SOME people with disabilities are unimpressed the federal government has rebranded the National Disability Insurance Scheme as Disability Care Australia.
The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations chief executive Lesley Hall said the new name was inappropriate.
"It doesn't represent what the scheme's about," Ms Hall told AAP.
"The scheme is not just about caring, it's about supporting people to have to get on and do what they want in life."
She said the word "care" had implied the scheme was linked to welfare and paternalism.
David Heckendorf, who has cerebral palsy, said he found the new name condescending.
"Oh, come on guys! Really? Disability Care? Why not go all the way and call it Crip Care?" he told AAP.
"It is not about caring. It is about empowering or enabling, equipping, etc. Can't we be a little more imaginative?"
Mr Heckendorf fears the new name will taint the scheme with what he called the patronising echoes of yesteryear.
Others took to the NDIS website to slam the name.
Jackie Softly was at a loss to see how a scheme based on rights, entitlement, empowerment and inclusion has ended up with a name "that screams outdated, disempowering charity model".
"I hate the name. But I worry more that the name reflects the way the powers that be see it. Now that is very scary," she said on the website.
On Monday, the Gillard government quietly announced the name change buried in a press statement.
Disability Reform Minister Jenny Macklin maintained the government had consulted the disability sector over the name change.
Australian Greens senator Rachel Siewert said there was widespread awareness about the NDIS.
"I am not surprised that some may raise their eyebrows at the change in name," she told AAP.
"No doubt those who have worked so hard over a long period of time towards the realisation of a NDIS would like to have been more widely consulted about alternative names."
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