Tom Gillespie

Robyn Vahua dedicates a huge chunk of her week just trying to prove to the NDIS that her son has a disability and needs funding. Now she’s worried he won’t be able to keep living with her.

Robyn Vahua might not be able to keep her 11-year-old son Aristotle at home, because the National Disability Insurance Scheme doesn’t believe he deserves funding for his complex conditions.

Brooke Grebert-Craig

Disability advocates are pushing to change a word on the title of a Centrelink payment, claiming it’s condescending and demeaning to young people.

Disability advocates are pushing to change a word on the title of a government payment, claiming it’s discriminatory to young people.

Victoria University PhD student Jerusha Mather wants the term ‘pension’ changed on the name of Centrelink’s Disability Support Pension.

Alesha Capone

Marina Ivelja knows the difficulties of looking for respite care for someone you love.

Mrs Ivelja is 16 years older than her older brother, who has autism, an intellectual disability, complex partial seizures and severe self-harming behaviours.

While growing up, she witnessed his diagnosis, integration with special schools and all the different services her family dealt with.

Mrs Ivelja said that this motivated her to establish her respite service, Beyond Disability Services, which opened in Bacchus Marsh during November 2021.

With a federal election on its way, autism-related politics is a current issue. This is a real chance for Australian politicians to take positive action and for the autism community to tell their prospective political representative what they can do to improve outcomes. Here is some material ...

The time has come for Australia to get serious about Autism

Shifting the dial on autism

Autism in girls is a rapidly evolving field of research and clinical expertise. Changes and improvements are happening across recognition, diagnosis and providing effective therapies and treatments. This is not before time.

Jannine Scott says funding had been ‘life-changing’, but now feels every time she interacts with the NDIA ‘it’s combative’

When Jannine Scott first joined her daughter Bethany on the national disability insurance scheme, it was “life-changing”.

The scheme funded in-home support workers for Scott, who has a spinal cord condition, and even paid for a power wheelchair and other assistive technology.

Research last year found early intervention therapy for toddlers reduced the likelihood of an autism diagnosis later in life. Now, something similar is being tried for newborns.