The Disability Landscape in 2025: Where are we now and where are we going?

2025 has been a big year for disability in Australia.
New ministers, new laws, new strategy updates – and at the same time, many of the same old barriers that disabled people, families and advocates have been speaking about for decades.

At The Inclusive Movement, we sit in a unique place: as disabled people, family members, and practitioners working on the ground with individuals, schools, services and communities. This piece is a reflection on where the disability landscape is right now – what has shifted in 2025, what still isn’t good enough, and where we can go from here if we are serious about building inclusive, rights-based communities instead of just “systems to manage people”.

2025 in Context: A Big Year for Disability Policy

Australia is currently midway through Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031, the 10-year national plan for a more accessible and inclusive society. In January 2025, all governments reaffirmed their commitment through an updated Strategy – again promising that people with disability will be able to participate as equal members of society.

Here in Western Australia, the State Disability Strategy Third Action Plan was launched in February 2025, outlining 69 actions across multiple agencies to improve outcomes for disabled people in 2025–2026.

On paper, this looks hopeful: national and state strategies, action plans and progress reports. In practice, many individuals, families and communities still experience:

• Long waits, closed books and “no capacity” for essential supports

• Inaccessible environments and attitudes in schools, workplaces and community spaces

• Policy conversations that talk about disabled people far more than listening to us

This tension – between written commitments and lived reality – is one of the defining features of the 2025 landscape.

Key 2025 milestones at a glance

• Updated Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 and reaffirmed cross-government commitments to inclusion

• WA State Disability Strategy Third Action Plan launched (2025–2026)

• Ongoing implementation of the Disability Royal Commission response, with mixed reactions from disabled people’s organisations and advocates

• Further NDIS legislative reforms and pricing changes, with significant debate about rights, safeguards and sustainability

• Emerging reforms such as Victoria’s proposed ban on non-essential surgeries on intersex children, signalling a stronger focus on bodily autonomy and consent

NDIS in 2025: Reform, Risk and the Question of Trust

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) continues to be a core lifeline for many disabled people, while also being a major source of stress and uncertainty for participants, families, and providers.

New NDIS laws that began on 3 October 2024 were billed as a way to “return the NDIS to its original intent” – including new participant pathways and a redesigned planning framework. In 2024 the Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill introduced tighter integrity measures, faster digital processes, and stricter compliance expectations for providers.

In late 2025, the government introduced the NDIS Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Bill – the second tranche of reforms focused on integrity and safeguarding arrangements. At the same time, pricing and claiming changes from 1 July 2025 altered how providers can bill for therapy travel and other supports, with direct impacts on what’s viable in regional and remote communities.

Layered over this is a proposed shift to more computer-generated NDIS plans, using standardised tools like I-CAN v6 and drastically reducing human discretion, due to come into effect from mid-2026. Advocacy groups and disabled people have warned that this risks turning individual lives into datasets, with fewer meaningful options to challenge decisions and less space to capture nuanced, neurodivergent or complex needs.

For many disabled people and families, the NDIS is both the reason we have support and the reason we are exhausted. Every reform either rebuilds trust – or erodes it further.

From our vantage point as practitioners and lived-experience advocates, some of the key NDIS questions we hear in 2025 are:

• Will the new laws improve access and fairness, or simply make the system cheaper?

• How will standardised tools recognise the complexity of neurodivergent profiles, PDA-style demand avoidance, trauma histories, or non-speaking communication?

• What happens to people who don’t get into the NDIS – where are the foundational supports, mainstream adjustments and community-based options that were promised?

These are not abstract policy questions. They shape whether disabled children can attend school safely, whether adults can keep their housing and supports, and whether families have the capacity to keep going.

Who’s at the Table? Disability Ministers and Decision-Makers

In May 2025, following the federal election, the Albanese Government reshaped responsibilities for disability and the NDIS. Mark Butler was appointed Minister for Health and Ageing, Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and Senator Jenny McAllister was confirmed as Minister for the NDIS.

On paper, this gives disability and the NDIS clear Cabinet-level visibility. But for many people with disability, what matters most is less who holds the title and more:

• Are disabled people and families genuinely at the table in decision-making, or just “consulted” at the end?

• Do ministers and agencies prioritise co-design, neuroaffirming practice and lived-experience leadership – or primarily focus on cost control and optics?

• Are regional, remote and First Nations communities being heard, or are reforms designed around metropolitan assumptions?

At the same time, disability representative organisations have voiced disappointment with aspects of the joint government response to the Disability Royal Commission, describing some actions as slow, limited and lacking ambition.

Titles matter. But meaningful power-sharing with disabled people, families and communities matters more.

Beyond Policy: Attitudes, Ableism and Everyday Inclusion

Policies and strategies are only one part of the story. The other part lives in classrooms, workplaces, sporting clubs, playgrounds, service waiting rooms and family gatherings.

