NDIS Staff Profile - Nina

My name is Nina. I am a planner at the Ipswich office and I’m also a participant in the scheme.
I have had a disability since I was born and I was diagnosed when I was about four and a half. I work for the scheme because I want to see a lot of different changes that surround that ways the we think about disability and the ways that we look at disability.
In my work I talk with participants basically to let them know a little bit about what the scheme is and what we can do for people in their lives, and then also have a chat with them about what they want to achieve.
So basically we just have a really open conversation about the things that they want in their life and the ways that the scheme itself can help them to achieve those things.
So I have cerebral palsy. It has allowed me to be a more empathetic person. So I basically bring my own experience with disability to every single conversation that I have.
Every person has a life history and once it stops becoming just about the scheme and it also becomes about the people, because really it is about the people, that’s when the conversation magic happens.
Before I started working here I didn’t know that it was possible to be in a workplace that was so inclusive. Having a supportive environment that is disability positive, that is person centred, that is focussed on the individual, is one of the revelationary and beautiful things I have experienced.