At the end of September 2020, the inaugural National Youth Disability Summit took place. The summit was established with the vision to create an inclusive environment where young people with disability from across Australia could come together as a community and use their voices to shape the future.

Hosted over five days, the summit was an entirely online conference that offered young people a range of sessions and workshops, the opportunity to meet other young people, share their ideas, insights and expertise, and develop new skills and knowledge. Over 250 young people attended, with four of the five days being ‘youth only’.

This paper focuses on the findings that came out of the summit.

Calls to action:

• Develop a family-centred planning framework for children and young people that factors in key developmental stages and life transition points. The development of this must include the meaningful involvement of children and young people.
• Ensure children and young people who experience barriers to accessing services are well supported by the NDIS through support coordination.
• Improve accessible, age-appropriate information resources available to young people. These resources should be delivered in a variety of methods, including factsheets, short videos, online forums, and peer groups.
• Increase investment in individual advocacy services, particularly the development of child and youth specific disability advocacy organisations in each state, that can support young people to navigate systems.
• Develop platforms where children and young people can meaningfully participate in ongoing NDIS reform, including ensuring the voices of young people are captured throughout the Agency’s formal consultative processes.