THEY were going to have to give up their young son for the safety of the other children — but the generosity of strangers has given this family new hope.

Ally Foster

Living with severe autism

ONE Australian family were on the brink of making the most heartbreaking decision of their lives but an outpouring of generosity from hundreds of strangers has given them new hope.

Liz and Sean Whelan were faced with every parents worst nightmare: being forced to give up one of their children for the safety of the rest.

The Australian (editorial)

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The National Disability Insurance Agency has made a prudent call in deciding that some autism sufferers will no longer qualify automatically for assistance under its $22 billion scheme. On Saturday, Rick Morton reported that officials are endeavouring to rein in costs by paring back the number of people with autism receiving funding packages. Among National Disability Insurance Scheme participants, 29 per cent have autism. Autism is the single biggest condition listed among the 30,000 children aged 14 and under. Of these, almost half are regarded as high-functioning with a “low level of disability”. However fraught, now is the time to resolve eligibility issues before the NDIS reaches full rollout in 2020, when it is set to serve 475,000 people.

Autism groups have expressed shock and disappointment at reports the agency administering the National Disability Insurance Scheme is looking to cut the number of autistic people who are virtually guaranteed of qualifying for support.

Advocates said they believed the National Disability Insurance Agency was working on plans to rein in costs by changing the qualification criteria so that many people would have to be individually assessed to determine their need for support.

Emily Bourke

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There's growing uncertainty and disillusion within the autism community over the prospect of cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme which would limit support to those with autism.

Bureaucrats are reportedly working on a strategy to curb costs by tightening up the eligibility requirements after a blowout in the number families seeking NDIS support packages for people with autism.

Guidelines were incorrectly altered to remove direct eligibility for all but most severe autism

Christopher Knaus

The Turnbull government has accidentally published details of changes that would deny a huge number of autistic children direct access to the national disability insurance scheme, causing “outrage” among autism groups.

Dan Conifer

Sonya Ludlow is a strong woman. When you're bringing up seven children, resilience and thick skin are almost compulsory.

But the Adelaide mother was left feeling "absolutely awful" after a review of her seven-year-old son Samuel's funding National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan.

"[The NDIS representative] more or less said, 'by my sixth child I should know how to be a parent and how to look after my children'," Mrs Ludlow said.

Rick Morton

The $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme will face a ­series of test court cases relating to its imprecise eligibility criteria, with challenges expected to target conditions including autism, chronic fatigue and mental illness, legal ­experts say.