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Targeting people with psychosocial disabilities is a dangerous narrative 

15 April 2026  

Suggesting the removal of people with psychosocial disability from the NDIS reflects a disturbing and harmful shift in the way disability is portrayed, says the peak body for all psychologists. 

The Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi) is deeply concerned over recent reports that the Federal Government is targeting the NDIS’s $6bn spend on mental health supports, with approximately 65,000 participants potentially impacted. 

AAPi President Sahra O'Doherty said the framing of this debate risked repeating a pattern of stigma and misinformation around mental health.

“We are again seeing egregious smearing of people with disabilities in public discourse. First, it was autistic children; now, it’s people with psychosocial disabilities.

“Thousands of our members have worked for decades to reduce stigma in mental health. We cannot allow this progress to be undone by narratives that question who is ‘disabled enough’ to deserve support,” she said. 

Ms O’Doherty said psychosocial disability is a legitimate and recognised disability, often arising from severe and persistent mental health conditions that significantly impact a person’s functioning.

“For many people, psychosocial disability is permanent, severe, and functionally limiting. Treating it as less legitimate than physical disability entrenches stigma and discrimination.

“With appropriate, consistent support, people can stabilise, recover, and participate meaningfully in their communities,” she said. 

Shifting people out of the NDIS without a fully funded, accessible, and equivalent alternative system risks significant harm, Ms O’Doherty said.

“Moving people from one ‘cost centre’ to another does not solve the problem, it simply reallocates it. Without proper supports in place, the cost will be borne elsewhere: to hospitals, to crisis services, to homelessness, and to lost lives.”

AAPi rejects suggestions that NDIS spending on psychosocial disability represents waste. “There is an increasingly concerning narrative that NDIS spending is somehow excessive or unjustified. This is fundamentally incorrect,” Ms O’Doherty said.

“These supports provide life-saving therapy and services that keep people well, safe, and connected. Removing them is not a saving, it is a risk.

“What is truly damaging the ‘social capital’ of the NDIS is not the people who rely on it, it is myopic and uninformed reporting that undermines public understanding and fuels stigma.”

AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison said any NDIS budget-saving measure will just push costs elsewhere.

“Balancing the sustainability of the NDIS must not involve abandoning one of the most marginalised groups the scheme was designed to support,” she said. 

AAPi Chief Psychologist, Amanda Curran, said access for psychosocial disability was already at historic lows.

“People with psychosocial disability now experience among the lowest NDIS access rates of any disability group, with approval rates around 25% - less than half the level seen just five years ago, and far lower than rates for other disabilities. 

“Many who meet eligibility criteria are being declined or filtered out despite significant functional impairment,” she said. 

“The NDIA itself has commenced a formal review into why psychosocial disability access rates have fallen so sharply, acknowledging that current decision making may be inconsistent with the intent of the Scheme.” 

AAPi is calling on the Federal Government to ensure that any proposed reforms:

  • Recognise psychosocial disability as a legitimate and enduring disability
  • Ensure psychology is appropriately accessible under the NDIS
  • Avoid retraumatising or destabilising participants through abrupt policy shifts
  • Guarantee access to equivalent or improved supports before any transition occurs
  • Engage meaningfully with the mental health, disability and participants

“We are not talking about abstract budget figures, we are talking about real people. Humans who deserve dignity, care, and evidence-based support.

“We urge the Government to proceed with caution and compassion, and to work with the sector to ensure reforms strengthen, not weaken, Australia’s support systems.”

ENDS 

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About AAPi 

AAPi is a not-for-profit peak body for psychologists that aims to preserve the rich diversity of psychological practice in Australia. Formed in 2010 by a group of passionate grassroots psychologists, AAPi’s primary goal is to address inequality in the profession and represent all psychologists and their clients equally to government and funding bodies. Its primary mission is to lobby for equitable access for the Australian public to professional psychological services such as Medicare Better Access Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.