On this page:
- Have your say
- Engaging CALD communities in the Develop phase
- Summary of Discover Phase
- Download the Discover Phase Report
- Discover Phase report in other languages
- Co-designing a new Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy
- Co-designing a new CALD Strategy in other languages
- 2021 progress update
- Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy 2018-22
Have your say
Our Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy 2023-2027 is open for consultation.
We want the NDIS to be inclusive for people with disability from all cultures and communities.
We invite CALD people with disability, including carers, family members, providers and the disability community to have their say.
We want to know what you think about our solutions to improve the NDIS.
Your contribution will support our strategy and action plan to meet the needs of the CALD people with disability.
Visit Have Your Say to find out more.
Engaging CALD communities in the Develop phase
We are starting the phase of co-designing a new Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy. In November and December 2022 we hosted 6 focus groups over 3 sessions with CALD people with disability, their family and carers. In these sessions we explored, built and tested potential solutions to the issues and priorities we learned in the Discover phase.
In February 2023 we will commence national engagement consultations with the CALD disability community, including deep-dive conversations with CALD community groups.
On 7, 8 and 9 February we are also hosting information sessions for anyone interested in hearing about the development of the CALD Strategy.
In the session, we will share what we have heard and learned about the issues impacting CALD people with disability. We will also tell you the solutions we propose.
We recognise that in the past people from CALD communities may have found it difficult to engage with us. We want to invite CALD people with disability who may feel unheard to share their experiences, so we can understand how to improve the NDIS.
If you have lived experience of disability and come from a culturally diverse community, we invite you to contribute to our new CALD Strategy.
For information session times and to register, visit the CALD Strategy Information Session Eventbrite page .
Summary of Discover Phase
The NDIA has released the Discover Report which details what we heard and learned from the experiences of NDIS participants from cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
As part of the Discover phase to co-design a new CALD Strategy, we held focus groups and meetings with participants, families and carers, as well as disability and CALD community representatives in 2021.
These sessions encouraged participants to share their experiences so that we can understand the challenges facing CALD individuals when accessing and using the NDIS.
Five key themes emerged from our consultations:
- Infrastructure - Cultural and linguistic considerations should be consistently embedded into NDIA policies and procedures as well as our partner systems.
- Staff capability - NDIA staff and partners should have the understanding and capability to provide a culturally safe and responsive service to participants and their families.
- Accessible communications - Disability concepts and NDIS communications should appropriately reflect cultural contexts to meet CALD participants’ communication and language needs.
- Markets - Improved availability and provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate NDIS services is needed in the marketplace.
- Data - Improved availability and currency of data is required to support the understanding of CALD participants and their needs to improve services.
These discussions provided the foundation for us to develop agreed goals for a new Strategy. They also support the development of action plans that reflect the contemporary needs of people with disability from CALD backgrounds.
In the next phase of co-designing the Strategy, we will advance these themes into solutions that we will explore, build and test with CALD participants, families and carers, and the sector.
We are committed to addressing challenges and improving the experience and outcomes of participants with disability from CALD backgrounds.
