Comments on twitter indicate that an NDIS "independent assessment", part of its pilot, did not go well.
This is hardly surprising. The NDIA's CEO sent a letter to all NDIS participants claiming "The [NDIA's assessment] tools have been ... used all over the world for many years". There is no such tool for assessing the capability, and more importantly the support needs, of autistic people. There most certainly is no assessment tool for ASD that has been used, and shown to be accurate, "all over the world for many years".
Overall, I welcome this increased reporting on the NDIS. Reporting like this helps identify how the NDIS can improve outcomes for autistic Australians. Article 31 of the UN CRPD requires the dissemination of relevant statistics but other Articles of the Convention indicate the NDIS should consult better about what information is monitored and reported.
On the 23/5/2018, the Minister for Social Security wrote to autism organisations to "assure" them that there would be "extensive consultation with stakeholders and the community" before making any changes to NDIS eligibility (see http://a4.org.au/node/1761).
Recently, the Education Council released its first report based on data collected for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data: School Students with Disability.
The report describes 18% of school students as having disability. This rate of disability among school students in the major states (see Table 3 in the report) aligns remarkably closely with the average disability rate (18%) in the Australian population. But this level of disability is far more students than other reports of children with disability.
Yet again, the Government is kicking people off welfare benefits hoping that they will move into jobs (see Crackdown throws thousands off disability support pension). This pathetic repetition of oft tried and always failed approach comes from a Government that is crowing about innovation: it clearly shows Governments cannot come up with a new approach.
On the 23/5/2018, the Minister for Social Security wrote to autism organisations to "assure" them that there would be "extensive consultation with stakeholders and the community" before making any changes to NDIS eligibility (see 
