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You might have seen in your NDIS plan the words ‘functional capacity assessment’. Commonly abbreviated to FCA, it is essentially an assessment of your unmet needs, and usually provides an outline of the supports you need to achieve your goals. Think of it like a blueprint – it explains what’s going on currently, and where to go next. It can also give you some really good ideas about what to spend your NDIS funding on.
FCA’s are done by occupational therapists (OT’s) and are usually conducted in your home. This is best practice, as this is the environment where you tend to use most daily living skills, like making a sandwich or brushing your hair. The assessment usually takes a few hours to put together, so you will likely need between 1-3 sessions with the OT in order for them to gather enough information about you. All up, it normally takes about 10 hours to complete everything.
The FCA covers areas such as
The OT will usually measure how well you perform in the above areas against a measurement of disability. Different OT’s will use different measurement systems, but a few popular ones are:
These measurement systems will generally give you a score, which will indicate the level of disability and the difficulty you have in doing everyday tasks. Based on the information the OT has, they can make recommendations about the most suitable accommodation for you, and any assistive technology that would be beneficial (which could be anything from an electronic jar opener to a powered wheelchair).