Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

New figures reveal the human toll of a five-year NDIS funding fight, with hundreds of families pushed to relinquish their children into state care.

By Rick Morton.

For the past five years, the National Disability Insurance Agency has squabbled with state governments over who pays to support children with a profound disability. In that time, hundreds of families have been pushed to the brink. The care they were promised never came.

Lee Archer

What’s the deal with decision making?

Such a great question! The right to make your own decisions. It doesn’t get more fundamental than that when considering what makes us human. Questioning a person’s capacity to make decisions is one of the gravest insults one can make, yet in disability it can be thought of like an item on a grocery list. The assumption that people with disability have the right to make their own decisions, and should be given every support to do so, is a transgressive idea in our society. And as with any rights based social change, implementation can get a little tricky.

Why language matters.

Erin Bulluss, Ph.D., and Abby Witts

Language is a powerful tool; it can be used to describe the plain, the profound, and the profane. With language, we make choices not only about what we say, but how we say it. Surely we can all recall a time when we were hurt or buoyed by something said to or about us, not because of the statement itself but, rather, how it was framed.

The UN Committee reviewing Australia's implementation and compliance of the CRPD published its Concluding Observations - see https://www.afdo.org.au/wp-content/uplo…

Their reports fails to mention autistic Australians. Autistic Australians are the biggest distinct primary disability type in the NDIS and the NDIS is the dominant mechanism for tackling CRPD issues.

Melissa Martin

In October 2018, the family of a severely disabled man became so concerned about bruises he was suffering while living in full-time care that they asked for them to be investigated.

Key points:

Rebecca Gredley

Participants in the national disability insurance scheme will keep receiving enough support despite its $4.6 billion underspend, the minister responsible insists.

The Morrison government revealed on Thursday the budget was almost out of deficit, thanks to less money going to the NDIS.

NDIS Minister Stuart Robert has defended the underspend, saying no participant had received less money as a result.

He said 100,000 participants "couldn't be found" or were counted twice, suggesting less money was now needed for the scheme.

The Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is inquiring into the the NDIS's planning process.

A number of autism/ASD-related organisations, including A4, made submissions to the inquiry. The Committee published submissions here. The submissions by autism groups are:

2. Autism Family Support Association (PDF 580 KB)

5. Autism Spectrum Australia (PDF 143 KB) 

63. Irabina Autism Services (PDF 48 KB) 

69. Intervention Services for Autism and Developmental Delay (ISADD) (PDF 42 KB) 

The NDIS sent a letter to A4 responding, on behalf of the Minister, to A4's email 3/7/2019.

This letter is a leading candidate for A4's 2019 Suppository of Wisdom Award. You can view the letter via the link below.

Around the world, the number of people diagnosed with autism is rising. In the United States, the prevalence of the disorder has grown from 0.05% in 1966 to more than 2% today. In Quebec, the reported prevalence is close to 2% and according to a paper issued by the province's public health department, the prevalence in Montérégie has increased by 24% annually since 2000.

Tony Wright

Mr Fischer, AC, died at the Albury-Wodonga Cancer Centre, surrounded by close family members.

He had undergone extensive treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood cells, over the past 10 months.

Most of his treatment had taken place at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.