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Research on facial expressions challenges the way we think about autism

By bobb |

Autism researchers are starting to think that autistic and non-autistic faces may “speak a different language” when conveying emotion. This could mean the “social difficulties” often associated with autism may, at least partly, result from differences in the facial expressions produced by autistic and non-autistic people. It means we may need to re-think the idea that autistic people have difficulties with expressing their emotions and instead consider that non-autistic people may have trouble reading them.

Woolworths pilots autistic consultants in software assurance

By bobb |

Ry Crozier

Brings five consultants onboard initially.

Woolworths has kicked off a six-month “pilot program” employing five autistic technology consultants to work across several quality assurance and software delivery projects.

The program is enabled through a partnership with auticon, which has been in Australia since November last year, and coincides with World Autism Awareness Month.

Bouvard teen’s great rap for NDIS support

By bobb |

Jake Dietsch

An aspiring Bouvard rapper who has racked up hundreds of followers in the past month says living with autism was a help, rather than a hindrance, to his creativity.

Lachlan Brownlie, 18, always received As in English, despite struggling in other subjects, and started experimenting with poetry at the age of just four.

“I started mixing words together and that’s how I developed my creativity,” he said.

Statement of Concern – COVID-19: Human rights, disability and ethical decision-making

By convenor |

Media Release

Internationally recognised Australian experts in the areas of human rights, bioethics and disability, have today released a Statement of Concern to emphasise key human rights principles and standards that need to underpin ethical decision-making in the context of disability and the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 should not herald rollback in rights for people with autism: UN chief

By convenor |

The rights of persons with autism must be taken into account in efforts to address the COVID-19 coronavirus: “a public health crisis unlike any other in our lifetimes”, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday.

António Guterres’s appeal came in his message for World Autism Awareness Day, observed annually on 2 April.

Australian dad begs to have his son returned after child agencies put him in a home when they mistook his autism for signs of abuse

By bobb |

Tita Smith

An Australian dad is pleading for help after his son was taken by child protection services because his autism was mistaken as a sign of psychological abuse.  

Conrad and Katya den Hertog lost their son Martin, now seven, to Dutch authorities during a night-time raid of their home in Amsterdam in February 2018.  

Increase Disability Support Pension now to deal with COVID-19

By bobb |

Media Release

People with disability who receive the Disability Support Pension (DSP) urgently need access to the increased Coronavirus Supplement of $550 per fortnight, consistent with the Jobseeker Payment and other payments recently announced.

People with disability who are in receipt of DSP are experiencing and facing additional, unforeseen costs in this time of crisis, which is causing significant levels of distress and anxiety, and only serving to further entrench DSP recipients into poverty.

U.K. government faces lawsuit over mistreatment of autistic people

By bobb |

Following a series of scandals in the United Kingdom over people with autism being held against their will and mistreated in hospitals, a watchdog group has issued a legal challenge to the government.

The incidents highlight that the entire system of care for people on the spectrum is in need of an overhaul, the challengers say.