Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia

Dear Justice Kyrou and Mr Michael Hawkins

I write about some of the operations of the NDIS Division of the new Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). 

I am a volunteer advocate and have now helped over 60 NDIS participants in their requests for the AAT and ART to review the statements of participant supports (SOPS) in their NDIS Plans. These have mostly been reviews of plans for young autistic NDIS participants.

Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2025 10:11:11 +1100
From: Bob Buckley <convenor@a4.org.au>
Subject: urgent meeting request - NDIS impairment categories and autism
To: minister.rishworth@dss.gov.au, Amanda.Rishworth.MP@aph.gov.au 

Dear Minister

Media Release

Autistic Australians and their carers are calling for answers after a long-awaited plan to address the disparities in healthcare for Autistic individuals was today released by the Australian Government's Department of Health, with the disclaimer that funding is yet to be secured. 

The roadmap, which was drafted in December 2024 was reviewed by Minister Rishworth and Minister Butler before reaching the Prime Minister’s desk, who declined funding under his government.

Answer: it appears not.

Recently, the NDIS was unable to provide any evidential basis for having generic speech or occupational therapy listed as a support for autistic children - see https://a4.org.au/node/2674

There are various other examples where evidence supporting generic speech therapy is missing. These include research reviews for Australian Government agencies - in particular

Australia's disability sector, including A4, united over the government's poor approach to disability reform. They said: 

A coalition of 255 disability organisations and providers, including Australia’s peak disability representative bodies, have come together to call for urgent action from the Government and the new Minister for the NDIS, Amanda Rishworth, to protect the safety and wellbeing of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants amid rushed reforms.

These days, the talk is all about neurodoversity, neurodivergence, neuro-affirming stuff. We are told

a neuroaffirming lens ... looking at differences and not deficits.

or 

14 days after the release of Australia's National Autism ¾-Strategy (NA¾S), the Government released its 2024 update to Australia's Disability Strategy 2021-31 (ADS). 

In respect of the ADS, the NA¾S said: 

The Evaluation Good Practice Guide Checklist developed under ADS will underpin the approach to [NA¾S] evaluation activities. 

and 

On the 14/1/2025, DSS Minister Rishworth and the federal government released ¾ of its National Autism Strategy (NA¾S)^[1]. While we welcome the limited progress planned, we note that the 4th part of a full strategy, the so-called Health Roadmap for Autism, is missing. Also, DSS officials who wrote the ¾-Strategy failed to address many fundamental issues that need urgent action. In its current form, the NA¾S is deeply disappointing to say the very least.