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cruel NDIS policy targets the most autistic and vulnerable NDIS participants

By convenor |

NDIS policy (AAT Case Management Guide Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) - see below) fails some of the youngest and most severely autistic NDIS participants. Clinicians advise that some children with severe/profound or classic autism need intensive early intervention for their autism. NDIS policy (see below) says funding for the required early intervention depends on families winning a case against the government in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

about Inklings

By bobb |

Heidi La Paglia Reid

So in the neurodivergent space lately, everyone is talking ⭐️Inklings⭐️

If you don’t know, the context is that the Federal Labor government committed $14.8 million last week to a trial in South Australia which is: “designed to provide crucial assistance to parents and caregivers in understanding the needs of infants between the ages of six to 18 months who exhibit early signs of autism.”

As stated on the official website, “The Inklings Program has been developed over a decade by an international team of health professionals and researchers interested in reducing disability associated with autism.”

What the Australian National Autism Strategy Needs to Achieve to Make It Meaningful To Autistic People:

By bobb |

Nicholas Eugene Glover
Autistic Elder: National Autistic Community Connect Developer.

Hopefully, sometime in March 2024, the Government will release its Draft Autism Strategy document. This Strategy will affect more than half a million Autistic lives (2024).

The U.K. released their first National Strategy in 2010. So we are a fair way behind in this regard. Hence, the Australian Autism Strategy needs to be sound, transparent, very well-thought-out, well funded, and ambitious. Autistic people need to have the opportunity to review the Draft Strategy.

It's about time: NDIS Commission boss who 'failed at every turn' resigns

By bobb |

Miriam Webber

NDIS Commission boss Tracy Mackey will step down from the role in May, after a tumultuous 12 months for the agency.

Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill Shorten announced Ms Mackey's resignation in a statement on Tuesday, saying the government was working to "build a better NDIS disability watchdog".

Mr Shorten's statement did not say why Ms Mackey was leaving the role, but thanked her for her time at the commission, and wished her well.

Dad assaults 'good Samaritan' who helped lost boy with autism

By bobb |

Hannah Neale

A father assaulted a "good Samaritan" who helped his lost son, who has an intellectual disability, when the pair became separated during a hike.

The man, who The Canberra Times has chosen not to name, was fined $1000 in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

He had previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Watch: From Eddie Mabo to Lindy Chamberlain, here are some of Australia’s most famous court cases.

Joondalup care support worker charged after allegedly leaving man with autism inside car on 40C day

By bobb |

Lauren Price

A care support worker is accused of leaving his client — who has severe autism — in the back of a car on a 40C day while he was allegedly inside a shopping centre buying groceries with the client’s cash.

Police say officers were forced to break into the car after finding the 26-year-old client — who is non-verbal — “visibly distressed” and “heat affected”.

It is alleged the care support worker left the man in the back seat of his parked car at Lakeside Joondalup Shopping Centre on January 13.

WA carer charged with leaving autistic man locked in car on 40-degree day

By bobb |

NICHOLAS FINCH

Police had to break into a car to rescue a “visibly distressed” severely autistic man who was allegedly left locked in a car by his carer for nearly an hour at a Perth shopping centre on a sweltering day.

Western Australia police officers rescued the 26-year-old man – who lives with severe autism and is non-verbal – after a passer-by saw him in the car parked outside at Lakeside Joondalup Shopping Centre in Perth at 2.30pm on January 12.

The Brit who predicted the NDIS disaster a decade ago

By convenor |

Tom Burton

Dr Simon Duffy warned a decade ago that the design of the national disability insurance scheme created perverse incentives, leaving it flawed from day one.

The British social policy reformer who warned a decade ago that the design of Australia’s national disability insurance scheme was flawed from the start and would be expensive and unsustainable said his worst fears have come true.