The NDIS has given Joe vital social skills. Funding cuts leave his mother fearing how he will ‘do life’

When he’s not learning to be a barista, Joe Barham is often out in the community garden, learning skills and getting social time with peers. Photograph: David Kelly/The Guardian

Joe Barham’s favourite drink to make for customers is an iced chocolate. But flat whites are also popular, he says, when the weather cools down in the typically humid Gold Coast.

The 22-year-old has been part of a program used by national disability insurance scheme participants to learn useful skills and spend time in the community.