Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

Dear Dr Nugent and Mr De Luca

A4 is happy to assist you and the NDIA. We are keen to be "moving forward". A4 is happy to meet "later in the month" as you requested.

A4 keeps trying to improve outcome for autistic people in Australia. We believe a meeting with you has real potential.

Rick Morton

A radical plan to alter the definition of autism will be the cornerstone of a push to restrict access to the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme, which could see thousands of people with substantial support needs removed from the system entirely.

The agency in charge says the proposed redesign will dismantle the idea of an autism “spectrum” — an idea coming back in vogue globally — and place people into specific “subtypes” based on individual characteristics.

Rick Morton

A secret plan to restrict the access of autistic people to the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme would prevent them from qualifying “automatically” for taxpayer-funded support as part of a sweeping overhaul to rein in costs.

The Weekend Australian has confirmed bureaucrats have been working on a strategy since late last year to pare back the number of people with autism receiving funding packages.

Dr Helen Nugent
Chairman

Mr Robert De Luca
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you for you letter, 18 May 2018 in response to A4's media release.

Mr Peter de Natris did not "advise [me] by phone on 15 May 2018" of anything. He did not call me. I note that a spokesperson for your organisation told The Guardian (see https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/18/ndis-mistakenly-posts-changes-restricting-access-for-autistic-children) that someone from the NDIA called me ... but that is not true.

There is concern older Australians on the autism spectrum are being let down by mental health professionals who lack awareness of the developmental condition.

Researchers are calling for urgent training of psychiatrists on the diagnosis and management of autism in adults, who are at greater risk of suicide.

Older Australians on the autism spectrum are being let down by a gap in mental health services for autistic adults, a gathering of psychiatrists has been told.

Rick Morton

The agency running the ­$22 billion National Disability ­Insurance Scheme is spending up to $10 million a year on barristers and legal services in a bid to arrest the dramatic rise in the number of people successfully appealing for more money in their support packages or trying to get into the scheme.

The agency has been explicit in its fears over the future of the scheme, saying the risk to its ­financial stability is “extreme” from unfavourable court and tribunal decisions that have the ­potential to “vastly increase the scope of both access and reasonable and necessary supports”.

Sherryn Groch

Canberrans are leaving the National Disability Insurance Scheme at the highest rate in the country, as services and advocates in the ACT call for an overhaul of the scheme's internal bureaucracy.

Between September and December 2017, 139 people joined the scheme in the ACT but 101 others left. Figures provided by the National Disability Insurance Agency, which runs the scheme, confirmed 381 Canberrans had exited the NDIS since 2013.

James Hancock

The mother of a boy with autism who was assaulted with spanners outside a Melbourne school wants police to charge his teenage attackers.

Quinn Lahiff-Jenkins, 14, was attacked outside Northcote High School, in the city's inner-north, on Tuesday afternoon.

They had armed themselves with spanners and turned on another boy when he tried to help the victim.

Susan Scutti, CNN

Story highlights

• The CDC estimate is based on calculations on 11 communities across the nation
• Disparity gaps between white children and both black and Hispanic children are closing

One in 59 US children has autism, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The NDIS regularly posts its Q&A items. For example, the NDIA's Q&A - 9 April 2018 says:

My son has Autism level 1 and not eligible for the NDIS, however he was eligible for previous government support. Why can he not access the NDIS and what other avenues do we now have?

The ECEI approach provides an opportunity for children aged 0-6 years of age with developmental delay or disability to access timely, targeted and individualised short term support, build on family strengths and available community and mainstream supports. Early Childhood Partners will work with families and carers to link them into programs in the community which help them to support their child.