NDIS is an illusion for people with Complex Needs

Luke Michael

Many National Disability Insurance Scheme recipients with complex and challenging support needs are not seeing the benefits the NDIS is meant to deliver, Victoria’s Public Advocate says.

A new report from the Office of the Public Advocate said a poor quality of services under the NDIS was impacting on the human rights of people with disability, and significantly compromising their ability to achieve chosen life goals.

Public Advocate Dr Colleen Pearce said for many, the choice and control promised by the NDIS was an illusion.

Disability carer recorded saying 'I just wanna f***ing beat these kids without risk'

Alison Branley

An audio recording has exposed the shocking verbal abuse of a 14-year-old severely autistic boy by the people who were supposed to be caring for him.

Warning: this story contains disturbing content and coarse language

Key points:

  • Two disability carers recorded verbally abusing autistic boy
  • In the recording, one carer tells the young boy "I'm gonna bash you"
  • Greens senator Jordon Steele-John wants aged care royal commission expanded to include abuse of people with disabilities living in group homes

Byron Bay officer could be charged after teen hit multiple times

Warning: this story is about violent abuse by police of an autistic boy.

Tom Livingstone

A police officer who struck a naked autistic teenage boy multiple times on the NSW Far North Coast used excessive force and could potentially be charged with assault, the NSW police watchdog has found.

In a report presented to parliament this morning, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) suggested the officer could be prosecuted over the January 2018 incident and sacked by the police commissioner.

key message - A4 and NDIA meeting, 4 July 2018

Bob Buckley, A4 Convenor, met with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Chairman, Dr Helen Nugent AO, and NDIA CEO, Robert De Luca, along with Ms Vicki Rundle and Mr Peter De Natris, at the NDIA’s Canberra office on 4th July 2018. Mary Mallet, DANA CEO, also attended.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to improve outcomes substantially for autistic people of all ages, including children.

In relation to children, this includes:

'Like a jail sentence': Teen with special needs isolated at school

Sherryn Groch

A Canberra student with high needs who wasn't allowed to go to school for more than four months is now facing a "jail sentence" when he returns under restrictive conditions, his family say.

Abdul-Ghani Ferkh, who has complex autism, was suspended from the Woden School in early April after running off campus grounds to the local shops and stealing a toy. Correspondence between the school, the ACT education directorate and the Ferkh family seen by The Canberra Times details how the suspension, originally due to end on April 18, was extended multiple times before his break became indefinite.

Children with autism showing increasing anxiety through primary school – study

Deborah Marshall

A world-first autism study has found high levels of anxiety in children as young as five years old with autism attending Australian schools, and that levels of generalised anxiety increase as they get older.

Published in the Journal of School Psychology this week, the study surveyed teachers using a standardised ranking method to identify anxiety symptoms of 92 children aged 5-12 years in mainstream and special schools.

Researchers from the Griffith University Autism Centre of Excellence analysed two groups of children – those who had just started school and those about to move from primary to high school.

Pages

Subscribe to Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia RSS