TUE 03 MAY 2011

Prime Minister, Minister for School Education

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced new budget funding of $200 million to provide extra support for students with disability in Australian schools.

The Prime Minister said that every student in every school deserves a great education and this extra funding will help ensure that students with disability get that same opportunity.

The Prime Minister made the announcement today with the Minister for School Education Peter Garrett at Harrison School in Canberra.

April 29, 2011

A Victorian family who sued the Department of Education for discriminating against their disabled son have been ordered to pay legal costs after losing their court battle.

Paige Walker claimed her now 16-year-old son Alex, who has Asperger's Syndrome, was not allowed to attend his country Victorian secondary school full-time during 2007.

Samantha Maiden, April 24, 2011

FAMILIES caring for disabled children have won access to up to $30,000 a year in next month's Budget to help with early intervention and support.

The $130 million boost to early intervention also includes new support for autism and delivers on an election pledge to offer a $6000-a-year Better Start for Children payment from July.

The Sunday Mail can reveal that 9000 extra families will now be able to secure up to $30,000 a year under the changes.

Samantha Maiden, April 24, 2011

FAMILIES caring for disabled children have won access to as much as $30,000 a year in the May Budget to help with early intervention and support.

The $130 million boost to early intervention will also include new support for autism and deliver on an election pledge to offer a $6000-a-year Better Start for Children with Disability Payment from July.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that 9000 extra families will now be able to secure up to $30,000 a year in assistance under the changes.

JOKES about people with disabilities are no laughing matter for Marrickville resident James Eggleton.

Australia has its racial, homosexual and religious hate-crime laws, but Mr Eggleton can’t understand why there are none for the disabled.

Mr Eggleton, who has a disabled family member, says he’s sick of seeing vilification of the disabled in the community.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: What would you do if your happy, promising child suddenly turned into a completely different person? A Sydney couple spent the past eight years grappling with exactly that question. When their only son was 18 months old he went into a rapid decline and was diagnosed with severe autism. Now the family's experience is documented in a new book, as Sarah Dingle reports.

KATHY CAHILL, MOTHER: I guess every parent wants to think that their child will be able to exist in the world, um, or have a place in the world.

Special Investigation Bill Hoffman

A SUNSHINE Coast family has made the heartbreaking decision to give up their disabled 15-year-old son to the state after battling for years to gain the help they need to support him at home.

Garry and Mary Taylor, of Pacific Paradise, refused to take Kenny from Nambour Hospital, where he was admitted on February 22, following his medical discharge on March 16.

They will be the 44th family in Queensland to take that step already this financial year and the 10th on the Sunshine Coast.

The PBS NewsHour is launching a special series of reports, both on-air and online, about a puzzling disorder that touches many lives across the U.S.: Autism Now will take a unique -- and uniquely personal -- look at how the condition impacts families, schools and communities.

see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/news/autism/

Tony Keim

THE first Australian convicted of "internet trolling" by plastering child pornography on the Facebook tribute pages of two slain Queensland schoolchildren is seeking bail pending an appeal against his three-year jail term

Lawyers for Bradley Paul Hampson, 29, this morning told The Courier-Mail an application had been lodged by their client for Supreme Court bail pending an appeal against his sentence.

Selma Milovanovic Legal Affairs Reporter
March 25, 2011

A TEENAGE boy with multiple disabilities who was sent home during lunch and banned from school excursions has lost his discrimination claim against the Education Department.

The Victorian boy, whom The Age has chosen not to name, has Asperger's syndrome (an autism spectrum disorder), dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.