Show news for a region of your choice (mostly Austraian news).

Disabled do not get a fair go

By bobb |

Disability commissioner Graeme Innes said the stories of discrimination from the Border’s victims, prisoners and witnesses echoed those he had heard around Australia. Picture: BEN EYLES"

By NATALIE KOTSIOS

A MAN spends months in jail while needing professional care. A woman, harassed by her neighbour, is ignored by the courts. Another’s cries of abuse at the hands of a housemate go unnoticed.

These were just a few for the real-life stories shared yesterday at a forum in Albury, discussing how people with disabilities are treated by police and the justice system.

The forum, hosted by Disability Advocacy and Information Service, saw people with disabilities, their carers and those working relates in fields to swap experiences and ideas and listen to speakers, including disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes.

WA allows embryo screening for autism

By bobb |

Testing identifies the embryo's sex because boys are at least four times more likely to develop autism.
CATHY O'LEARY October 19, 2013

For the first time, WA health authorities have allowed embryos to be screened to reduce the chance of a high-risk family having a child with autism.

The Reproductive Technology Council approved the application for a fertility clinic to do a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, to screen for autism.

We Belong: Aspect reports on adults with Asperger's Disorder and "high functioning autism" in Australia

By bobb |


Warning: this material is depressing

Autism Spectrum Australia released a report on the lives of adults with autism spectrum disorder but without intellectual disability, a group of vulnerable citizens who are often/routinely denied appropriate and necessary services and supports.

NDIS: reverts to original name ... slowly and cheaply

By bobb |


The Coalition in line with its pre-election commitment has directed that DisabilityCare resume its original name of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The return to NDIS has two purposes. The first is to leave behind a name that was seen by many people with disability as patronising and not reflecting the intent of the scheme to have the individual at the centre and in charge.

People with disability don't so much want to be cared for as supported to be as independent as they can.

Bob Buckley: State Finalist (ACT) Senior Australian of the Year 2014

By ianrgrs |

Autism activist

Many people would find it impossible to devote the time and energy to advocacy activities while also caring for a child with a disability. For Bob Buckley, however, having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has driven his desire to raise awareness, attract funding and advocate for better opportunities for people living with ASD. After his son was diagnosed with the disorder, Bob began to apply his outstanding academic and analytical skills to become one of Australia’s most formidable ASD activists. In 2002, Bob co-founded Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia, which he convenes to this day.

Training Program Helps Students With Autism Land Jobs

By bobb |

New research suggests schools should build on these students' strengths

By CAROLYN T. GEER

Schools are typically tasked with ferreting out what students can't do and teaching them how to do it.

But for students with autism, perhaps the focus should be on what they can do.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University recently published the first study of its kind to demonstrate that the strengths of youths with autism can be parlayed into gainful employment given the right educational program.

Autism Researcher Among Nobel Prize Winners

By bobb |

By Shaun Heasley, October 9, 2013

One of three recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is a neuroscientist whose research is shedding light on autism.

Thomas Südhof of Stanford University will share this year’s prize with fellow-American scientists James Rothman and Randy Schekman. The trio are being honored “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said this week.

Autism CRC website and a media release

By bobb |


Australia's Autism CRC has posted its website — see http://www.autismcrc.com.au/

It also posted a media release ...

Researchers to unveil details of world first autism diagnostic tool

Australian researchers are combining genetic, biological and behavioural research to develop a world first screening tool that could enable early identification of autism risk.