CHILDREN with disabilities are allegedly being locked in cages without windows and other enclosures described as “cattle pens” while at school.

Bendigo Special Developmental School is being investigated by the Victorian education department after incidents were reported by staff members and parents.

Since October last year, disability advocate Julie Phillips has copped a number of complaints about children being treated like animals.

THE family and friends of a Lockwood South man with severe autism have just nine days left until he is once again taken from their care.

Luke Modra, 27, has lived at the expansive property specially designed for his needs for several years, and in the last nine months has been under the direct care of eight support workers.

But on Saturday, his parents had to inform the workers they would no longer have a job on Monday after they were unsuccessful in convincing the Department of Health and Human Services to pay the casual wages.

Henrietta Cook, Education Reporter

Children were allegedly locked in cage-like structures at a Victorian special school and restrained with straps at another, triggering separate investigations by the Education Department.

A consultancy hired by the department is investigating practices at Bendigo Special Developmental School to determine whether there is "a risk of danger or risk of inappropriate treatment" for students.

Children were allegedly locked in cage-like structures at a Victorian special school and restrained with straps at another, triggering separate investigations by the Education Department.

A consultancy hired by the department is investigating practices at Bendigo Special Developmental School to determine whether there is "a risk of danger or risk of inappropriate treatment" for students.

A separate probe by an independent education consultant is examining complaints raised by parents at Monash Special Developmental School.

A manager at Victoria's biggest disability services provider Yooralla has been jailed for four years after he was caught by a hidden camera preying on a vulnerable cognitively impaired woman in his office.

County Court judge Paul Grant said Timothy Hampson, 52, had abused his position of trust in a shocking way.

"You put your own desires above your obligation to respect your victim's rights, her autonomy and personal dignity," the judge said on Monday when jailing Hampson for four years with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.

Nearly half of all Victoria's disability sector employees have witnessed their co-workers perpetrate acts of abuse, violence or neglect on people with disabilities living in their care, a survey reveals.

The findings have raised fresh concerns around the lack of qualifications needed to work in the industry, and warnings that abuse will only increase without reforms to "professionalise" the sector before it doubles in size under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

A disabled young boy was "punched" in the throat by a Jiu Jitsu trainer and repeatedly restrained at a specialist school in Victoria, court documents show.

Philip Gluyas has taken on American anti-autism bloggers in court.

Two "keyboard warriors" - one in Victoria and one in Los Angeles - were involved in heated online arguments over the existence of autism that quickly escalated into death threats, a court has heard.

Philip Gluyas, 49, an umpire in the Ballarat junior football league with Asperger's syndrome, claims to be living in fear after anti-autism blogger Oliver Canby urged people to kill him in a series of posts on the website 'Autism is Bad'.

Canby, who lives in Los Angeles, wanted people to show up at Mr Gluyas' Sebastopol home and murder him, the Supreme Court was told on Tuesday.

Canby, who does not believe Asperger's exists, claimed he would offer a $500 reward to anyone who carried out the murder.

Mr Gluyas, an outspoken advocate for the rights of people with autism, is suing Canby in the Victorian Supreme Court for defamation claiming he had made false and malicious statements about him, exposing him to hate, ridicule and contempt.

Mr Gluyas, who runs the blog 'Phil Gluyas: Autism News and Views. The truth about Autism is here', was first diagnosed with Asperger's in 1997. The condition is considered to be part of the autism spectrum.

VCE RESULTS

High-achieving VCE students deserve to be congratulated, but the future is not so rosy for some students with a disability. My grandson is high-functioning autistic. He got a healthy ATAR score, despite the anxiety that accompanies him during exams. However, he will not be able to undertake his first-choice university course – or any university course – because his English score does not meet their prerequisite.