Foundational Supports National Consultations

Foundational Supports are specific supports outside of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). They will be in addition to services offered by mainstream systems, like education and health.

Foundational Supports were recommended by the Independent NDIS Review to address a critical gap for Australians with disability who are not eligible for NDIS. Getting the design of these supports right requires meaningful, representative input from the people most affected.

The Social Deck was engaged to deliver consultation to help inform the initial design of Foundational Supports. As part of this, we:

• designed communications including nationally consistent messaging and suite of accessible communication materials to help governments, organisations and communities explain what Foundational Supports are and why they matter. This included brand and style guides, video explainers, fact sheets, social media content, stakeholder kits and accessible formats including Easy Read materials
• delivered national community consultations co-led with people with disability and disability organisations. The consultations included a diverse mix of methods to make sure as many voices as possible could be heard across every state in Australia.

More about the engagement process

In total we heard from over 4,000 people with disability, their families, friends, carers and providers across Australia.

The engagements included:

• 55 webinars, workshops and roundtables with 2,961 participants
• 43 focus groups and discussions with 410 participants, mainly people with disability
• A questionnaire with 1210 responses and 224 written submissions
• An online idea wall with 498 entries.

45 events were specifically designed for targeted populations and organisations representing diverse, marginalised and intersectional groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, young people, LGBTIQA+SB communities and people living in rural and remote areas.

Every engagement was designed to be fully accessible with quiet rooms, Auslan interpretations, closed captioning, Easy Read materials and flexible participation options.

The Social Deck consolidated findings into 6 consultation reports and related summary reports, helping to directly inform the operational design of Foundational Supports and the broader Foundational Supports Strategy.