Kathy Cologon, Macquarie University

More than 12% of students with disability are being refused school enrolment, and over 40% are being excluded from school events and activities.

These are some of the findings from a survey published today by the national organisation Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA). More than 500 young people with disability, and families of students with disability, shared their experiences with the education system over the past year.

The system of both mainstream and segregated schooling is often claimed to be a result of parent choice. But families in the survey said students were denied enrolment for reasons including schools advising they lack the necessary resources.

Autistic moms can face judgment while struggling with their own diagnosis and advocating for their children.

By Jen Malia

“You convinced yourself that you and our daughter have autism,” my husband yelled. “You did all this research and told the doctor what he needed to hear to diagnose you!”

“No, it wasn’t like that,” I said. “You know about all the testing we went through.”

“I can’t believe you brought her into this,” he said. “You’re like those mothers who make up medical problems about their kids. Why can’t you just let her be a kid?”

New figures reveal the human toll of a five-year NDIS funding fight, with hundreds of families pushed to relinquish their children into state care.

By Rick Morton.

For the past five years, the National Disability Insurance Agency has squabbled with state governments over who pays to support children with a profound disability. In that time, hundreds of families have been pushed to the brink. The care they were promised never came.

Lee Archer

What’s the deal with decision making?

Such a great question! The right to make your own decisions. It doesn’t get more fundamental than that when considering what makes us human. Questioning a person’s capacity to make decisions is one of the gravest insults one can make, yet in disability it can be thought of like an item on a grocery list. The assumption that people with disability have the right to make their own decisions, and should be given every support to do so, is a transgressive idea in our society. And as with any rights based social change, implementation can get a little tricky.

Why language matters.

Erin Bulluss, Ph.D., and Abby Witts

Language is a powerful tool; it can be used to describe the plain, the profound, and the profane. With language, we make choices not only about what we say, but how we say it. Surely we can all recall a time when we were hurt or buoyed by something said to or about us, not because of the statement itself but, rather, how it was framed.

The UN Committee reviewing Australia's implementation and compliance of the CRPD published its Concluding Observations - see https://www.afdo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/UN-Outcomes-Report-on-Australia.pdf

Their reports fails to mention autistic Australians. Autistic Australians are the biggest distinct primary disability type in the NDIS and the NDIS is the dominant mechanism for tackling CRPD issues.