Autistic drivers could find their licences in legal limbo depending on where they live after new standards introduced

By bobb |

Danielle Cahill

Thousands of autistic drivers could find their Australian licences are in legal limbo due to changes quietly made last year to the national standards that govern who is considered fit to drive.

The national 2022 Assessing Fitness to Drive standards are the first to list autism as a condition that "should be assessed individually", which may involve a practical assessment.

AUTISM GROUP (A4) EXPRESSES CONCERNS OVER ANU AUTISM STUDY

By convenor |

MEDIA RELEASE 

17 November 2023

The CEO of A4, a recognised Disability Representative Organisation for autism, has described an ANU researcher’s comments regarding the ‘prevalence of autism’ as flawed. 

The article says:

Australian estimates of prevalence in children are the highest in the world and have grown faster than the global average. Incentives in government policy, specifically the NDIS, is the key factor unique to the Australian context and potentially explains the additional growth in Australian prevalence. 

NDIA used the law to ‘exhaust’ participants

By bobb |

Rick Morton

A leaked review document shows the National Disability Insurance Agency used ‘legalistic brinkmanship’ to force disabled people to ‘bargain away their rights’.

A backlog of thousands of National Disability Insurance Scheme tribunal appeals was almost entirely artificial, not based on proper legislative interpretation and driven instead by “external pressures” to rein in costs of the scheme, according to independent reviewers chosen to work through the stricken cases.

employment and education submissions to the National Autism Strategy

By convenor |

In addition to previous submissions, A4 worked with GCG on an employment strategy. And submitted the report to the National Autism Strategy development team. 

GCG also wrote a paper on Road Map to Inclusive Education: Developing School Policy Reforms for Australian Schools (K-Y12) for the Australian Autism Alliance.

Why do some children lose their autism diagnosis?

By bobb |
A study published 2 October in JAMA Pediatrics reports that 79 of 213 children who were diagnosed with autism at 12 to 36 months of age no longer met criteria for the condition at 5 to 7 years old. Spectrum asked autism researcher Deborah Fein, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, for her thoughts on the findings. In a 2013 study, Fein and her colleagues described a sample of people who lost their autism diagnosis.

‘Quick and dirty’ NDIS review faces backlash from disability advocates

By bobb |

Stephen Lunn

A “quick and dirty” review of the $35bn-a-year National Disability ­Insurance Scheme will not ­address its longstanding problems in time to meet national cabinet’s hard cost-control targets set for three years from now, advocates have warned, signalling a fresh battle over its future.

Actuarial student's issues with autism

By convenor |

An actuarial student at the ANU has been writing adversely about autism and the NDIS. 

A4 expressed concerns that some of the mainstream media was linking her work to the NDIS. The NDIS indicated that

She does not represent the views of the agency and we are in contact with her to ensure she is clear in any future work with ANU that her views are her own.

A4's communication with the NDIS can be seen below.