Disabled boy wins secret payout from Victorian Government

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PETER MICKELBUROUGH

A DISABLED boy who claims he was assaulted, locked in a “time-out” room and physically restrained during six years at various state schools has won a “substantial” compensation payout from the government.

But its size will remain hidden from the public, despite a Federal Court judge’s expression of “disquiet” over this policy of secrecy by Victoria’s Department of Education.

Concerns arise from 2015 ABS disability survey results

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Bob Buckley

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released new information about autistic people in Australia. The information comes from data collect for the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) in 2015.

The ABS reports

In 2015 there were 164,000 Australians with autism, a 42.1% increase from the 115,400 with the condition in 2012.

Cambridge professor fears basic human rights of autistic people not being met

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Prof Baron-Cohen spoke out about his fears in a speech while in New York

A Cambridge professor fears the basic human rights of autistic people are not being met.

In a speech marking Autism Awareness Week, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, told the United Nations in New York today, that even with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities having been adopted in 2006, people with autism still do not enjoy human rights to the same extent as everyone else.

Submission on National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costs

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A4 made a submission to the Productivity Commission study of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costs. 

The submission's conclusion says:

Previously, we said that the NDIS has substantial potential to improve the lives of autistic people. They may have access to more services and supports. They have more choice and control of the services and supports they access.

Calls for Royal Commission into Abuse of People with Disability

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Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4) supports AFDO and others in the disability sector ...

Media Release

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) today joined calls from across the disability sector for a Royal Commission into the violence, abuse and neglect experienced by Australians with disability.

Fighting the System

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By Linton Besser, Klaus Toft, Jeanavive McGregor at ABC Four Corners

"I brought him into this world, and I love him. I do all I can to help him. I'm 88 soon. I'm still battling." Jean, mother

On Monday night Four Corners exposes what happens behind closed doors in some taxpayer funded group homes for the disabled and talks to the mothers and carers taking on the system.

"It's about time for me to tell this." Maria, mother

Children with disabilities 3 times more likely to be maltreated but risk varies by disability type

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A Telethon Kids Institute study has found children with disabilities are three times more likely to be maltreated compared to other children but that risk varies by type of disability.

Researchers analysed 524,534 children born in Western Australia between 1990-2010 for the study “Maltreatment Risk among Children with Disabilities”, published in the journal Pediatrics.

Overall, they found 4.6 per cent of all children had a maltreatment allegation.

Disability Groups Slam Govt for Scrapping Royal Commission Into Abuse

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​Ellie Cooper

The federal government’s decision to rule out a royal commission into violence and abuse against people with disability has been condemned by an alliance of disability advocacy groups.

A Senate committee proposed the royal commission in November 2015, following months of investigations into claims of abuse and neglect of people with disability in institutional and residential settings.

“There were so many accounts of violence, abuse and neglect that it is clear that abuse is widespread and occurring all over Australia, it is clear a royal commission is needed,” committee chair and Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said at the time.

However, the government said it would not follow the committee’s key recommendation.

Dismay at report on locking up children with disabilities

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Lauren Martyn-Jones

THE mother of a child who was locked in a cell-like room for time-outs at a Hervey Bay primary school wants a State Government review to ban the practice totally.

The incident involving her autistic son Tate Smith triggered a State Government review and the appointment of a department "watchdog" to oversee the education of children with disabilities in Queensland.

The review has found that the restrictive practice experienced by Tate should be used as a measure of last resort to prevent harm to staff and students.

But Tate's mum Kelly-Ann Brooks said she was disappointed the review did not go further and call for an all-out prohibition on the use of restrictive practices on children with special needs.

Inquiry into the provision of services under the NDIS for people with psychosocial disabilities related to a mental health condition

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A4's submission

A4 made a submission to the inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS into the provision of services under the NDIS for people with psychosocial disabilities related to a mental health condition. 

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