Helping Children with Autism extended until the NDIS starts

By bobb |

The Government announced that it will continue the Helping Children with Autism (HCWA) package until the NDIS starts. John Howard created HCWA in 2007 and Bill Shorten implemented it. HCWA funds about 5% of the early intervention that the Government advised a child with autism needs.


Funding extensions for disability and carer programmes

13 March 2015

Disability sector funding cuts attacked by former UN committee chairman

By bobb |

The new arrangement threatens eight peak bodies, with 200,000 members.

The former chairman of the United Nations committee representing people with disabilities has added his voice to the chorus of anger over the government's shake-up of the sector, challenging its claim it is in acting in accordance with the UN convention.

Open letter about Autism, disability unemployment, etc. to the Minister for Social Security

By convenor |

Media Release

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (known as A4), the national peak body for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), wrote an open letter to Scott Morrison MP, the new Minister for Social Security. The letter gives essential information about ASD and the impact of Government policy for people living with ASD, and asks for a meeting to discuss ways to improve outcomes.

Disability employment scheme: sudden exclusion, fish-slapped by Departments and their "systems"

By bobb |

Monty Python fish slapping dancePeople with autism have difficulty getting a job. The letter below describes the experience of one person and his carer on reaching a point just 2 years after leaving school. 

This experience shows that the Commonwealth Government's Disability Employment Scheme (DES) is largely intractable. The Australian Bureau of Statistics describes its abysmal outcomes for people with autism/ASD (link here): 

In 2012, the labour force participation rate for people with autism was 42%. This compares with 53% labour force participation rate for people with disabilities and 83% for people without disabilities.

The 41.2% of people with autism in the labour market in 2012 experienced 23% unemployment (there is improvement since 2009 when labour force participation was just 34% and unemployment was 41%).

Merry F#*king Xmas

By bobb |

My friend is the mother of a child who is deaf and also has autism. She has been forced on to Newstart. My friend already works five days a week but with limited hours. Luckily she works at her son’s school but must be on call to deal with any adverse behaviors that might happen. Last week, as an example, her son head-butted a glass pane door of his classroom because he could not get in. It smashed and he cut his face all over. Said my friend, “ He was damn lucky not to have cut his eyes or a major blood vessel. Bled like a stuck pig. Added 20 years and too many grey hairs to count.”

...

At home she also has to deal with meltdowns. ...

My friend does not get carers payment from the Government because –  I don’t provide constant care in the home because he goes to school” ...

AND to top this off, because she has been shafted to Newstart, she is expected to apply for ten jobs per week. This single mother who can be called from work at any time to care for her child, who has the sole care of a child who is both deaf and autistic, a child that has challenging behaviour at home and school that requires her constant vigilance, who also has the sole care of another child … This mother is expected to look for ten jobs per week! Why? Because the Government thinks she is a LEANER and somehow has the capacity to not only look for ten jobs a week but also work full time. As she so eloquently put it – “How f#*ked is that?”

unacceptable political games over early intervention for children with disability

By bobb |

Federal and state Ministers are playing politics to delay reasonable and necessary early intervention services for children with disability.

The NDIA was advised from the outset that their estimates of the number of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was seriously wrong (see /node/425 and the footnote on /node/695).