Alison Singer

Earlier this month, I attended the Autism-Europe International Congress in Kraków, Poland, where the theme was “Happy Journey Through Life.” Although this sounds like an admirable goal, I would not choose the word “happy” to describe my daughter Jodie’s life with profound autism, nor would many other families who struggle with the day-to-day challenges of life on the profound end of the autism spectrum, a reality that is largely invisible to mainstream society.

The federal Budget includes funding for a National Autism Strategy (NAS). Australia needs a NAS because key disability supports failed autistic Australians.

1. Australia's Disability Strategy (ADS) simply did not recognise that growing numbers of diagnosed autistic Australians need services and supports that are planned to meet their support needs.
2. when the Department of Health and Ageing created its Roadmap for People with Intellectual Disability if failed to take the opportunity to recognise and address the needs of autistic people both with and without intellectual disability, or consult with representatives from the autism sector.
3. the NDIS's war on autism does not benefit our nation. The NDIS needs to support autistic people much better than it currently does.

Preventing, reducing, and improving interactions between autistic individuals and the criminal justice system are urgent research and policy priorities. Research should guide evidence-based programs and policies that limit unnecessary interactions between autistic individuals and the criminal justice system and address documented high rates of victimization among autistic individuals.

Evan Young and Penny Timms

A planned review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is being brought forward to this year, with the federal government promising to work alongside people with disability after a significant breakdown of trust in recent years.

Sophie Black

For increasing numbers of families, school refusal is a crippling problem. But some programs are offering hope by thinking outside the box

As a year 10 coordinator in 2013, high school teacher Craig Hildebrand-Burke began to clock an increasing number of student absences at his school. As he began to contact families, he soon realised that school refusal was becoming “a major presenting issue” for the year 10 cohort at his co-ed Catholic high school in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.