The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is run by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), and it works differently from the benefit systems in the United States, Canada or New Zealand. It does not pay you an income. It funds supports and services, and how much you get is worked out individually — which is why you will not find a dollar figure anywhere on this page or on the NDIS website.
Everything here was checked against NDIA pages and guidelines in August 2026. Unlike the other countries we cover, the NDIS has no annual update cycle — changes land irregularly, so the date stamp matters more here, not less.
Three requirements, all of them
To become a participant you have to meet all three (NDIA’s wording):
Age. “You must be aged from 0 to 64 years when you apply.” This is a hard line — see below.
Residence. “You must be living in Australia and be either: an Australian citizen, a permanent resident, a Protected Special Category visa holder.”
Disability. Three parts:
- you’ll have a disability related to a permanent impairment, or have a psychosocial disability caused by a permanent impairment
- your permanent impairment will significantly impact your life and your ability to do everyday tasks
- you’ll likely need NDIS supports for your lifetime.
The impairment itself must be intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical. NDIA adds that “it doesn’t matter what caused your impairment.”
Parkinson’s is on List B — and here is what that really means
Yes, Parkinson’s disease is on List B. It appears twice in NDIA’s Applying to the NDIS guideline: once under “Conditions primarily resulting in Neurological impairment,” and again under “Extrapyramidal and movement disorders.” Multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy and several other parkinsonian conditions are listed there too.
Now the part that is widely misreported. NDIA’s own definitions:
List A includes conditions which are likely to meet the disability requirements in section 24 of the NDIS Act; List B includes permanent conditions for which functional capacity is variable and further assessment of functional capacity is generally required.
In other words, List A guarantees automatic access to the NDIS. List B requires further information for access.
And from the guideline itself:
If you give us evidence you have been diagnosed with a condition on List B, we’ll likely decide your disability is from an impairment that’s likely to be permanent.
One housekeeping note, because it affects how you check this for yourself: List B no longer exists as a page on the NDIS website. It survives only inside the Applying to the NDIS guideline PDF, which is dated 10 December 2024 — the oldest document behind anything on this page. The guideline carries its own warning that it is “correct at the date of publication,” so if you are reading this much later, open the guideline from the NDIS “Our guidelines” index and confirm the entry is still there.
The test List B does not answer: functional capacity
This is where applications actually succeed or fail. Your permanent impairment “needs to substantially reduce your functional capacityYour practical ability to do daily activities — communicating, socialising, learning, moving around, looking after yourself, managing your life.Learn more or ability to do daily activities. This includes communicating, socialising, learning, moving around, looking after yourself or managing your life.”
NDIA looks for one of two markers:
- “you need a high level of support from other people, such as physical assistance, guidance, supervision or prompting”
- “you need assistive technology, equipment or home modifications that are prescribed by your GP, allied health professional or other medical professional”
It also considers how the impairment affects your ability to find and keep a job or run a business, study, spend and save money, play sport, volunteer and travel.
If there is one line on the NDIS site worth bringing to your next appointment, it is this one, because it speaks directly to on/off fluctuation:
It’s okay if you have periods of life where there’s a smaller impact on your daily life. We understand sometimes the impact of your impairment can go up and down, and come in episodes.
A good day in a quiet consulting room does not disqualify you. Evidence that describes the range — your worst hours as well as your best — is the evidence that matches what NDIA says it is looking for.
Permanence is judged after treatment has been considered
NDIA does not treat a progressive diagnosis as automatically permanent:
We usually consider whether your impairment is likely to be permanent after all available and appropriate treatment options have been considered.
The guideline puts the practical test in your treating professional’s hands: your impairment “will likely be permanent if your treating professional tells us there are no further treatments that could remedy it.” For a condition that responds to medication but still progresses, this is the sentence that decides things — and it is why the wording your neurologist uses matters as much as the diagnosis itself.
Related, and often a surprise:
We don’t fund supports to treat your impairment. The Australian health system provides health services to treat illnesses or health conditions.
Your neurologist, your medication and your hospital care are Medicare and health-system business, not NDIS business. Those are covered separately in Medicare in Australia and the PBS and your Parkinson’s medicines.
What an NDIS plan actually funds
If you are approved, you get a plan with funding you can spend only on things that count as “NDIS supports.” NDIA publishes two lists: 37 categories of goods and services that can be funded, and 15 categories that cannot. The excluded list covers, in NDIA’s words, things that “relate to your day-to-day living costs,” are illegal, “should be funded by another government system or community service,” or are “sexual services, sex work, alcohol or drugs.”
Everything funded also has to meet the “reasonable and necessary” criteria in the NDIS rules. The categories are deliberately broad — “so you have flexibility to choose the exact item or provider you want to use your funding for” — but spending outside them has consequences: “we might ask you to pay this money back to the NDIS.”
How to apply
The decision timeframe is published, which is unusual and useful: “We’ll tell you if you are eligible for the NDIS in 21 days once your application and all your supporting evidence is submitted to us.” Note the condition — the clock starts when the evidence is complete, not when you first make contact. If you disagree with the decision, you can ask for it to be reviewed.
The evidence question nobody answers
NDIA publishes a preferred-evidence list broken down by condition — acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury and others each have named assessment tools. Parkinson’s is not on that list. It falls under “Other disabilities,” where the preferred instrument for anyone 17 and over is the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0.
That is genuinely hard to find on the NDIS site, and it is worth knowing before your appointment: a WHODAS 2.0 assessment is the format NDIA has said it prefers for a condition like yours.
The age cliff at 65
You must apply while you are 64 or younger. There is no discretion in the wording. Once you turn 65 the pathway is the aged care system rather than the NDIS, which is a different agency with different rules.
If you are in your early sixties with a Parkinson’s diagnosis and you have been putting the application off, this is the reason not to. What happens to people who are already participants when they turn 65 is a separate question that the pages we checked do not answer — ask NDIA directly rather than relying on a summary.
What the aged care system offers instead is set out in After 65 — Support at Home, and the one thing it pays for in full. It is worth reading before you turn 65 rather than after, because one thing it funds without any contribution from you is physiotherapy.
If this applies to you
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You have been told List B means automatic access | It does not. List B settles permanence only; you still have to evidence reduced functional capacity |
| You are 63 or 64 | Apply now. The cut-off at 65 is absolute, and the 21-day clock only starts once your evidence is complete |
| Your symptoms fluctuate a lot day to day | Say so. NDIA states explicitly that impact can “go up and down, and come in episodes” |
| You are not sure you meet the disability requirements | Contact your local NDIS partner for advice before applying — that is what NDIA suggests, and they can also connect you with community supports if you are not eligible |
| You want help paying for your neurologist or medication | That is the health system, not the NDIS — see Medicare and the PBS |
| You need money to live on, not services | The NDIS is the wrong programme. Look at the Disability Support Pension instead |
| Someone in your family provides your daily care | They may have entitlements of their own — see Carer Payment and Carer Allowance |
| You are already 65 or older | The NDIS is closed to you. Support at Home is the aged care pathway instead |
| Your diagnosis is MSA or PSP | Both appear on List B under extrapyramidal and movement disorders, with the same permanence-only effect |
This page is not medical or legal advice and does not decide your application. Details were checked against NDIA pages in August 2026, and the List B entry comes from a guideline dated 10 December 2024. The NDIS changes on no fixed schedule, so confirm your position with the NDIA and your care team.