A special needs program for adults is shutting down because it can't survive under the NDIS funding model, in what has been described as a "disgusting" consequence of the national scheme.

The Melbourne City Mission's Bridges Day Program has been supporting people with intellectual disabilities in Pascoe Vale since 1992, teaching everyday skills like cooking.

But its 80 participants will be cast out when it closes its doors on September 20, driving the charity's CEO Vicki Sutton to say the NDIS model was failing.

Moana Hope, a former AFL player for North Melbourne, said her 26-year-old sister Vinny was still crying on Friday night after hearing the news. Vinny, who has Möbius syndrome, has been going to the centre for eight years.