
00:23with the states and territories. And until a new definition is agreed upon, the federal
00:27government has put forward these two lists of what can and can't be funded by the NDIS.
00:33Period products have been listed on the one that you can't get funded alongside a number
00:37of so-called lifestyle items. Something Women with Disability Australia's CEO, that's Sophie
00:42Cussworth, says could cut off funding for something that's really essential to those
00:45with physical or intellectual disabilities. So, for example, for someone with a joint
00:49issue, inserting a tampon by hand could result in a fractured finger and if you have a skin
00:53condition you could end up with a tear or if you've got a spinal injury there could
00:56be no sensation at all. So while inserters and period undies can be relatively cheap
01:01for a lot of people, Elle Gibbs from the Disability Advocacy Network of Australia says they're
01:05actually pretty unaffordable without government support for many disabled people. In 2018,
01:10then Opposition Leader and now NDIS Minister Bill Shorten actually said using period products
01:15isn't a lifestyle choice. In response to questions from the ABC, he says that these lists are
01:20still being finalised and consultation has now been extended by a week until October
01:2425th. But if community reaction so far is anything to go by, they're going to be getting
01:28a lot of submissions.