The NDIS is about more than daily support
It's easy to think of the NDIS purely in terms of the practical help you receive each day — getting ready, getting out into the community, managing your home. But the scheme has a deeper ambition: to help people with disability build their capacity, develop their skills, and move progressively toward greater independence and participation in life.
This is what the Capacity Building budget in your NDIS plan is designed for. And it's an area that many participants don't use as fully as they could.
What is Capacity Building?
Capacity Building supports are designed to help you develop skills and abilities over time. Unlike Core Supports which fund the help you need right now, Capacity Building invests in your future independence. Examples include:
- Learning to catch public transport independently
- Developing cooking and meal preparation skills
- Building social skills and friendships
- Working toward employment or volunteering
- Managing your own health and medical appointments
- Learning to budget and manage money
Setting meaningful goals
The most effective NDIS plans are built around goals that genuinely matter to the participant. Not goals that sound good on paper, but goals that connect to what you actually want in your life. Ask yourself: what would make your daily life better? What do you wish you could do that you can't do now? What would make you feel more connected, more confident, more yourself?
Working with your support workers toward your goals
Great support workers don't just do things for you — they help you do things yourself. If building independence is your goal, talk to your support worker about how you can work toward it together. Small steps add up. Progress is always worth celebrating.
How Lyft Community supports your goals
At Lyft Community, every participant has a support plan built around their individual goals. We regularly review progress with participants and families and adjust our approach as goals evolve. Our workers are trained to use a strengths-based, capacity-building approach in every interaction.