Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

Media Release

Autism groups around the country agree that bullying of autistic students in schools must be properly addressed.

For years, Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (known as A4) has cited published research showing bullying of autistic students in schools is a major problem and the result is abysmal education outcomes for autistic students (see http://a4.org.au/node/1068 and http://a4.org.au/node/1032).

by Rick Morton, The Australian

A showdown between autism experts and the agency responsible for the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme is likely by the end of the week with some scheme managers pushing to water down evidence about what treatments work.

by Rick Morton, The Australian

Autism experts have repeatedly told the managers of the $22 billion national disability insurance scheme they face urgent problems on two fronts that will end up reducing children’s treatment and ramping up the program’s costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.

From all of us at Autism CRC, we wish you a very safe and happy holiday season.  As 2015 comes to a close, we have reviewed the year in numbers:

• 43 research projects are underway across our three research programs in diagnosis, education and adulthood.  
• 8 projects are currently being finalised and we look forward to updating you on the results of these projects early next year.
• Our 51 Participants, together with other collaborators, across Australia and internationally are working together to transform the lives of people on the autism spectrum.
• ...

Some of these children may never have had autism in the first place, despite being diagnosed with it

THE state’s largest specialist childcare facility for autistic children is at the centre of a police and Child Protection Service investigation into allegations of assault involving two young children.

Two female staff at the Huntfield Heights AEIOU Foundation Centre are on extended leave while the investigations are under way.

The police probe is being conducted by the family violence investigation branch in the South Coast CIB, and detectives are working closely with Flinders Medical Centre’s Child Protection Service.

A Senate committee has found a royal commission is needed into the abuse of people with disabilities, after a parliamentary inquiry heard "shocking" and "cruel" examples of violence and neglect around Australia. 

The report, by the Senate's community affairs committee, found that while there are no clear national statistics on the prevalence of violence against people with disability, there is "overwhelming anecdotal evidence". 

Amy Smith​

• Read more about Conversations about autism need to include people like me

In the USA, another report shows autism rates of 2.24% or 1 in 45: see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr0…

Presentation by Monique Blakemore to CEDAW, United Nations 30th October 2015 

Autistic women are a marginalised sector of the worlds largest minority group, the disabled community. There is an estimated 51,870,000 autistic women worldwide, a similar population to England.

Autistic women are subjected to systemic disadvantage in most areas of their lives. Autistic women experience exclusion socially, in education, in their personal lives, in the judicial system and in access to healthcare. Autistic leadership, exemplified by organizations such as Autism Women Matter, the Scottish Women’s Autism Network (SWAN) and Alliance Autiste, is necessary to challenge stigma and discrimination. 

Real, effective, and meaningful participation of autistic people, regardless of gender, is encapsulated in the phrase ‘nothing about us without us’ and is the aim of the autistic rights movement. Representation of autistic people by groups and individuals is frequently unfunded and unsupported. Unfortunately, ‘tokenism’, which is the illusion of consultation, is over-representative of the autistic advocacy experience. Autistic voices can be crowded out by those of professionals and parent caregivers that love and support us, but may see autism through their own experience.