Leah Van Poppel, a NDIS board member and participant of the scheme talks about disability and inclusion for International Women's Day.

Everyone's journey is different and it's okay. I’m Marli. I have been on the NDIS for three years and diagnosed in late 2018 with progressive MS. I just said, God, you need to send me the people that will be my people. My name's Steph, I’ve been a support worker for Marli for probably two years or a little bit longer. And every time Marla comes up with an idea, I'm just like, Yes, let's do it I'm behind it. And then I can just make it happen. They're literally my little angels and they like they give me my dignity too, which is really, really important for people that are disabled because they let me try and do stuff. There is hard times and I guess being there when the person you're caring for is having a really hard day. The NDIS has helped me get my life back. I’m a success story, I’m raising a daughter. I'm able to, you know, now go and do something that I didn't know I love. Okay smiling everybody, beautiful.

[Start transcript] When he walks into the room, he uplifts the mood because he's just got that real happy go lucky sort of personality. Kids like me, and all the classes say, good morning Mr. Tala. I would strongly recommend that businesses and organisations look to employ people with disabilities. I’ve been a support worker for Marli for probably two years or a little bit longer. Every time Marli comes up with an idea, I'm just like, yes, let's do it. Okay, So welcome, everyone, to our mini wreath party. I'm so blessed to be able to have Steph as my arms and legs to be able to do this. There's something really special about bringing women together. Yuandamarra's taught me a lot of stories, a lot of bush stuff. What I want to do is one day I want to go up to my old school in Alice Springs. And teach them cultural stuff. I just want to help them out and lead them in the right pathway. What I enjoy most about being in the sematics group is working together with different people, bouncing ideas off each other and just seeing what everyone can contribute and working towards a goal as a team. It's not just that we've got these problems that we need people with neurodiversity to solve, It’s actually having a workforce that's diverse, helps everybody be better at their jobs. [End transcript]

my NDIS participant portal Overview To help us deliver an improved participant experience and our new computer system. We built the new My NDIS participant portal. Participants with an NDIS plan in our new computer system will be able to use the My NDIS portal. The new My NDIS portal is more accessible and it will help participants, nominees and child representatives to easily view and manage the NDIS plan. Participants and their representatives can use the portal to view their budget. View a budget breakdown of each support category, including the total funds available. See all claims against their budget view, plan information and personal details, and view their inbox. Self-managed participants who are using the my NDIS portal can also claim against their self managed funds by selecting make a claim from the menu. New participants using the my NDIS portal for the first time, we need to link the NDIS to their myGov account. Nominees and child representatives can see all the participants they act on behalf of by linking the NDIS to their myGov account. For more information, visit NDIS.gov.au or phone 1800 800 110

my NDIS app Overview To improve the digital tools available to participants, families and carers, we’ve updated the My NDIS app. Participants with an NDIS plan developed in our new computer system are able to use the updated my NDIS app. The updated NDIS app is more accessible and will help participants, nominees and child representatives to easily view and manage their NDIS plan from their mobile or tablets at any time. Participants and nominees can download the app update to view their budget. View a budget breakdown of each support category, including their total funds available. See all claims against their budget and view their plan, information and personal details using the My NDIS app. Self-managed participants will also be able to make a claim against their self-managed funds by clicking the Make a claim tab. New participants using the My NDIS app for the first time will need to download the My NDIS app. The My NDIS app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for free after signing into the app for the first time. Participants can change the accessibility features to suit their needs, including setting up face ID or fingerprint access. If your device supports these functions. For more information, visit NDIS.gov.au or phone 1800 800 110.

How to Claim in the my NDIS portal Participants who self manage funds in their NDIS plan will be able to use the my NDIS portal to make claims through our new computer system To make a claim from the main menu, first select claims, then make a claim on the payee details screen. You can choose a favourite claim you've saved, a payee you have claimed for before, or enter a new payee to enter a new payee first into their name. This is for your information only, if you can provide the payees ABN select Yes to Can you provide the payees ABN? then enter their 11 digit Australian business number. You can find the ABN on your receipt or tax invoice. Then select next. Claim details on the claim Details page you can enter the rest of the information for your claim. Select selective. The support ran over multiple days, then enter the support dates by typing them in or using the calendar. Select the category you're claiming from the dropdown box. The dropdown box will show the available support categories for the dates chosen into the amount of the claim. You'll see the available balance for the support category chosen and what will be available after your claim is processed. Next, you can add a description of the claim for your records. You can attach up to five receipts or invoices to the claim by choosing files from your computer, you can choose to save the claim as a favourite. This saves the payee description and support category so that next time you need to make a similar claim, it is easier. Once you have entered and checked all the claim details you can select, declare and submit. A declaration will appear. Please read it carefully. If you are ready to submit your claim, you can rate and check the declaration checkbox and select the submit button. Once your claim is submitted, you'll see the claim receipt page. This has the details of the claim and the updated balance of the support category from which you claimed. From this page you can print a copy of the claim receipt or easily start a new claim by selecting Make another claim. For more information, visit NDIS.gov.au or phone 1800 800 110.

So, I've been acting since May of last year, which isn't very long, and that was started with a show called Latecomers. As a disability advocate, I get a lot of emails from lots of very cool but very random people and places. And one day I opened up my inbox and had this random email from a producer who was working with SBS on the show called Later Commers. Which was written by people with cerebral palsy, about people with cerebral palsy and obviously had intentions of casting disabled actors. We've seen a lot of able bodied people try to tell those stories, whether that's in casting or directing or screenwriting throughout Hollywood's history. And I think we're now finally getting to a point where hopefully the people with the lived experience get to call the shots. Because often people's perceptions of disability and the reality are very different. So, I'm just excited be trusted with someone's vision for a character and to know that they believe I can embody that character enough that I'm the person who can make it real. It makes me want to cry, that's what it makes me want to do. Because it's just a very surreal full circle moment and there are multiple ways that my dreams of come true and not many people get to get to say that, so.