NDIS information that makes sense.
Clear, plain-English guides for NDIS participants, families and carers, so you can understand your options and feel confident about your next step.
- Free to read
- Plain English
- No sign-up, no tracking
Everything you need to find your way
Four guides that follow the NDIS journey, from your first application to making a complaint.
Getting started
Who can access the NDIS, how to apply, and how to prepare for your planning meeting.
Read the guideYour plan
How plan budgets are grouped, and what “reasonable and necessary” means.
Read the guideChoosing providers
Plan management types, what to ask a provider, and your rights as a participant.
Read the guideReviews and complaints
What to do if you disagree with a decision or have a concern about a service.
Read the guideThree simple steps
Pick a topic
Choose the guide that matches where you are right now. You don’t need to read them in order.
Read it in plain English
Short sections, everyday words, and a checklist of questions you can use.
Take it to the right people
Use what you learn when you talk to the NDIA, your planner, your Local Area Coordinator or your providers.
Jargon, translated
NDIS language can feel like another language. Here is how we explain it.
Reasonable and necessary
The NDIS funds supports that relate to your disability, are good value for money, are likely to work for you, and are something the NDIS (rather than another service) should fund. The test comes from section 34 of the NDIS Act 2013.
Plan-managed
Someone else, called a plan manager, pays your providers’ invoices from your plan funds, so you don’t have to handle the paperwork.
Internal review
You can ask the NDIA to look again at a decision you disagree with. You generally need to ask within three months of getting the decision.
Always check the latest rules at ndis.gov.au, because the NDIS changes over time.
Calm, clear and honest
Plain language
We write for people reading when they are tired, busy or worried.
Independent
We don’t deliver supports, so we aren’t selling you a service.
Built to be accessible
Change text size, colours, font and spacing from the Accessibility button.
Honest about limits
We point you to the official source and tell you what we can’t do.
We provide information only.
Thera Life Australia is an independent information service. We do not deliver NDIS supports, we are not part of the NDIA, and we are not currently a registered NDIS provider. We can’t review your individual plan or give advice about your funding.
Official help lines
- NDIS (NDIA) national contact centre1800 800 110Access, plans and NDIA decisions
- NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission1800 035 544Complaints about providers and workers. TTY 133 677
- Lifeline, 24 hours13 11 14Crisis support and suicide prevention
- Emergency000If someone is in immediate danger