Police hunt gang responsible for chasing down and bashing an autistic teenager who was riding his scooter in Perth’s northern suburbs.

from https://www.9news.com.au/videos/autisti…

Sandra Fulloon

Many people with autism have never held a paid job, but at an innovative program is helping some young entrepreneurs break the cycle.

Of the 250,000 Australians diagnosed with autism, fewer than half have ever held paid work, despite having the skills and qualifications.

That was the finding of a new study commissioned by autism body AMAZE.

Of those who do gain work, more than 20 per cent say they have lost a job due to their symptoms.

Amelia Dunn

People with autism say they are often misunderstood by police as being suspicious or rude. One Australian organisation is hoping to change that. Being pulled over for a routine random breath test shouldn’t be a reason for anxiety.

But for Emma Gallagher, who has autism, interactions with police can become difficult, quickly.

“The way police communicate is not exactly developed for people like me,” the 31-year-old researcher from Sydney told SBS News.

Ellen Coulter

Stephanie Maass was told her son Oliver needed occupational therapy and speech therapy when he was just 19 months old.

A 21-year-old autistic man from Perth has expanded into his first official business premises after finding his calling in life: professional paper shredding.

Brandon Tomic is nonverbal – he can speak for the purposes of requesting something, but not hold full conversations, and so his mother Simone Tomic asked if she could speak for him in this report.

After Brandon finished school at 18, Simone and her husband Rob wanted him to be able to work like any other adult.

It’s not as if Deborah Frith wants to put her eight-year-old son Jacob in a group home. She loves him deeply, and would give anything to protect him. But looking after a boy who has autism and severely challenging, often violent, behaviours has pushed the sole parent to her breaking point.

“I absolutely adore my child and I'd move hell and high water to keep him,” she says. “But it’s too much to sustain without the correct support. It’s a very unfortunate situation where you’re forced to suggest the things that come to you in your darkest moments.”

Judy Skatssoon

A report has painted a grim picture of the life of a disability care worker under the NDIS and questions whether the scheme will be able to achieve  the historic social reform it promised.

The report from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work says the NDIS has fundamentally changed the nature of work and employment in the disability sector – and not necessarily for the better.

Fergus Hunter

At least 50,000 Australian children are completely detached from formal education at any one time, a new report has found, challenging schools and governments to face up to a "hidden disaster" that is structurally entrenched and poorly understood.