Restrictive practices are actions that stop people from:

• moving freely
• doing what they want.

Restrictive practices can take away a participant’s rights.

Rights are rules about how people should treat others:

• fairly
• equally.

Surveillance technology is a restrictive practice when it stops a participant from doing what they want.

We regulate some restrictive practices.

We call these ‘regulated restrictive practices’.

This means there are laws and rules about their use.

We also look at how they are used.

For example, it is a regulated restrictive practice when an NDIS provider uses alarms to stop a participant:

• leaving their room

• taking food from a fridge

• going somewhere.

You can find out more about how we regulate restrictive practices on our website.

www.ndiscommission.gov.au/rules-and-standards/behaviour-support-and-restrictive-practices#paragraph-id-9139

We do not regulate surveillance technology when it:

• helps NDIS providers support a participant

and

• does not stop a participant from doing what they want.

For example, an NDIS provider might use an alarm for a participant who is at risk of falling.

The alarm tells them when the participant gets out of bed and might need support.

The alarm does not stop the participant from doing what they want.

It is important to know why surveillance technology is being used.

This helps people to know when technology is or is not a restrictive practice we regulate.