Section 22 of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (“the NDIS Act”) excludes disabled persons over 65 from coverage under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”). They cannot even apply for NDIS coverage.
Many poliomyelitis survivors’ disability dates from childhood, during the Polio Epidemic of the 1950s. It was labelled “Infantile Paralysis”, being a disability specific to a very young age, totally unrelated to the age of 65.
For those historical reasons many polio survivors were over 65 when the NDIS was introduced, but their disability pre-dates by several decades the introduction of the NDIS.
Accordingly, it is inappropriate and illogical to ban such polio survivors from the NDIS, given that their disability is not related to older age, and in particular has nothing to do with the age of 65.