In 2025, we continue to see increasing public conversation about neurodivergence, access and inclusion. There is more language around hidden disabilities, such as autism, ADHD, AuDHD, sensory needs and mental health, than ever before. Social media has amplified disabled voices, and more people are proudly using identity-first language and embracing neurodivergent identity.

And yet:

• Many children with disability are still excluded from excursions, sports and social events because supports are “too hard” to organise.

• Families are still told to “lower their expectations” or “be realistic” when they ask for inclusive schooling options.

• Adults with disability are still pushed out of work or study because environments don’t adjust, and the burden of self-advocacy falls on the person who is already exhausted.

Australia’s Disability Strategy talks about building a nation where disabled people are “valued, included and empowered to thrive”. The gap between this vision and day-to-day experiences is where so much of our work – and our frustration – sits.

Inclusion is not a bonus for people with disability. It is a human right.
Diverse ways of thinking, feeling and communicating are not problems to be fixed – they are part of human diversity to be respected and supported.

Unanswered Questions the System Still Hasn’t Addressed

As we look back on 2025, several persistent questions remain unresolved – especially for neurodivergent people, people with complex communication needs, and those living in regional and remote communities:

• Foundational supports
  Where are the practical, accessible supports for people who don’t meet NDIS eligibility but still need significant adjustments, peer connection, respite and community-based options?

• Education inclusion
  How will national and state strategies genuinely shift schooling from “integration if you fit” to fully inclusive environments – where diverse learners are expected, resourced and welcomed?

• Safeguarding vs autonomy
  Can we design safeguards that prevent abuse and neglect without increasing surveillance, restricting choice or dismissing the decision-making capacity of disabled adults and young people?

• Regional equity
  What does it mean in practice for someone in the Pilbara, Kimberley or a remote community to have “the same opportunities” as someone in a major city, when travel, workforce and cost structures are completely different?

• Lived-experience leadership
  How are governments, systems and organisations resourcing disabled people and families to lead – not just participate – in designing the services and policies that shape our lives?

These are the conversations we must keep bringing into rooms where decisions are being made.

Where to From Here? Building Disability-Inclusive Communities in Practice

Despite the complexity, we remain hopeful – not because the systems are perfect, but because we see every week what becomes possible when communities lean into inclusion with curiosity, creativity and commitment.

From our work across Western Australia and beyond, some clear “next steps” are emerging:

• Shift from awareness to action.
  It’s no longer enough to “celebrate” inclusion days and disability weeks. We need practical changes to policies, physical environments, communication, staffing and culture.

• Invest in neuroaffirming practice.
  Understanding sensory needs, demand avoidance, monotropism, cognitive load and regulation is essential for anyone working with neurodivergent children, young people and adults – across education, health, sport and community.

• Embed co-design and lived experience.
  Disabled people and families should be involved at every stage – from problem-definition through to implementation and evaluation – and paid for their expertise.

• Think beyond the NDIS.
  Inclusive communities are not dependent on plans or line items. Local government, mainstream services, clubs and workplaces all have a role in removing barriers and creating belonging.

• Prioritise regional and remote voices.
  Solutions designed in capital cities often don’t translate to the realities of regional and remote life. Equity means designing with communities, not just dropping in pre-packaged programs.

The future of disability inclusion in Australia will not be decided by legislation alone. It will be shaped in classrooms, therapy rooms, community groups, sporting clubs and workplaces where people choose to do things differently.

How The Inclusive Movement Can Support You in 2026

At The Inclusive Movement, our work sits at the intersection of policy, practice and lived experience. We are disabled people, parents, carers and professionals who understand both the systems and the day-to-day realities of navigating them.

If you are ready to move from “good intentions” to concrete change, we can support you to:

• Upskill your team with training and workshops on neuroaffirming practice, inclusive education, hidden messages behind behaviour, sensory-friendly environments, and rights-based support.

• Engage your community through keynote speaking at conferences, community events, staff development days and school assemblies – bringing a blend of professional expertise and lived-experience storytelling.

• Strengthen your organisation with inclusion consulting, including policy and process reviews, accessibility audits, program design and co-design with local disabled communities.

• Partner with experts by experience to embed inclusion into your long-term strategies, not just single events.

Whether you are a school, early childhood service, local government, community organisation, sporting club or business, we can tailor supports to your context and your community.

If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that we cannot wait for perfect systems before we act. The reforms of 2025 will continue to unfold – bringing both opportunities and risks. In the meantime, every school, service, workplace and community can choose to become more accessible, more neuroaffirming and more genuinely welcoming to disabled people.

If you’d like support to take the next step, we’d love to work alongside you.

Further reading on 2025 disability policy developments

The Guardian

NDIS plans will be computer-generated, with human involvement dramatically cut under sweeping overhaul

3 days ago