My name is Hannah Pennington, a Tenancy Support Officer in VIC for Summer Housing who is also a woman living with disability. I thought that I would share a few websites which I have found personally helpful when it comes to homewares, clothing, assistive tech and even food! Because, let’s be honest – during lockdowns and various COVID restrictions who doesn’t love a good online shop? (Hint: me!)
I’ve included for each of these online stores where you may be able to use NDIS funding. My advice would be: if you’ve found an item or items which you believe align with the Reasonable & Necessary criteria but your funding is Agency Managed – go ahead and ask your Support Coordinator or LAC to request the NDIA to adjust some or all of your Core funding to Plan or Self-Managed so that you are able to access a wider range of adaptive and functional products to support you. Functional, adaptive & beautiful products should be made available for everyone.
Now – happy shopping!
Averee is my personal favourite – a website which stocks clothing, homewares, personal care items, lifestyle & living products, sports & outdoor products and even modified food. Averee advertises that “function is important, but so is design” and they couldn’t be more on the money. Their products are targeted to people living with various disabilities but don’t give off an obvious “hospital” or “care facility” vibe (hello rose gold handrails!).
If you’re considering low level assistive tech for your home, look no further. Averee is not an NDIS registered provider so, only self and plan-managed funding can be used for their products at this stage (and to consider the Reasonable & Necessary criteria prior to purchase using NDIS funding).
DoAbility offer assistive tech and functional products for your entire home – anything related to your bedroom, bathroom, seating, mobility & kid’s products. DoAbility have been providing functional and healthcare equipment for almost 20 years and do it well.
They offer sales, trial & rentals of their products so that you can ensure you are finding the right product for you. Located in VIC but with showrooms in VIC & NSW, you can attend trials & demos of the products that you’re interested in. Unlike Averee, DoAbility is an NDIS registered provider which means that participants with agency-managed funding are also able to access their products.
Every Human specialise in adaptive and accessible fashion, footwear & lifestyle products for people living with disability.
They have a wide range of products for Men, Women and kids with specific options for clothing: Easy Closures, Ease of Dressing, Seated Wear & Adaptive Footwear. Their lifestyle products are also available to browse in specific criteria such as: Dexterity, Sensory & Mobility which makes searching for product relevant to you really simple. Special shoutout to their Books range which features authors living with disability and kids’ books with targeted messages such as Disability, Optimism & Body Image.
EveryHuman is not an NDIS registered provider (yet, as stated on their website) so you’ll only be able to make purchased with your self or plan-managed funding at this stage.
Sisu7 is a family-owned business & online store specialising in therapeutic, educational and developmental products for all ages. This includes educational and sensory toys for children, low level assistive tech for all ages & activities to support participants with mental health challenges.
Sisu7 have a video in the description of every product offered on their website to show its use & each product has been sourced or recommended by an Occupational Therapist. Like Averee, Sisu7 is not an NDIS registered provider so their products can only be funded via self or plan managed participants plans.
Caring Clothing is an Australian owned company who offer a moderate range of adaptive clothing with the specific intention of making dressing easier for people with loss of mobility. Their target audience is people living with disability & the elderly; they aim to “provide a solution to dressing through comfortable and functional adaptive clothing, making it easier, safer and more dignified to dress”.
My personal favourite items are their Adaptive Polo Shirts, with panels at the back which open to provide ease of dressing if you are a wheelchair user, restricted movement or have dexterity challenges.
Caring Clothing are an NDIS registered provider, which means that you can purchase their products no matter your funding type – clear instructions have been provided on their website for ease of ordering. The attention to detail is really helpful (when sometimes websites don’t make it super clear if they accept service bookings for agency managed participants!).