Download the Discover Phase Report
- Summary of Discover Phase Report (DOCX 97KB)
- Summary of Discover Phase Report (PDF 279KB)
- Easy Read – Summary of Discover Phase Report (PDF 7MB)
- Easy Read (text only) – Summary of Discover Phase Report (DOCX 78KB)
Discover Phase report in other languages
- ملخص مرحلة الاكتشاف
- ملخص مرحلة الاكتشاف
- အချက်အလက်စုဆောင်းရေးအဆင့် အကျဉ်းချုပ် (DOCX 64KB)
- အချက်အလက်စုဆောင်းရေးအဆင့် အကျဉ်းချုပ် (PDF 303KB)
- Maraja/wël cë poc de Baŋde Nyooth (DOCX)
- Maraja/wël cë poc de Baŋde Nyooth (PDF)
- Dothlatnak lei Ahramthawk i Atawinak in tialmi (DOCX 62KB)
- Dothlatnak lei Ahramthawk i Atawinak in tialmi (PDF 112KB)
- خلاصه مرحله کشف
- خلاصه مرحله کشف
- 探索阶段概述 (DOCX 61KB)
- 探索阶段概述 (PDF 4.8MB)
- 探索階段摘要 (DOCX 264KB)
- 探索階段摘要 (PDF 4.9MB)
- अन्वेषण चरण का सारांश (DOCX 63KB)
- अन्वेषण चरण का सारांश (PDF 317KB)
- ၢ်ဃုထံၣ်သ့ၣ်ညါတၢ်အသီတၢ်ကတိၤအကျိၤတၢ်ဂ့ၢ်ကျၢၢ်တံၢ် (DOCX 1.3MB)
- ၢ်ဃုထံၣ်သ့ၣ်ညါတၢ်အသီတၢ်ကတိၤအကျိၤတၢ်ဂ့ၢ်ကျၢၢ်တံၢ် (PDF 128KB)
- សេចក្តីសង្ខេបដំណាក់កាលនៃការរកឃើញ (DOCX 856KB)
- សេចក្តីសង្ខេបដំណាក់កាលនៃការរកឃើញ (PDF 95KB)
- خلاصه ای از فاز اکتشافات (DOCX 61KB)
- خلاصه ای از فاز اکتشافات (PDF 379KB)
- Bản Tóm tắt của Giai đoạn Khám phá (DOCX 63KB)
- Bản Tóm tắt của Giai đoạn Khám phá (PDF 219KB)
Co-designing a new Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy
The NDIS is co-designing a new Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy in 2022.
The CALD Strategy will be a three phased approach which will be released in mid 2023.
- Discover phase: we have completed this stage. This is when we sought to understand the challenges facing CALD individuals when accessing and using the NDIS. These learnings will help us identify the focus of future co-design activities in consultation with CALD participants and stakeholders.
- Develop phase: we will host co-design focus groups with CALD participants and stakeholders to explore, test and build areas of the CALD Strategy and possible actions. The groups will focus on what we have heard in the Discover phase and generate solutions to previously agreed goals.
- Deliver and Evaluate phase: we will share a draft copy of the CALD Strategy 2023-2027 with External Advisory Group members and the Cohort Strategies Sub-Working Group for final feedback. We will use this feedback to refine the CALD Strategy and action plan before official launch in early 2023.
For more information on the CALD Strategy including ways to contribute, please email [email protected]
Co-designing a new CALD Strategy in other languages
- Arabic - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 61KB)
- Arabic - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 311KB)
- Burmese - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 64KB)
- Burmese - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 303KB)
- Chin Hakka - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 62KB)
- Chin Hakka - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 112KB)
- Chinese - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 61KB)
- Chinese - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 264KB)
- Hindi - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 63KB)
- Hindi - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 317KB)
- Karen - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 1.3MB)
- Karen - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 128KB)
- Khmer - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 856KB)
- Khmer - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 95KB)
- Persian - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 61KB)
- Persian - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 379KB)
- Vietnamese - CALD Strategy refresh information (DOCX 63KB)
- Vietnamese - CALD Strategy refresh information (PDF 219KB)
2021 progress update
In July 2021, the NDIA released a progress update on the Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy 2018-2022.
The update details progress against the priorities identified in the Strategy and actions to further drive the implementation over the next 18 months.
We commenced engagement in late 2021 with CALD stakeholders, including participants, families, carers and the sector to develop a new Strategy. This will be completed in 2023.
Download the:
- Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy progress update (DOCX 565KB)
- Easy Read - Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy progress update (PDF 7.5MB)
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy 2018-22
In 2018, we released our inaugural Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) Strategy as a public statement of commitment to working alongside people with disability from CALD backgrounds to achieve access to, and outcomes from, their NDIS Plan on an equal basis with the broader population.
The Strategy set priority areas for action focused on building connections and positive relationships with CALD communities, broadening choice and control, and increasing cultural competency within the NDIA and its Partners.
We developed the Strategy through internal and external consultation, including with the NDIA’s CALD Stakeholder Advisory Group.
- Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Strategy 2018 ( PDF 691 KB)
- Easy Read - Cultural Linguistic Diversity Strategy 2018 (PDF 7MB)