ACT residents who transitioned to the National Disability Insurance Scheme in its first year are less satisfied than many of their interstate counterparts and the number of eligible participants continues to exceed expectations, the latest report shows.
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But for Ronnie Lawrence and his family the scheme has lived up to its life-changing promises.
Since the rollout began on July 1 last year, 911 Canberrans have had their plans approved.
But the rollout was still running behind schedule, as of March 31, and the 1222 Canberrans deemed eligible for the NDIS had exceeded expectations by 122 per cent.
Of the 999 people who were expected to have transitioned to the scheme by the first quarter of 2015 as per the "ages and stages" timetable determined by date of birth or by academic year for school-aged individuals, 91 per cent had their plans approved.
Since transitioned to the NDIS with his group home in Holt, Mr Lawrence now has an assistance dog Sandy who helps detect his potentially life-threatening epileptic seizures and goes with him everywhere.
His Eden-based mother Mirinda Lawrence said the scheme had given the family piece of mind knowing they had choice and flexibility over the 27-year-old's care and support workers for the first time.
"For Ronnie he's got many challenges in his life, as well as his intellectual disabilities he has severe epilepsy and he needs someone by his side 24 hours a day," she said.
"It's a difficult thing for a family to let go especially with Ronnie's health issues… we have confidence now."
Despite the Lawrences' positive experiences, Canberrans were among the least satisfied jurisdictions in the first year of the scheme.
On a satisfaction scale of -2 to 2, participants, carers and families in the ACT gave life experience under the scheme a score of 0.83, the second lowest of all jurisdictions behind the Northern Territory.
They gave the National Disability Insurance Agency a score of 1.57, also the second lowest behind Western Australia, but 97 per cent of Canberrans involved with the scheme said that the planning experience was good or very good, an improvement on the scheme's first six months.
Mrs Lawrence said the NDIS had been a big learning curve for everyone in the sector and although there was "still work to do" she praised the agency's staff.
"The ultimate goal for us is to have that community engagement linking up all the things he [Ronnie] is interested in," she said.
"Before the NDIS it was all very fragmented … we had a little bit of funding from the government but you could only go to one service provider and we had to fall in with whatever activities … now you have choice."
