Pajo and National Disability Insurance Agency

This matter concerned an application by the applicant, born in July 1965, for access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The applicant suffers from an inflammatory condition affecting her muscles, leading to weakness, pain, stiffness, and significant fatigue. This condition has impacted her ability to work, and she has undergone various treatments, including Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy (IVIg). The dispute before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was whether the applicant met the eligibility requirements for the NDIS, specifically concerning her functional capacity.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant's inflammatory condition constituted a "disability" for the purposes of the NDIS Act 2013 (Cth), and if so, whether it resulted in a "permanent" impairment that caused her "substantially reduced functional capacity" to undertake everyday tasks, particularly mobility. The Tribunal was required to assess the extent to which her symptoms, including fatigue and muscle weakness, limited her ability to perform activities such as walking, driving, and navigating her environment, and whether these limitations met the threshold for NDIS access.

Senior Member O'Donovan reasoned that the applicant's inflammatory condition, while not precisely diagnosed, was a permanent impairment with a strong consensus among medical professionals. The Tribunal accepted the applicant's and her husband's evidence regarding the impact of fatigue on her mobility, noting that while she could walk short distances unassisted, significant rest was required afterwards. The use of a four-pointed stick for assistance when exiting a car, negotiating stairs, and moving after prolonged sitting, along with the risk of falling on sloped surfaces, demonstrated a substantially reduced functional capacity in mobility. The Tribunal found that the applicant's impairments, particularly the fatigue and weakness, substantially reduced her functional capacity to undertake mobility tasks, thereby meeting the NDIS access criteria.