A report from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) said that in February 2014 the Department of Social Security (formerly FaHCSIA) funded $50,000 worth of research to establish "the extent of [ASD] over-diagnosis nationally".
A Deputy Secretary of DSS wrote back that
this wording is not intended to presuppose the findings of the Autism CRC report.
The Department apparently accepts (does not deny) their wording clearly pre-supposes the existence of autism over-diagnosis. However, the actual intent is now unknown. It is hard to imagine how a contract could be signed without anyone noticing this (unintended?) presupposition. A4 will be disappointed in the Autism CRC if it undertook research based on the questionable premise that parents/families and/or professionals are fabricating diagnoses of a medical condition. Credible research would not presume over-diagnosis exists; it would first need to establish that over-diagnosis really exists.
The Health Department's recent report on The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Australia does not once mention autism. In this respect, Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia regards the report as negligent. The report was signed off by the Health Minister.
Autism is a growing issue for Governments in Australia since:
A disability advocate, Ms Julie Phillips, wrote this letter (link here PDF 3.5Mb) to the David Bowen, CEO of the NDIA, about early intervention for autism spectrum disorder. The letter starts:
I refer to the recent article in The Australian earlier this week 'Autism Cost Estimates Wrong'.
Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (known as A4) received the response below from Gary Knox to our email that asked several questions.
Mr Knox's response describes material that is well known to us; particularly in relation to Impairment Table 7 - Brain Function. And it describes Centrelink's review system and the possibility of appealing a review to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
