Functional Capacity vs Diagnosis: Why the NDIS Cares About What You Can Do
At Seeds Occupational Therapy, we understand how important it is for your NDIS reports to reflect the real challenges and strengths in everyday life. Whether you’re applying for the first time or preparing for a plan review, a Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) can be a powerful tool in showing what support is needed. But for the report to be useful, it needs to meet certain standards. That’s exactly what we focus on in every FCA we complete.
Let us walk you through how we align our assessments with what the NDIS is looking for.
What the NDIS Is Looking For
The NDIS wants to understand how a person’s condition affects their daily life. It’s not just about the diagnosis. It’s about what someone can and can’t do on a regular basis. A strong FCA should give a clear picture of this and help the NDIS decide what support will make the biggest difference.
Some of the things NDIS planners look for in an FCA include:
A detailed description of everyday challenges at home, in the community, and in social settings
Information about both strengths and support needs
Specific recommendations that explain why a support is needed and how it will help
Evidence that links the person’s goals to the supports being requested
How We Structure Our Reports
We’ve designed our FCA reports to meet all of these points clearly and professionally. We make sure the report is written in a way that is both easy to understand and clinically sound.
Here’s how we do it.
We Use the WHO-DAS 2.0 as a Foundation
The WHO-DAS 2.0 is a tool used by the NDIS to measure functioning across six key areas. These are things like communication, mobility, self-care, getting along with others, managing daily tasks, and being involved in the community.
We use this framework to guide our assessments, but we don’t just tick boxes. We gather real stories and examples so that the report shows what daily life actually looks like. This helps create a picture that is relatable and grounded in everyday experience.
We Explore Both Capacity and Performance
We make a clear distinction between what someone is able to do and what they actually do each day. Sometimes people have the physical ability to do something but face sensory, cognitive, or emotional barriers that make it difficult in practice.
For example, someone might be able to prepare a meal in theory, but due to fatigue or executive functioning difficulties, they may rarely do it without help. We make sure to explain this so that the NDIS can understand the full picture.
We Link Supports to Real Goals
The NDIS wants to fund supports that help people reach their goals. That’s why we ask about short- and long-term goals right from the beginning. We then show how each recommended support connects to these goals, whether it’s therapy, daily living help, or assistive technology.
We take care to explain the purpose of every recommendation. Nothing in our reports is generic or copy-pasted. It’s always based on the person’s real story, needs, and hopes for the future.
A Thoughtful, Evidence-Based Approach
We take pride in producing reports that are both human and clinically strong. Our team understands the NDIS guidelines, and we work hard to make sure every FCA provides the right kind of evidence — clearly, respectfully, and in a way that reflects the whole person.