Indiana Lysaght

Demeaning, degrading and disgusting is how a Kalgoorlie-Boulder mother has described her recent experience with Centrelink.

Despite a lifetime with a diagnosed disability, Jo Russell said she had to parade her daughter “like a monkey” during a disability support application.

Megan Russell was diagnosed with autism and an intellectual disability when she was two years old, which has left her in the full-time care of her mother

Melanie Whelan

THERE are bad days when Jae cannot leave the house because the prospect of navigating changing public transport to get to Melbourne is too much. Not to mention the bright, fluorescent lights in VLine carriages.

Jae is among the 40 per cent of austistic Australians who say they sometimes do not leave the house due to the prospect of being subject to discriminatory behaviour.

CONSTRUCTION begins this week for a $3.5 million world-class autism hub in Garran.

The sod turning ceremony for the AEIOU Garran Centre for Autism will be held tomorrow (February 26) to mark the beginning of construction for the early intervention facility supported, through capital funding, by the John James Foundation.

The centre will be the first of its kind in Canberra and will provide early intervention for about 40 children per year. It will also have the capacity for research and training.

Shannon Jenkins

The New South Wales Public Service Commission has launched a pilot initiative designed to bring autistic and neurodiverse talents into state government agencies.

A partnership between the state government and the not-for-profit enterprise Specialisterne Australia, the Tailored Talent Program aims to address skill shortages in hard-to-fill public service roles such as cyber-security, software testing, data analytics, and coding.

The Andrews Labor Government has established Australia’s first social behaviour change campaign to promote better understanding and inclusion of autistic people.

Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers Luke Donnellan today launched the new $2.8 million public education campaign Change Your Reactions with Amaze CEO Fiona Sharkie.

Change Your Reactions encourages Victorians to recognise some of the challenges that autistic people face and to understand the impacts of community actions and reactions.

Australian society seems to be afraid of telling stories about people with disabilities that show the truth of what it really is: difficult, challenging, exhausting and sometimes painful.

Authentic representation matters and when creators, writers and the TV networks get these stories wrong, it distorts how society views people with a disability.

Bushfire season is a stressful time for all of us, including children on the autism spectrum. Children on the autism spectrum can sense that adults around them are anxious, fearful and overwhelmed. Additionally, their anxiety increases as their routines, schedules and living situations are disrupted during the fires.

We would like to offer some suggestions for you to help your child adjust to the changes and the stresses related to the fires.