A YARRAWONGA mum fighting for her daughter's disability supports for almost 18 months feels like she's on a never-ending rollercoaster ride.
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Melanie Stephens said the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) confirmed in writing this week it would pay for a talker device for Ella, 11, after a months-long impasse.
She said the agency had agreed to fund the talker but other supports and therapies remained in dispute.
"I sent in the quote yesterday and we would hope to have Ella's own talker soon," she said yesterday.
Ella, 11, has autism and the rare genetic syndrome cri du chat (5p-), which causes delayed physical development and intellectual disability. She is non-verbal.
Her talker broke in March and Mrs Stephens' attempts to have the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) pay for a new $7000 device as well as her disability supports and therapies ended up at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
The family was only recently loaned a talker from the manufacturer, Liberator, while the AAT case continued.
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Mrs Stephens welcomed the breakthrough on the talker and some therapies but was shocked when continence aids were no longer part of Ella's package.
Ella had an appendicostomy to allow her to empty her bowel.
"They agreed to fund some of those aids but then I received an email on Tuesday, saying they were a once-off, and no longer funded," Mrs Stephens said.
"When I read the email I felt sick; it's so frustrating. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster; we had a win with the talker but they went back on their word with appendicostomy consumables."
Mrs Stephens said she now had to supply more letters from Ella's practitioners.
She said it was insulting for the agency to query the need for an appendicostomy.
"You wouldn't go down the route for surgery if you hadn't exhausted every other option first," she said.
An NDIA spokesman said on Friday the agency continued to support Ella and her family to ensure Ella continued to receive the disability-related supports she needed.
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