Am I Eligible for the NDIS? Eligibility Explained

One of the first questions families ask us is also one of the hardest to answer in a single sentence: "Are we even eligible for the NDIS?" If you're sitting in Croydon Park, Five Dock, or anywhere across the Inner West Sydney wondering whether the scheme is for your family, this article will walk you through the criteria in plain English.

The good news is that the rules, while detailed, follow a clear logic. Let's go through them gently.

The three main criteria

To access the NDIS, a person generally needs to meet requirements in three areas: age, residence, and disability. You need to meet all three.

1. Age

A person must be under 65 when they first apply to the NDIS. Once someone is part of the scheme, they can continue to receive support as they get older — the age cap applies at the point of first applying, not forever.

For people aged 65 and over who haven't joined the NDIS, support is generally provided through the aged care system instead — our explainer on the NDIS versus Support at Home compares the two.

2. Residence

To be eligible, a person needs to:

• Live in Australia, and
• Be an Australian citizen, hold a permanent visa, or hold a special category visa

This is about making sure the scheme supports people who are settled in the community here.

3. Disability

This is usually the part that needs the most thought. The NDIS is for people with a permanent and significant disability.

• Permanent means the disability is likely to be lifelong. In some cases this includes conditions that are expected to be lifelong even where treatment continues.
• Significant means the disability has a substantial impact on a person's ability to do everyday activities — things like moving around, communicating, self-care, learning, or taking part in social and community life.

The disability can be physical, intellectual, sensory, cognitive, or psychosocial (relating to a mental health condition). What matters is the impact on daily life, not the diagnosis on its own.

Early intervention — a second pathway

There's also a pathway called early intervention. This is for people where getting support now is likely to reduce their future need for support, or help build skills and independence early. It's especially relevant for children and young people with developmental delay or disability, where early help can make a real difference.

So even if someone doesn't clearly meet the "permanent and significant" test, the early intervention pathway may still apply. It's always worth asking.

What "everyday activities" really means

Eligibility can feel abstract, so it helps to picture real life. The NDIA looks at how a disability affects areas such as:

• Getting around the home and community
• Communicating with others
• Personal care — dressing, washing, eating
• Learning and understanding
• Taking part in social, work, or community life
• Managing daily routines and self-management

If a person needs significant ongoing help in one or more of these areas because of their disability, that's a strong sign the disability is having a substantial impact.

"I'm not sure if we qualify"

Please don't let uncertainty stop you. Many families across the Inner West start out unsure, and you do not need to have everything figured out before you reach out.

A few gentle pointers:

• Diagnosis helps but isn't the whole story. The impact on daily life matters most.
• Evidence is key. Letters and reports from a GP, specialist, or allied health professional that describe the disability and its effects will support an application.
• There's no penalty for asking. Making an enquiry doesn't commit you to anything.

If the NDIS isn't the right fit

Sometimes a person doesn't meet the criteria — and that doesn't mean there's no support available. There are mainstream and community supports, local services, and health pathways that may help. If you'd like a clearer sense of how the NDIS works before you take the next step, our plain-English guide is a good place to start. A good provider can point you towards other options so you're never left at a dead end.

We can help you make sense of it

At Adom Grace Care, we support people with disability and their families right across the Inner West Sydney — from Croydon Park to Five Dock — and we know how daunting that first eligibility question can feel.

If you'd like to talk it through with someone friendly and patient, please contact us. You can also browse our NDIS support services to see how we support people once they're on their NDIS journey. Wherever you land on eligibility, you don't have to work it out alone.