If you are a part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as a provider or participant, you must have heard about SIL and SDA. You might also wonder what the difference is between the two.
SIL stands for Supported Independent Living, and SDA stands for Specialist Disability Accommodation. Both these supports are funded under NDIS and are designed to help the participants lead an independent life. These two supports might share the same goal, but they are different from one another in many ways.
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What Is Supported Independent Living?
NDIS offers a wide range of support to its participants, and SIL is one of them. It is for the people who need constant assistance in their daily tasks by support workers to help them live independently. SIL may assist participants in living alone or in shared accommodation with other NDIS participants. The services in SIL include:
- Personal care like showering and dressing.
- Medical needs and appointments.
- Clinical support
- Household tasks like cleaning and cooking.
- Medication management
In this support, the participants may access three levels of funding, including lower needs, standard needs and higher needs. While lower needs cover regular supervision, standard needs cover around-the-clock, and higher needs cover complex aid. SIL can help in improving the independence of the participants.
This support also allows them to make new friends if they choose to live in shared accommodation. It is not only beneficial to develop social skills, but it also saves their funds, as all the residents can hire one support worker to assist all of them, and they can split the cost among all the participants. SIL also allows the participants to have a support worker stay overnight to check on them.
This NDIS support has many benefits for the participants. The service providers and NDIS planners can help the participants in finding out if SIL is the best housing option for them under NDIS.
What Is Specialist Disability Accommodation?
A participant must have a higher level and more complex needs to be eligible for SDA. It must be proven that the participant is unable to live in conventional houses and needs a specialised dwelling to help them live independently. SDA dwellings are designed to fit the needs of those participants who have higher-level needs. NDIS provides funds for the modification of the house to make it appropriate for the participant e.g. including ramps and handrails in the property).
However, the participant will have to pay the rent and bills himself; NDIS will not cover the cost of personal expenses. Eligible participants receive funds for their housing costs through SDA payments made to SDA providers. Higher level support that the participants must need to be eligible for this support includes:
- Assistance in getting dressing
- Assistance in getting in and out of bed
- Assistance in moving around
- Assistance in meal preparation
- Assistance in community access
Conclusion
SIL and SDA are both supported under NDIS, and both of them exist independently; there are participants who might only need one of them, and there are others who may receive both. SDA refers to specially designed houses to help people with high-intensity needs.
In contrast, SIL refers to the on-site support that the participants receive in the form of personal assistance or shared accommodations. Both of these supports help the participants live independently, and if the participant needs both, they can request SIL and SDA funding separately, which will be more effective since they will be living in a modified place fit for them, and they will also get the access to the daily support with SIL.
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