Miki Perkins

​First, it was the clothes Ella's parents noticed. The little girl would tell her parents nothing fitted quite right; she wanted her shoes and clothes to feel "tighter".

For her birthday, the six-year-old asked for Barbie dolls, and pink, sparkly clothing she'd noticed other girls wearing. But the dolls were left in the drawer, and the clothes went unworn. What was going on?  

Tighter eligibility rules, disappointment among those given false hope but an affordable program for the nation — this is the realistic scenario for the National Disability Insurance Scheme according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance, whose submission to the Productivity Commission is reported in our pages today.

The number of Australian children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder may have skyrocketed but many will be "un-diagnosed" in adulthood.

Early diagnosis and programs are helping those with Asperger syndrome - now known as high functioning autism - deal with social deficits and other challenges.

"We are now getting people who become what we technically call sub-clinical," autism guru Dr Tony Attwood told AAP.

This means they've reached a "level of expression" that doesn't need specialist services or support.

NADIA ISA

Society needs to stop considering autism spectrum disorder as a deficit and start embracing difference, a South Australian expert in special education says.

Department of Education and Child Development special educator Kathy Kleinschmidt said autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was just that; a spectrum, and many ASD children were highly functioning — if just a little bit quirky.

Ms Kleinschmidt said high-functioning ASD children should be able to attend mainstream schools, but there needed to be education and tools available to staff.

Tamara McDonald

Tasmania has the highest rate of people living with autism in Australia.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data for 2015, released on Wednesday, showed an estimated 1 per cent of the population in both Tasmania and South Australia had autism, the country’s highest rate.

The lowest was 0.5 per cent in Western Australia.

Kathleen Murray

My then five-year-old son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) around the time in 2007 the United Nations declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD). He was on the cusp of school and I worried what the diagnosis meant for his future.

Hayley Warden

Nowra Public School has doubled their students intake since opening an autism unit only a year ago and that figure looks set to triple in the next 12 months.

There are 14 students enrolled in the unit, with a maximum of seven in each class. 

“Since last year we have had another class start,” Nowra Public School teacher Sue Griffin said. 

Warren Thomson

A MOTHER was left “mortified” after her son who has autism was kicked off a bus and left on his own in Dural.

Melissa Hewitson’s 16-year-old son Tyler routinely catches a bus from Old Northern Road, Dural to Pennant Hills Station as part of his morning commute to Hornsby TAFE four times a week.

But on Friday, March 17, Tyler’s Opal card had insufficient funds. Instead of letting him tap on and stay on the bus, the bus driver told him to get off.

“I was mortified that they could chuck a kid off the bus,” Ms Hewitson said.