Benjamin Preiss

Autism support services would undergo a $50 million “revolution” if the Coalition wins the November election.

The package includes a 24-hour autism helpline and a $4 million increase for early diagnosis services, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy announced on Monday.

The peak autism support group, Amaze, will receive $2.4 million to expand their current hotline to 24 hours. It currently operates during business hours.

A trip to the supermaket often proves traumatic for five-year-old Leo Reseigh.

The Campbelltown boy was diagnosed with level-two autism earlier this year, with a developmental delay and high anxiety.

But a new weekly ‘Quiet Hour’ session offered at Coles has made grocery shopping easier for people, like Leo, who have conditions such as autism.

Quiet Hour promotes reduced noise and lighting in store for 60 minutes from 10.30am each Tuesday morning.

Samantha Hutchinson

The Victorian Coalition has promised a “revolution” in the way the state supports families ­living with autism, in a $50 million major pre-election pitch that ­includes a pledge to create a 24-hour autism helpline for parents.

Less than nine weeks out from the Victorian election, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has unveiled a seven-point plan to spend $50m over four years to boost services and support the 55,000 Victorians living with autism.

Hannah Devlin

Number of girls and women with the condition in UK may be vastly underestimated, leading neuroscientist says

Hundreds of thousands of girls and women with autism are going undiagnosed due to it being viewed as a “male condition”, according to one of the UK’s leading neuroscientists.

The quest to find a learning, training and respite facility for people with autism in Port Stephens has almost totally consumed the lives of Nelson Bay parents Les and Judy Merrett.

In 2010 the couple, whose 15-year-old son Dylan has autism, established the charity Autism Action with an aim to assist Port Stephens families impacted by autism and other intellectual disabilities.

Madeleine Ryan

I'm autistic, and I've rarely ever seen myself in the television characters that are supposed to represent me. There seem to be a lot of doctors, detectives – and dudes. It's hard to find stories about openly autistic girls and women navigating life as openly autistic girls and women; and even harder to find ones where autism is treated as more than a freakish gift, or as a disability.

Simon Baron-Cohen

There are fears genetics research into autism will lead to eugenics and eradication of the condition. That must never come to pass, says Simon Baron-Cohen

Genetics plays a large role in causing autism, so knowing more about which genes influence it could allow a better understanding of the condition.

Cassandra Hough

It is not easy for people on the autism spectrum to find work, but an Australian piggery is trying to change that.

SunPork Farms is part of an initiative called Autism and Agriculture which is aiming to develop career paths for people on the autism spectrum in animal care roles.

In Australia only about 40 per cent of autistic adults have a job.

Frank Chung

COLES is rolling out its autism-friendly, “low-sensory” Quiet Hour shopping experiment nationwide, with reduced noise, lighting and in-store distractions.

COLES will dim the lights, turn down the music and reduce in-store distractions at 173 stores from tomorrow as it more than doubles the number of Quiet Hour locations.

Frances Vinall

A new exhibition at Kimono Lounge showcases the works of Launceston artist Damian Colpo. 

The Kimono Lounge, a former church, is a gallery and shop in the home of Sarah Trousdale. She doubles as an art therapy teacher, and her gallery is a space for people of all abilities.

Colpo, who has autism, is a student of Trousdale’s, and has found art as a way to show his creativity, unique worldview, and love of animals.