Children with autism are being used as scapegoats for spiralling NDIS costs, an independent support co-ordinator says, as an inquiry begins into changes to the system. The NDIS changes demonises autistic people, an independent support co-ordinator says. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)But the plan had used autistic people as a scapegoat for the scheme's increasing costs and excluding autism was more than short-sighted, Ange McArthur said. Almost two dozen submissions were made, many of them voicing strong concerns about the proposed changes. They described lengthy and invasive assessments to access support under the current arrangement, but warned the proposed changes risked creating a "two-tier" system.