The mother of a severely disabled teenager who died at an Adelaide care facility after swallowing a latex glove has told a coronial inquest she had warned carers that her daughter was at risk of putting things in her mouth.

British-born author Daniel Tammet corresponded with poet Les Murray, who died on April 29 aged 80, and translated his poems into French. In his 2017 book Every Word is a Bird We Teach to Sing, Tammet describes how Murray’s inspiring example helped him come to terms with being autistic. In this edited extract he recounts how he and Murray came to share a stage in Paris in 2015.

Daniel Tammet

The Australian poet Les Murray makes life hard for those who wish to describe him. It isn't only his work, some 30 books over 50 years. It is the man. In PR terms, Murray seems the antipode of Updikean dapperness, cold Coetzee intensity, Zadie Smith's glamour. His author photographs, which appear to be snapshots, can best be described as ordinary. The bald man's hat, the double chin, the plain T-shirt. A photograph, accompanying his New Selected Poems, shows him at a kitchen table, grandfatherly in his glasses. The artlessness is that of an autodidact. Murray has always written as his own man. Fashions, schools, even the occasional dictionary definition, he serenely flouts. To read him is to know him.

Parenting can be tough—even when your child is considered so-called ‘normal’. Nine-year-old Lucy looks like a curly haired angel, but she's often strangely manipulative and physically violent. Her mum and dad are still searching for a diagnosis which could make sense of her extreme behaviour. But their patience and love for Lucy is extraordinary.

Rochelle Kirkham

Young Ballarat musician Jack Stacey is changing perceptions of autism and setting an example to others to live beyond their 'limits'.

At four-years-old Jack was diagnosed with autism, a lifelong developmental condition that affects how an individual relates to their environment and interacts with other people.

At the time of diagnosis doctors estimated he would only be able to write his own name and read basic text.

Jewel Topsfield

When Maria Thomas was told her autistic son had been raped in the bathroom of his group home the missing piece of a ghastly puzzle fell into place.

Ms Thomas had been haunted by a change in her son Matthew’s behaviour but because he is non-verbal she couldn’t work out what had happened.

“Matty didn’t want me to leave him in the shower, he kept holding my hand,” Ms Thomas says. “His behaviour deteriorated, he didn’t want us to go, he kept saying: ‘Stay, stay’.”

A new project launched by Townsville Police is improving how officers respond to disturbances, involving people with a special needs, such as autism.

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Hannah Barry

Carers and people with disabilities have shared their experiences working with Centrelink to receive their support payments after a Geraldton mother spoke out about having to continuously provide proof her son “still had” Down Syndrome.