‘I’m being punished’: Emily is healthy enough to leave hospital but her NDIS plan isn’t enough to support her at home

Emily Livingstone, who lives with MS, was confined to the Royal Perth hospital for more than a month after the NDIS cut her funding plan, allocating her just two hours per day of support – not enough to cover the basic activities of daily living. Photograph: Stef King/The Guardian

Until her late 30s, when she received a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), Emily Livingstone could very often be found up a tree.

The former arborist had a senior role at Kings Park botanic gardens in Perth, looking after the trees. It was work she loved and a life she described as “beautiful”.