What is Specialised Disability Accommodation (SDA) under the NDIS?

A good number of Australians are either living with a disability or need a lot of support to carry out their daily tasks. Their disability tends to affect their quality of life as they are unable to perform basic tasks in their homes. This is where the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)  comes in. The organization aims to provide a better quality of life for Australians living with a disability. It is responsible for the SDA Housing Australia scheme where disabled people are provided with custom-designed housing solutions to improve their quality of life. 

What is specialist disability accommodation (SDA)?

Specialist disability accommodation is an initiative in Australia whereby specialized houses are made available for people who have high levels of disabilities. This housing arrangement is also available for people who need a high level of support to perform daily tasks. This type of special housing system is usually designed around the special needs of the disabled person. This means that houses are built and customized according to each person. The scheme aims to ensure that such people can live without needing external help from other people. This is possible because the special house is equipped with all the mechanisms and systems that they need to function daily. The SDA programme is usually hosted by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which is an organization that supports people living with different types of disabilities. 

How specialized disability accommodation work 

Specialised disability accommodation (SDA) is a part of a programme in Australia whereby disability housing solutions are made available for people with special needs. People with certain disabilities tend to require a certain level of support to perform certain tasks. The aim of making disability housing solutions available is to make sure that such people can function properly without needing anybody else to help them. What this type of accommodation does is that it comes with some type of support mechanism or assistive technology to help people cope with their disabilities. This type of accommodation can be a few people living in a shared housing unit. However, the disabled person usually have their bedroom. 

A look inside the specialised disability housing solution 

The NDIS carries out this programme by funding custom home modifications for each recipient of the scheme. This usually involves a series of home modifications that are made to the existing house. The reason for these building modifications is to be able to provide each recipient with a custom housing solution to help them manage their disability better. These changes in the house can either be complex or simple modifications. They are necessary so that they can help disabled people move easily in the house or perform simple tasks such as cooking or cleaning. There are several reasons why disabled people may need these modifications these include:

• If they find it difficult to move around the house 
• If they are afraid for their safety
• If they find it difficult to use simple home systems like showers or the toilet.
• If they are unable to make use of the rooms in their house.
• If their disability stops them from performing certain daily tasks.
• If they want their home modified to allow carers to provide them with effective disability support. 

Getting your home modified through the NDIS 

The specialist disability accommodation in perth under the NDIS is usually executed under a special home modifications programme. The NDIS will fund any home modification project that has been validated to improve the quality of life of the person living with a disability. In this case, any changes made to the house have to help improve the living conditions (s) of the disabled person. This means that it has to help them with their disability. The modifications involve simple or complex building upgrades that support the disabled person. It is important to note that the NDIS will not fund any modification project that does not relate to the recipient’s disability. It means that the NDIS will not provide financial support for irrelevant building renovations or restorations that have nothing to do with helping a disabled person.

How does the NDIS make specialist disability accommodation available?

The NDIS will usually fund the construction or modification of a specialist disability accommodation for the recipient. This means that the NDIS has many ways of making an SDA available for disabled people. Before you get an SDA you will have to be eligible for one. If you are eligible, the NDIS will assess your disability to be able to determine the type of accommodation that you need. They will then draft a plan for your SDA with the necessary funding requirements. The NDIS will usually fund two main things under this scheme. These are:

• The design category: By the design category, the NDIS will fund the modification project of the SDA. This is a simple or complex change to the housing to make sure that it supports the recipient due to their disabilities. 
• The type of building: Under the NDIS scheme, there are several available building types that eligible disabled people can choose. These include apartments, houses, townhouses, villas, and so on. 

Types of accommodation available under the NDIS

For people who do not know much about specialised disability accommodation (SDA), there are 4 NDIS accommodation types. These include:

• Apartments: With apartments, NDIS provides support recipients with suitable self-contained houses. These houses are well-designed units that are purposely built as a way to support people with disability. All NDIS-type apartments are built as a part of a bigger residential house. 
• Duplexes: NDIS also provides duplexes as a type of specialist disability accommodation. These special accommodations can also be called townhouses or villas. They are part of a semi-detached building but exist as separate units and are often located within a single plot of land that has been reserved for this purpose. Other examples of this type of accommodation are the granny flats, single villas, and so on.
• Houses: The SDA NDIS scheme also offers suitably designed detached low-rise houses as a part of the specialist disability accommodation arrangement. Many of these types of accommodations come with courtyard areas, gardens, and so on. 

• Group homes: Under the SDA NDIS scheme, you can also have access to group homes where several people are made to live in a single house. Group homes usually have about 4 to 5 residents.