Tip 1 - Find Your NDIS Starting Point

The first few tips are all about you because you need to be ready, supported and encouraged before you go on to doing stuff. The NDIS has a huge impact on every person it touches, just ask anyone.

I can't go anywhere without someone asking me about the NDIS and telling me a story when they hear I work in the sector. I helped my massage therapist's mother get onto the NDIS, my Pilates instructor to understand her son's plan and my hairdresser to apply for more funding for her child and the list goes on. A lot of people need help with the NDIS. Let's get started with you.

Let's face it – diving into the NDIS can feel like trying to assemble IKEA furniture without instructions. Where do you even begin? Time to figure out which NDIS tribe you belong to!

Are you a complete NDIS newbie? If terms like 'reasonable and necessary supports' sound as foreign as your neighbor's cat's meowing, welcome to the Learners Club! Don't worry – we all started here, probably with the same deer-in-headlights expression you're wearing right now.

Maybe you're in the "I know enough to be dangerous" zone. You've got the basics down but still occasionally mix up your plan managers with your support coordinators. You're like a teenager who can drive but still hasn't mastered parallel parking – you're getting there!

Or perhaps you're an NDIS guru, fluently speaking the language of support categories and plan reviews. You're the person everyone corners at parties (well, disability sector parties) to ask about their funding questions.

But here's the million-dollar question (or should we say, the NDIS funding question): where do you want to be? Maybe you're happy to outsource the brain-bending stuff to a support coordinator who can translate NDIS-speak into plain English. Or perhaps you're aiming to become the next NDIS whisperer, determined to master every detail of the scheme. There's no right or wrong answer – just what works best for you and your journey.

Understanding your starting point is like having a secret map in a treasure hunt – it might not tell you exactly where the X is, but it sure beats wandering around in circles with a blindfold on!