Jo Abi

A furious mum has lashed out at Emirates for forcibly removing her autistic son from a flight.

Euronews journalist Isabelle Kumar boarded the plane with her family, including son Eli, 17, at Dubai airport for the trip to France.

It was during the final leg of the trip from New Zealand to Australia that the incident occurred.

Ms Kumar phoned the airline in advance to ensure they were aware of her son’s needs. She’d requested the seat next to him be vacant, in case he suffered a seizure due to his epilepsy.

Kelly Baker

My son is officially on the Autism spectrum. He has Asperger's. It’s not something I generally discuss; it’s his information to do with what he will and I’ve always told him he can tell anyone he pleases, or nobody at all. It’s personal, end of story. And it’s his personal, so he’s in charge.

Catherine Heuzenroeder

Cinemas are turning the volume down and leaving the lights up during special 'sensory-friendly' film screenings designed for children with autism.

Kirsty Johnson has never taken her youngest son to the movies.

by Julia Boyd

THIS family lives in fear because of violent outbursts from their beloved autistic son Max. It meant they faced a heartbreaking decision.

THEY’RE the brave steps of a family desperate to protect themselves and take control of a life being torn apart.

And they’ve seen Liz and Sean Whelan take the most difficult of decisions to look after their 12-year-old son Max, and at the same time protect their family against a condition none of them control.

Benjamin Millar

The peak body for people on the autism spectrum and their families* has criticised a TV program for airing confronting footage of an autistic boy acting violently towards his mother.

Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes screened a report on Sunday night featuring Max Whelan, a 12-year-old boy with severe non-verbal autism who lives with his family at Mt Martha on the Mornington Peninsula.

Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) has revised its autism prevalence rates from 1 in 100 to an estimated 1 in 70 people in Australia on the autism spectrum. That is an estimated 40% increase or around 353,880 people.

Aspect CEO, Adrian Ford, said the new number reflects recent changes in diagnostic criteria and new national and international research.

“Aspect has been using the 1 in 100 figure since 2014 based on the best research and information coming from overseas and within Australia at the time.

Doug Dingwall

An appeals tribunal has called for Social Services Minister Dan Tehan to stop "haphazard" decision-making at the National Disability Insurance Agency blamed for delays in reviews involving support for a Canberra woman.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme participant, whose name was suppressed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, asked the agency to review new plans that reduced her support compared to her first one.

Aisha Dow

When she was a little girl, Lydia Zahra wanted to socialise just like everyone else, but she often struggled to understand the unwritten rules of communicating due to her autism.

“I would want to talk and want to talk about myself, but I didn’t really know how to ask people questions,” the 19-year-old said.

“It seemed a bit rude.”

Lydia Zahra was diagnosed with autism as a young child.