Shannon Hampton

A father who whipped his “severely autistic” son over the legs with a coathanger has been fined $1200 by a magistrate who said to use a weapon on his child involved “an appalling lack of judgement”.

Szu Sheng Lo, 41, admitted assaulting the 12-year-old after he had a “meltdown” at their in Canning Vale home in December.

The Armadale Magistrate’s Court was today told Lo hit his son on the back of his legs after he “took exception” to his instructions to change his shirt after a bike ride and before he went to church with his care workers.

Kathryn Bermingham

An Adelaide man who stabbed his autistic friend and decapitated a puppy during a “sadistic” crime spree has been jailed for at least three years.

James Alexander Rech, 20, was sentenced in the District Court on Friday for charges including assaulting police, aggravated assault and ill treatment of an animal on separate occasions in 2017 and 2018.

In sentencing, Judge Sophie David said Rech had repeatedly stabbed his housemate’s eight-month-old American staffordshire terrier in retaliation for an unpaid debt.

Kristen Hovet

An ACT study of mental health care provider organisations suggests the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is failing to achieve some of its core aims for persons with a lived experience of severe mental illness.

In a survey reporting on the transition to the NDIS, researchers from The Australian National University's Centre for Mental Health Research found the transition to individualised funding brought significant distress and uncertainty for care provider organisations in the mental health sector.

My daughter came into the world in dramatic fashion in November 1994.

Key points:

• Tracey Stewart had no idea her daughter was autistic
• She was not diagnosed until the age of 23
• Doctors say girls mask symptoms, making diagnosis harder

I had been hospitalised with pre-eclampsia and she was delivered via an unplanned caesarean at very short notice.

Claire Campbell and Alice Dempster

The drowning of a carer could have been avoided if the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) had responded to requests for a second carer for an autistic boy, a South Australian MP has claimed.

Jessica Hinchliffe

Clay Lewis spent two years trying to find part-time work before he decided to start his own business, one that's now so successful he's had to hire extra staff.

"I was trying to get a job at a fast food restaurant but I wasn't successful," the 16-year-old with autism said.

So after some local market research and number crunching, Clay opened a bin-cleaning business with his mother Laura's help.

This is a snippet from my book, All Across the Spectrum, that you can pre-order here.