Emma Taylor spent her whole life believing that something was wrong with her.

"I've always been called weird or a little bit strange. One of the regulars at work calls me Fruit Loop. It was just something I was used to," the 27-year-old said.

Christopher Knaus

Disability rights campaigners say company’s poor history abroad and lack of experience in disability should have precluded it from role

Disability rights groups, Labor and the Greens have slammed a decision to hire the multinational outsourcing giant Serco in a key role administering the national disability insurance scheme.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) announced on Friday afternoon that Serco, a company with a chequered corporate history, would help run its contact centres under a two-year contract.

A disability care service provider says it is cooperating with a police investigation into the death of a young boy with severe autism who was hit and killed by a train in Sydney's south.

The 11-year-old boy died after he escaped from a respite care facility at Oatley just after 7:00pm yesterday.

His carers alerted authorities and a police search was set up involving Polair and the dog squad.

The boy's body was found at the Oatley train station two hours later.

Police confirmed on Monday morning that the child, who was non-verbal, was hit by a train.

Katherine K.M. Stavropoulos Ph.D.

Research explores whether intervention can change the brain in autism.

I want to start with blog entry by saying Happy National Autism Awareness Month!

Natalie Jones, speech pathologist/senior clinician at Autism Australia

I’m very proud to be commencing two new education and healthcare services here in the Inverell area – the first helping individuals with autism under the name Autism Australia, and the other a general speech pathology service – about which I’ll explain further down.

France's autism problem – and its roots in psychoanalysis

Richard Bates, University of Nottingham

A group of graduates from a specialised autism training program have left the dole queue and secured their first jobs inside the department responsible for handing out their disability benefits.

Hans Asperger's name may become "mud" and be scrapped from the medical lexicon following new evidence he was an active Nazi collaborator, an autism history expert says.

Key points:

• New study finds clinician cooperated with child euthanasia program
• Finds Asperger benefited from relationship with Nazis
• Challenges long-running narrative about Asperger

A new study, published in the journal of Molecular Autism this week by medical historian Herwig Czech, was the result of eight years of research and drew on previously unseen documents, including Asperger's personnel files and the clinical assessments he wrote on his patients.

Michael Bernick

"The Seasons or Orchard" tapestry by Morris & Co. 1890. William Morris in the Victorian period sought to create new forms of craft and workplace culture. William Morris Society.

Last week, I was in New York and had the opportunity morning to tour a true “autism-friendly workplace”—one that differs not only from most workplaces today but also from most workplaces that describe themselves as autism-friendly. I think you’ll be interested, whether you have a connection to autism or not.