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Eligibility & application

Am I eligible for the NDIS?

A clear guide to NDIS eligibility — the three things you need to qualify, what "disability" means under the Act, and what to do if you're not sure.

Last verified 17 May 2026

If you're reading this, you're probably trying to work out whether the NDIS is for you, or for someone you care about. The official rules can read like they were written by a lawyer who has never met a human — so here it is without the jargon.

The NDIS has three eligibility tests. You need to pass all three.

The three things you need to qualify

1. Age — under 65 when you first apply

You need to be under 65 the day you submit your access request.

If you're 65 or older and have a disability, the My Aged Care system is the pathway for you. Different scheme, different funding rules, but it covers similar in-home and residential supports.

One detail worth knowing: if you're already an NDIS participant before you turn 65, you stay on the NDIS. The cut-off only applies to people applying for the first time.

2. Residency

You need to live in Australia and be one of the following:

  • An Australian citizen
  • A permanent resident
  • A Protected Special Category Visa (SCV) holder (mostly New Zealand citizens who arrived before February 2001)

Tourists, temporary visa holders and student visa holders aren't eligible.

3. Disability or early intervention requirement

This is the test most decisions hinge on. There are two paths into the NDIS — the disability requirement and the early intervention requirement. You need to meet one of them.

We'll unpack both below.

What "disability" means under the NDIS

The NDIS isn't a scheme for everyone with a health condition. It's specifically for people with a permanent and significant disability that affects how they live day-to-day.

The legal test (Section 24 of the NDIS Act) says the impairment needs to be:

  • Permanent or likely to be permanent — not something that will substantially get better with treatment.
  • Resulting in substantially reduced functional capacity in one or more of these areas:
    • Communication
    • Social interaction
    • Learning
    • Mobility
    • Self-care
    • Self-management
  • Affecting your ability to participate in everyday social and economic life.
  • Likely to need disability supports for life.

"Permanent" doesn't mean incurable — it just means it won't substantially improve. Autism is a good example: it's lifelong, but plenty of autistic people develop strategies and capacities over time. The NDIS still considers it permanent because the underlying impairment is.

Conditions that almost always qualify (List A)

The NDIA keeps a published List A of conditions where, if you have evidence of a confirmed diagnosis, eligibility is usually granted without a separate functional assessment. It includes things like:

  • Intellectual disability assessed as moderate, severe or profound
  • Autism diagnosed at Level 2 or Level 3 (DSM-5)
  • Cerebral palsy at GMFCS Level 3, 4 or 5
  • Spinal cord injury with paraplegia or quadriplegia
  • Severe and permanent neurological conditions including motor neurone disease and Huntington's disease
  • Deafblindness
  • Permanent blindness in both eyes

If you have a List A condition, your application is mostly about confirming the diagnosis. If you don't, you'll need to show how the condition affects your day-to-day functioning.

Conditions that need functional evidence (List B and beyond)

For most other conditions — psychosocial disability, chronic illnesses, ADHD, less severe presentations of autism, acquired brain injury, and many others — the question shifts from "what's your diagnosis?" to "how much does it actually affect your life?"

This is where good supporting evidence matters. The strongest applications usually include:

  • A specialist report describing the condition and its expected course
  • An Occupational Therapy functional assessment
  • Reports from any other allied health professional who works with you regularly
  • Day-to-day examples of where you need help

The early intervention pathway

There's a second way into the NDIS, mostly used by younger children. Instead of asking "do you have a permanent disability now?" it asks "would supports right now reduce future need?"

To meet the early intervention requirement, you need to show that:

  • You have an impairment likely to be permanent, or a condition where early intervention is well-established to help (the Early Childhood pathway for kids under 7), and
  • Receiving supports now will reduce the impact of that impairment, or help you build capacity to participate in everyday activities.

For children under 7, the Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) pathway is the front door. You don't need a formal diagnosis to start — an Early Childhood partner organisation will work with the family to assess support needs.

