The disability discrimination commissioner says the government’s insurance scheme helped give him a second chance at life.

Ben Gauntlett suffered a spinal cord injury playing rugby when he was 16.

Dr Gauntlett said without the National Disability Insurance Scheme, he’d still be living at home with his parents.

“I’m about to have my first child in December,” he told ABC radio.  

“I’m absolutely certain I wouldn’t be in a perfect position to have a child with a partner if the NDIS didn’t exist.”

The cost of the scheme has been identified as one of five major pressures on the federal budget, with the scheme to cost more than $166 billion over four years. 

Dr Gauntlett said it was important to focus on what the scheme does.

“When we talk about sustainable, we need to remember that we’re talking about people,” he said.

“It’s about the enormous benefits it gives individuals and communities now and in the future.

“We can never lose sight of the humanity that underpins the NDIS.”

By Dominic Giannini in Canberra

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