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Autism/ASD prevalence in Australia ... up to 2012 - APAC'13 presentation

By bobb |

Bob Buckley's presentation at the Asia Pacific Autism Conference 2013 (APAC'13), entitled Data describing Autism Spectrum Disorder in Australia: information relating to diagnoses, prevalence, service access and outcomes, continues a series of presentations describing data, mainly from government sources, that indicate the number of people in Australia diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and some relevant outcome measures. The presentation shows:

DisabilityCare (NDIS) start: with serious initial concerns relating to people with autism/ASD

By bobb |

DisabilityCare, the renamed and emerging NDIS, "launched" in a number of locations (states?). Now we start to see how it is being implemented. Our hope is that the scheme will be genuinely person-centred: that is, it will focus on identifying and meeting the needs of each person (individual) with a disability. Our particular concerns relate to people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Autistic taxman jailed for fraud

By bobb |


A man "crippled" by a lifelong autism spectrum disorder who became an accountant and then defrauded the Tax Office of $2.4 million in GST refunds has been jailed for a maximum of four years.

It was argued that jail would "terrify and traumatise" Philip Solimon Tadros who learned by rote to pass VCE with a university entry score of 65, completed his course but took six years to gain a practising certificate.

Access to justice in the criminal justice system for people with disability

By convenor |

A4's submission/feedback on the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Issues Paper on "Access to justice in the criminal justice system for people with disability" (see https://www.humanrights.gov.au/access-justice-criminal-justice-system-p…) can be downloaded below.

A4 highlights that for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Australia does not have a "justice system", what it has is a legal system; a system of legal processes that rarely delivers justice for people with ASD.

Tropfest junior winner Ben McCarthy finds success in New York

By bobb |

FROM Brooklyn in north Sydney to its namesake in New York City.

Ben McCarthy - who has Asperger's syndrome - is the state's youngest international award winning filmmaker at only 12 years old.

Inspired by the famous Wallace and Gromit series, the pint-sized film director took out the Trop Jr film festival and a gong at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in New York with his claymation creation.

Parents pull kids from school

By bobb |

By LIA SPENCER

A SPECIAL school in Casey has defended their methods of dealing with students who display challenging behaviours.

Several parents have pulled their students from Marnebek School in Cranbourne due to complaints about the school’s discipline policies and the “prison-like” outside settings.

One of the parents has taken her complaints to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on the grounds of discrimination, and use of seclusion and restraints.