Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP

Prime Minister

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Prime Minister

Subject: call for a Royal Commission into abuse of people with disability

Carly Dolan

The parents of a severely autistic teenager, who is being housed in Launceston General Hospital’s acute mental health unit, say the experience has been “excruciating” for the family and staff.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been at Northside Mental Health Clinic for nearly 12 weeks, which has resulted in beds being closed to other patients. He is due to be moved into accommodation at Latrobe next week.

Suzan Delibasic

An autistic teenager was gagged and tied up with his pants down in a Croydon school toilet block before being discovered by a teacher.

The boy’s distraught grandmother said the 18-year-old, who attends Croydon Special Developmental School and has non-verbal autism, was found with another student in a toilet cubicle about 9.15am on Monday, May 29. He was gagged and had his wrists bound with crepe bandages.

Conditions such as ADHD which co-occur with autism may increase risk

A diagnosis of autism alone does not increase the risk of violent offending suggests a study published in the June 2017 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The study analysed data from 295,734 individuals in Stockholm County, Sweden, of whom 5,739 had a diagnosis of autism. The researchers tracked these individuals for violent crime convictions between ages 15 to 27 years using records from the Swedish National Crime Register.

A Select Committee of the South Australian parliament produced this report.

This report has a lot to say about autistic students (students with autism, students with ASD, students on the autism spectrum). It includes a lot of recommendations. A couple of the recommendations are specific to how autistic students are educated.

The Hon Jane Prentice MP, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services has announced a new way to help those with autism access the services they need.

Mrs Prentice said collaboration between the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will help the autism community access more support.

AFDO Budget Media Release

 The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) welcomes the Turnbull Government's commitment in tonight's budget to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

"The Government's announcement tonight gives peace of mind to people with disability that funding for the scheme is secure and it will continue to be rolled out as planned," said AFDO CEO, Mr Ross Joyce.

A month ago, a NDIS planner in the ACT told a mother that the NDIA had "two publically available reports that the NDIS is using to avoid funding ABA therapies in kids aged 5 and above i.e. school-aged kids".  The NDIS planner told the mother:

1. once kids reach school, the schools are meant to fund appropriate behavioural management plans (also occupational and speech therapy),
2. as kids after school are too tired to have therapy, then these unnamed studies state that ABA therapy is no longer effective, and
3. the NDIS would not fund ABA for kids at school. 

One thing that is important to know about autism up front: There is no cure for autism. So, products or treatments claiming to “cure” autism do not work as claimed. The same is true of many products claiming to “treat” autism or autism-related symptoms. Some may carry significant health risks.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays an important role in warning these companies against making improper claims about their products’ intended use as a treatment or cure for autism or autism-related symptoms.

Speaking Out for Autism Spectrum Disorder (SOfASD), a local ASD advocacy group in the ACT, wrote to the ACT Minister for Education raising concerns about the lack if discernible progress with getting registered/certified behavioural service and support for autistic students in ACT schools. SOfASD asked for a meeting but the Minister's response ignored their request.