Heads up — this is changing. From 1 October 2026, a new program called Thriving Kids will start rolling out as the front door for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism with low-to-moderate support needs. Thriving Kids sits outside the NDIS — it delivers supports through schools, GPs and community services, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and state governments. Kids with higher support needs will still come through the NDIS. The transition runs from October 2026 and is expected to be at scale by 1 January 2028.

Common reasons people get knocked back

A few patterns come up regularly when applications are rejected:

  • Diagnosis without functional impact — the condition exists but the application doesn't show what daily activities are affected. The NDIS needs evidence of impact, not just a diagnosis letter.
  • Treatable conditions — if the condition is well-managed with medication or treatment and your function is close to typical, you usually won't qualify. The NDIS isn't designed to substitute for the health system.
  • Weak supporting evidence — generic GP letters rarely carry an application. Specialist reports or functional assessments do.
  • Wrong scheme — mental health conditions managed through Medicare/headspace usually go through those pathways, not the NDIS. The NDIS step is for psychosocial disability — where a mental health condition causes long-term functional impairment.

What if you're over 65?

If you're 65 or over and applying for the first time, the NDIS isn't available — but you're not out of options:

  • My Aged Care is the front door for aged-care services, including in-home support, allied health, equipment and residential care.
  • For carers, the Carer Gateway offers free counselling, respite, peer support and emergency assistance.

If you're approaching 65 and your disability is recent or worsening, it's worth applying to the NDIS now rather than waiting — eligibility is decided on the day you apply.

How to apply

The application is called an Access Request. There are two ways to start it:

  1. Phone — call the NDIS on 1800 800 110 and ask to make a verbal access request. They'll take your details and post you a form for supporting evidence.
  2. Form — download the Access Request Form from ndis.gov.au, fill it in, attach your evidence, and email or post it.

You'll need:

  • Proof of identity (Medicare card / driver's licence / passport)
  • Proof of residency status
  • A completed Supporting Evidence Form filled in by your treating health professional, or existing specialist reports that cover the same ground

The decision usually comes through within 21 days of the NDIA having all your information. If they need more, the clock pauses.

If you're rejected, you can ask for an internal review (within 3 months of the decision). If that's still unsuccessful, you can escalate to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) — replacing the old AAT from October 2024.

What if you're not sure?

A few quick checks:

  • You can apply yourself, or someone can apply for you. No paid intermediary is needed — eligibility decisions are free.
  • You don't have to be on a pension or any other benefit to qualify. Income and assets don't factor in.
  • If you're between 65 and 67, apply now if you have a disability that's likely permanent — once you turn 65, the door closes for first-time applications.
  • Talk to a disability advocate if you'd like free help working out whether to apply or putting your application together. Advocates know the system and can't sell you anything. Find one through the Disability Advocacy Network Australia.

You don't need to have everything figured out before you call the NDIS. Their first job is to work out which pathway fits you — and if you're not eligible, they'll usually tell you why.

What's changing

The NDIS landscape is in active reform. As of May 2026, two pieces of legislation matter:

  • NDIS Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Act 2026 — passed Parliament and received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026. Focuses on provider integrity, fraud reduction and registration standards. Doesn't directly change participant eligibility rules.
  • NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 — introduced to Parliament on 14 May 2026. Not yet law. If passed, expect: a shift from diagnosis-based access to evidence-based functional assessments (so an autism or ADHD diagnosis alone wouldn't be enough — you'd need standardised assessments of functional impact), tighter eligibility, and a target reduction in NDIS participant numbers from around 750,000 to 600,000 by 2030.

What this means practically:

  • If you're applying now, the rules in this guide still apply.
  • If you have a child aged 8 or under with low-to-moderate developmental needs, plan for the Thriving Kids transition from 1 October 2026.
  • If you're borderline eligible under current rules, applying sooner rather than later may be wise — the bar appears to be moving upward over time.

We'll update this article as the Bill progresses through Parliament. For a fuller walkthrough of what's in the Bill and what it might mean if it passes, see our reaction explainer: The Securing NDIS Bill 2026: what it means for your plan.

Helpful resources

Sources & last verified

Last verified 17 May 2026 against:

Next review scheduled 17 August 2026.