Neelima Choahan

When Maria Thomas placed her son in a state-funded disability emergency home, she expected him to be safe.

Instead, Matthew, a non-verbal man with autism, was attacked several times at a group home, Autism Plus, that he shared with four other people.

Miki Perkins

When Jessica Eshel heard a new national disability scheme was coming, she vowed to advocate on behalf of her sister Antonella, 41, who has an intellectual and other complex disabilities.

She pored over NDIS brochures, went to information sessions and spoke to the carers at Antonella's group home about the kind of support she needed to live a full, happy life.

State, families cry foul over funding

Ashley Argoon

ALMOST $6 million has been stripped from the trouble-plagued National Disability Insurance Scheme in its rollout in Victoria, the State Government has claimed.

The families of Victorians with disabilities have accused the Commonwealth of harmful cost-cutting and of treating their vulnerable loved ones “appallingly”.

Parents are outraged children with special or behavioural needs at Lightning Reef Primary School have been put into a new “naughty-naughty classroom” and can no longer have play breaks with other students.

The parents say their children were exposed to violence when the new arrangements started this week.

At least one family has withdrawn their daughter from the school, saying she was “too scared” to return to the classroom.

Louise Milligan

A Melbourne school for children with intellectual disabilities is under investigation after being accused of making one of its students sit outside on a beanbag for more than an entire term as a way of dealing with his challenging behaviour.

PEOPLE with lived experience of autism are driving a new advocacy organisation that has launched in Bendigo.

The Bendigo Autistic Advocacy and Support Service has set up shop in Wills Street, along with disability support provider Distinctive Options.

“This is amazing. We have an amazing network of families and autistic people in this town, and finally we’ve got a place to call home,” founder Beck Kelly said.

Timna Jacks

By the age of six, Brandon* had been bullied so cruelly in the playground that he told his parents he wanted to die. 

His distraught parents, Travis and Samantha, battled the Education Department for years for support for their traumatised autistic son, and even submitted a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission. But finally, with help from the right school, his parents have turned their son's life around. 

Imagine a childhood without birthday parties invitations; no costumes, giddy sugar highs, warp-speed present unwrapping or hysterical camaraderie.

Sadly, for children with autism, invitations can be few and far between.

They have so much to offer; they are loyal, inspiring and positive. It's just harder to get to know them. 

Katie Koullas

It was during her daughter's first year at school that Katie Koullas​ came to the heartbreaking realisation her daughter Mia, now six  was not being invited to parties.

A worrying number of private schools are refusing to enrol students with a disability or asking them to leave, a peak advocacy group says.

Children with Disability Australia receives about 500 reports a year of schools, both private and public, mistreating or discriminating against students with a disability.

These range from schools refusing enrolment because they already have "their quota of autistic students" to teachers asking students to leave.

A WANDIN North mother is calling for more government help for carers of people with high functioning autism.

Two of Angela Jones’s four children have been diagnosed with the disorder, which she said placed a heavy emotional toll on her and other carers.

High functioning autism is a disorder that affects a person’s social and emotional behaviours. According to Aspergers Victoria, the boundaries between high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome are not clear — they are often considered the same disorder.