Amanda Solarino has been left stressed trying to secure more NDIS support for her son Alex. ( Supplied: Amanda Solarino )
Caregivers of people with disabilities say navigating the NDIS to try to get more support for their loved ones is leaving them feeling exhausted and taking a toll on their mental health.
It comes as accessing the NDIS becomes increasingly difficult, after cuts in funding for some sectors began to be rolled out on October 1.
Amanda Solarino, who lives in Romsey just outside Melbourne, is the full-time carer for her 21-year-old son Alex, who is autistic, non‑verbal and has an intellectual disability.
Ms Solarino said she was continuously replacing furniture and fixing walls as a result of her son's escalating aggression, and she struggled to get the help she needed from the NDIS.
Some of the damage caused by Alex at home. ( Supplied: Amanda Solarino )
"Alex's aggression isn't just directed at us or the furniture anymore — he's now turning it on Erica, his 19‑year‑old sister," she said.
"She's so anxious she won't walk down the hallway unless she knows exactly where he is."
Her son's disability also comes at a steep financial cost.
Amanda Solarino lives with several health conditions herself. ( Supplied: Amanda Solarino )
"No one's paying to fix the furniture he breaks ... the $2,000 couch he breaks with his head or the two beds he's broken in the last 18 months," she said.
Ms Solarino said Alex had been kicked out of programmes providing day care in their area, and in a neighbouring town, leaving the family with one support worker who can only come for six hours every Monday.
Ms Solarino has had to plaster the walls after Alex damaged them. ( Supplied: Amanda Solarino )
The stress is affecting Ms Solarino. She has chronic migraine disorder and requires injections every 12 weeks, and her arthritis has worsened.
"They're suspecting autoimmune problems, probably brought on by all the stress," she said.
After Alex's aggression worsened, the NDIS escalated his housing request to crisis level and eventually approved his specialist disability accommodation.
Ms Solarino said the new plan did not fulfil the provisions she had asked for, but she was too exhausted by the process to fight it.
She said all she wanted for Alex was for him to live with some dignity.
On the Sunshine Coast, the family of Breanna Medcalfe, a 24-year-old law student with a spinal injury and quadriplegia, has also faced challenges getting the NDIS help she needs.
Ms Medcalfe is completely paralysed from the neck down and relies on assistance for all activities, including driving and showering.
Breanna Medcalfe now relies on her parents for care. ( ABC News: Josh Dye )
Ms Medcalfe has one support worker, but mainly relies on her 60-year-old parents to take care of her daily care responsibilities.
She would like more NDIS-funded support hours, but her requests have been declined.
"Because I have mum and dad and I live at home with them, they are like my informal supports, and they therefore can provide the main support, which is incorrect," she said.
Ms Medcalfe is lodging an appeal against a review of her NDIS plan.
"We haven't yet come to the point where we've run out of support hours, but we've been very restricted as to what we can do," she said.
"Why do we have to justify that we're disabled enough to need this funding?"
Ms Medcalfe says its not right that her parents have to care for her all the time. ( ABC News: Josh Dye )
The NDIS refused to answer specific questions about supports provided by family members and the lack of resources in regional areas, referring the ABC to its website.
A spokesperson defended the agency's role in providing "critical, essential services" and confirmed that funding resets for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living supports had gradually rolled out from October 1.
The spokesperson said supports vital to the health, safety, and wellbeing of participants would be excluded from the changes, and added that new safeguards will protect participants with 24-hour care needs.
Ms Medcalfe and her support worker Katy-Lea Holmes. ( ABC News: Josh Dye )
Ms Medcalfe says she wants the NDIS to understand the real‑world consequences of its decisions.
"We're not asking for, you know, over the top things," she said.
