Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

1 April 2016 – On the eve of the World Autism Awareness Day, United Nations officials highlighted the contributions to humanity by people with autism, noting that shunning them is a “violation of human rights” and a “waste of human potential.”

Addressing a commemorative event this morning, UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft stressed that “autism and other forms of disability are part of the human experience that contributes to human diversity.”

An estimated 1 in 68 (14.6 per 1,000) school-aged children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a CDC report published today in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Surveillance Summary. This report shows essentially no change in ASD prevalence, the proportion of school aged-children with ASD, from the previous report released in 2014. However, it is too soon to know whether ASD prevalence in the United States might be starting to stabilize. CDC will continue tracking ASD prevalence to better understand changes over time.

Dear colleague

The attached document has taken half a day to prepare but only scratches the surface of this appalling corrupt investigation into Bendigo SDS.

If you have Facebook pages that parents of children attending Bendigo SDS may access, please post this. It is important that they have an understanding that the recent letter they received from the Department of Education is misleading.

You might have noticed that talk of children with autism and the NDIS is everywhere today – including some pretty angry commentary. Here’s a look at what’s happened and why people are concerned.

What’s happened?

The NDIA, the government agency responsible for the NDIS, released its approach to early childhood intervention for children with developmental delay or disability.It’s called the Early Childhood Early Intervention Approach, or ECEI.

There is a new section (26/2/2016) on the NDIS website with links to new documents about early intervention generally and specifically about Autism Spectrum Disorder. Prof Roberts, this time with Prof. Williams, produced another report in the ongoing series of government reports about early intervention for autism.

Dear Prime Minister

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 leading international human rights group has highlighted the decision to place a 10-year-old autistic student in a metal cage as a violation of disability rights in Australia. 

Human Rights Watch, one of the world's most respected campaign organisations, detailed the incident in its latest annual report on abuses and concerns in Australia.

Media Release

Autism groups around the country agree that bullying of autistic students in schools must be properly addressed.

For years, Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (known as A4) has cited published research showing bullying of autistic students in schools is a major problem and the result is abysmal education outcomes for autistic students (see http://a4.org.au/node/1068 and http://a4.org.au/node/1032).

by Rick Morton, The Australian

A showdown between autism experts and the agency responsible for the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme is likely by the end of the week with some scheme managers pushing to water down evidence about what treatments work.

by Rick Morton, The Australian

Autism experts have repeatedly told the managers of the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme they face urgent problems on two fronts that will end up reducing children’s treatment and ramping up the program’s costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.