Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

Note: we apologise that technical issues mean we cannot replicate this story properly on our website. The full story, showing many victims, is available from the source site: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-23/when-carers-kill/9894514

Sarah Dingle

One person with disabilities is killed by their carer almost every three months in Australia, but these acts of domestic violence are often excused by the media and judiciary. The focus is too often on the killer. Here, we recognise the victims.

Minister's media release

An Autism Advisory Group has been established to provide advice and feedback to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The establishment of the advisory group reflects the NDIA’s commitment to working with key stakeholders and experts who support people with autism.

The largest research grant ever given for neurodevelopmental conditions has been awarded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative to an international consortium academically led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London.

The €115 million grant, titled Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials), will increase our understanding of autism and help develop new therapies to improve health outcomes and quality of life for autistic people.

Warning: this article is extremely disturbing.

Forty-one seconds. That’s how long it took for police to shoot Courtney Topic, after the 22-year-old was seen brandishing a knife outside a Sydney Hungry Jack’s. Three years on, her family retraces her story in a plea for better police training in mental illness.

By Greg Callaghan & Megan Gorrey

Nicholette Zeliadt

Autism is significantly more common in boys than in girls. This skewed sex ratio has been recognized since the first cases of autism were described in the 1940s. The exact reasons for the ratio remain unclear. It could be rooted in biological differences between the sexes. Or, some experts say, it may be an artifact of the way autism is defined and diagnosed.

The Australian has confirmed with senior National Disability Insurance Agency sources that 22,000 autistic children aged seven to 14 are being “function­ally assessed”. Those who fail to meet the criteria are having their support partially or entirely ­removed.

VPSC is holding an art competition for people with disability. We’d love for you to help us promote it.

The winning artwork will feature on the Victorian public sector’s first ever Disability Employment Action Plan. VPSC is developing the action plan in close consultation with government departments, agencies and offices. The plan is a collective commitment by the sector to provide flexible and sustainable employment for people of all abilities, lifting representation to 6% by 2020.

Judy Bewer

Ill-informed debate over eligibility and arbitrary line-drawing through the autism spectrum is the result of years of neglect of ­autism research and a failure to engage with those who had the ­answers. It was a perfect storm waiting to happen, and the gales have now blown in.

Rick Morton

The man heading the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme “cannot guarantee” that specific levels of autism will remain on a list of conditions that gain automatic entry to the program, just weeks after the agency accidentally published a document that changed access guidelines.