Miki Perkins

"It was supposed to offer hope, but that's just been trashed".

It's not the way you'd expect the head of one of Victoria's peak disability groups to describe Australia's rapidly growing national scheme for people with disabilities. Alexander Curotte, 31, has become withdrawn and depressed since the switch to the NDIS, his parents say. Photo: Justin McManus

But Kevin Stone has had a gutful. At every meeting he goes to, the stories are the same.

Are we getting autism diagnosis right?

When a child is slow to walk and talk, alarm bells can start to ring for mums and dads who know instinctively that something is not right.

In many cases, concerned parents are comforted by doctors who say it’s nothing serious and all children develop at different rates.  And perhaps the child goes on to grow up normally.

But for some children, these developmental delays can be the first signs of something that can stay with them for life.

Getting an autism diagnosis can be a confronting experience for a child.

Jeremy Fernandez​

ABC Lateline 22/5/2017

Autism is one of the biggest disabilities among children needing support from the NDIS and how it's diagnosed has big consequences for national disability funding. In September, new guidelines around diagnosis will be released. Jeremy Fernandez spoke to CEO of Autism Awareness Australia Nicole Rogerson, founder of the I CAN Network Chris Varney, and professor of autism with the Autism Cooperative Research Centre Andrew Whitehouse about the complexities around the diagnosis of autism.

Rick Morton

The executives of the flagship ­National Disability Insurance Scheme, which received guaranteed funding worth tens of billions of dollars in last week’s budget, have launched a crackdown on support funding to keep a lid on ballooning costs.

Two teenagers accused of using a replica pistol to "scare" a boy with severe autism as they tried to rob him outside a north Canberra supermarket went home to watch a television show about serial killer Ivan Milat, court documents allege.

The boys, aged 16 and 17, each faced the ACT Childrens' Court charged with attempted aggravated robbery using an offensive weapon on Monday. Neither has entered pleas.

Court documents said witnesses called police after two teenagers approached the boy outside Woolworths at Dickson shortly before 7pm on Sunday.

Cathy O'Leary

Kathy Lette believes there are a lot of men with undiagnosed autism out there.

The London-based author and feminist, who is in Perth to speak to parents of children with autism, argues that with one in 68 people on the spectrum, autism could be defined as “an extreme form of maleness”.

“Just look at your husbands who are trainspotters or plane spotters, keep their records in alphabetical order and are socially awkward,” she said.

Kathy Lette

A mother does many things for her son: running trays up to his bedroom for nothing more serious than a stubbed toe, detecting lost bits of sports kit, secretly completing overdue homework …

But should soliciting a prostitute be one of them? "So, how much to initiate my son sexually?" are just not the words a law-abiding, middle-aged mum ever expects to say to a working girl in thigh-high boots and leather hot-pants in the dead of night in a seedy backstreet. 

Madeleine Ryan

"Ah, the actress," the psychic said. "Yes, I am an actress," I replied. "Oh, no," she corrected. "You're a writer. But you're an actress in your day-to-day life. Always performing. No one really knows who you are. Not yet, anyway."

Eight years ago, at the time of that reading, I didn't know I was autistic. I had no idea that the way I experienced life was different from the way others did. Nor was I aware that, in order to cope, I had become exceptionally skilled at playing the role of someone else – to the point that I had even fooled myself.