Removing the barriers to finding NDIS employment

March 28, 2022

If you have goals to land your dream job and have approval for funded supports in employment, the team at Disability Plan Services can help connect you with the supports you need to find and secure NDIS employment. 

If you have funding for NDIS employment in your plan, finding and keeping a job is key to bolstering your social, financial and wellbeing outcomes. This is because having a job increases your sense of responsibility, improves your independence, and helps you build new skills and friendships. 

At Disability Plan Services, we know the barriers to employment are sometimes amplified for NDIS participants. Negative perceptions, stereotypes and stigmas about disability in the community have made it increasingly difficult for NDIS participants to both find and retain employment. 

Working with a friendly team of experts such as Disability Plan Services can help remove those barriers by developing your independence, as well as helping you build relationships that make it easier to obtain employment. Basically, we’re like your own personal NDIS employment support network!

Why is it beneficial for NDIS participants to be employed? 

In addition to all the positive benefits of gaining employment for the participant, there are many positive flow-on effects for the community. For employers, hiring people with disabilities better reflects their diverse customer base, improves customer engagement and broadens the range of talent and diversity within their workforce. Secondly, it benefits the family members and carers of an NDIS participant who are able to return to work or have more free time for themselves. Thirdly, it allows NDIS participants to rely on supports and other activities less when they fill their day by going to work. 

How can Disability Plan Services provide positive NDIS employment support?

Through our NDIS Support Coordination services, we’re able to help connect you with the people and supports you need to succeed. We work with you to establish your needs, wants and goals to ensure you have the right mix of supports. Having the right supports naturally increases your capacity to maintain relationships, manage service delivery tasks, live more independently, and be included in your community. These skills are crucial for improving your employability, and participants with these skills are more likely to go on and not only find a job but retain it too.

As a capacity-building support, Support Coordination is not just about helping you obtain NDIS employment – it plays a crucial role in helping you achieve independence and your long-term goals overall. The NDIS breaks down Support Coordination into three sub-categories:

1. Support connection – Short-term assistance to help you connect and build relationships with service providers. At Disability Plan Services, we can help facilitate any level of supports you need, either short-term or long-term. 
2. Support coordination – Ongoing assistance to navigate the NDIS, connect you with supports, resolve any issues etc. 
3. Specialist support coordination – This is for NDIS participants who have a complex living situation, difficulty communicating, or other family members also living with disability. Specialist support coordination by Disability Plan Services helps to address barriers and reduce complexities in eligible participants’ lives. 

Thinking about finding NDIS employment, but not sure where to start? 

If you’re toying with the idea of finding a job, the first step is to reach out to your support coordinator to discuss your options and next steps. At the very beginning of this process, your support coordinator may recommend you use some of your NDIS funding to try out volunteering or interning to get a feel of what employment might be like, and to discover what skills you have already. 

If you have a planning meeting or plan review coming up and you’re feeling ready to kickstart the job-seeking process, your support coordinator might also ask you to fill out the NDIS ‘Let’s talk about work’ booklet. This booklet can help you prepare for your planning conversation with the NDIS. During this process, it’s important that you communicate clearly what type of work you’re looking for, and what barriers you’ve faced previously that may have prevented you from obtaining this kind of work. If you need help, your support coordinator can help you answer any questions you’re unsure of. Once completed, this booklet will be used to inform your chosen NDIS representative so that together we can explore ways you can develop your work skills.

After your initial planning meeting or planning review, you’ll receive an NDIS plan that may include funding to assist you in finding a job. Alternatively, your support coordinator may have spoken to you about accessing your local Disability Employment Services (DES). DES is run by the Australian Government and is not funded by the NDIS, however, it will still be included in your plan under the ‘My services and community involvement’ section. 

Other supports in your NDIS plan can help you build skills and access employment easier, such as funding for travel and accommodation, or supports that help you develop positive relationships and communication skills.

If you want to learn more about how we can help make your NDIS outcomes  and overall lifestyle more positive through finding a job, contact us here.