10.3.1 Criteria for provision of aids and appliances through the rehabilitation provisions

If the requested aid and/or appliance is not available through the Rehabilitation Appliances Program (RAP), it may be provided through section 39 of DRCA or section 54 to 59 in Chapter 3 of MRCA. The requested aid or appliance must be reasonably required by the client to meet their needs or enable them to reach their rehabilitation goals. Aids and appliances must also be provided under the rehabilitation provisions where clients do not have a DVA Health Card. Any requests for vehicles, including modifications to vehicles, should not be referred to RAP and should be considered under the relevant vehicle schemes. Further information about the relevant schemes can be found in section 10.12 of this library for the Motor Vehicle Compensation Scheme under MRCA, section 6.4 of the Compensation and Support Policy Library for the Vehicle Assistance Scheme under the VEA and section 10.10 of this library for the relevant DRCA provisions.

To be eligible for the provision of alterations, modifications, aids and/or appliances under the rehabilitation provisions, clients must meet the following criteria:

• they have an impairment as a result of a service related injury or condition; and
• they have an accepted claim for compensation under the DRCA or the MRCA; and
• they must either be undertaking, or have completed, an approved rehabilitation program in respect of the impairment; or
• they have been assessed (under section 44 of the MRCA or section 36 of the DRCA) as not being capable of undertaking a rehabilitation program; AND
• the items must not be available through the RAP.

In some circumstances, aids and appliances may be provided to serving members where Defence remains the person’s rehabilitation authority. Further information about aids and appliances for serving members can be found in section 10.8 of this chapter.