CEDAW: autistic women and mothers

By bobb | Wed, 4/11/2015 - 08:19

Presentation by Monique Blakemore to CEDAW, United Nations 30th October 2015 

Autistic women are a marginalised sector of the worlds largest minority group, the disabled community. There is an estimated 51,870,000 autistic women worldwide, a similar population to England.

Autistic women are subjected to systemic disadvantage in most areas of their lives. Autistic women experience exclusion socially, in education, in their personal lives, in the judicial system and in access to healthcare. Autistic leadership, exemplified by organizations such as Autism Women Matter, the Scottish Women’s Autism Network (SWAN) and Alliance Autiste, is necessary to challenge stigma and discrimination. 

Real, effective, and meaningful participation of autistic people, regardless of gender, is encapsulated in the phrase ‘nothing about us without us’ and is the aim of the autistic rights movement. Representation of autistic people by groups and individuals is frequently unfunded and unsupported. Unfortunately, ‘tokenism’, which is the illusion of consultation, is over-representative of the autistic advocacy experience. Autistic voices can be crowded out by those of professionals and parent caregivers that love and support us, but may see autism through their own experience. 

submission to Victorian Education Inquiry

By bobb | Wed, 21/10/2015 - 10:03

A4 made a submission to Victoria'a review of its Program for Students with Disabilities. 

As well as answering the question raised in the reviews discussion paper, the submission (link below) has a short section on the very topical issue of behaviour management for autistic students , and an extended discussion of Inclusive Education for autistic students in Annex B.

A4's submission to Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment

By bobb | Sat, 29/8/2015 - 08:32

A4's submission, Going nowhere, to the Committee's Inquiry into Current levels of access and attainment for students with disability in the school system, and the impact on students and families associated with inadequate levels of support can be downloaded from the Committee's website (it's number 226) or from here. 

Submission on National Disability Advocacy Framework

By convenor | Fri, 31/7/2015 - 20:33

To the DSS advocacy and access team,

Thank you for the opportunity to provide input to your review of the National Disability Advocacy Framework.

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia, known as A4, is a nation organisation that focuses on systemic advocacy for the growing number of people living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that the number of Australians with ASD over recent times has been …

year 1998 2003 2009 2012
autism '000s 13.2 30.4 64.4 115.4
5 year growth   2.3 1.9 2.6
severe & profound   87% 74% 73%

 

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), most people who are diagnosed with ASD have severe or profound disability.

A4's submission on National Disability Employment Framework

By convenor | Mon, 13/7/2015 - 16:29

According to the DSS Engage website ...

The Australian Government wants to get more people with disability into jobs. We see a future where people with disability, like other Australians, can enjoy the economic and social freedom work brings.

Their task force published an Issues Paper and invited submissions. 

A4's sent a submission, available via the link below, that points out that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has repeatedly reported abysmal employment outcomes for people with autism/ASD. A4's submission concludes:

Conclusions

Submission to UN on Rights or Persons with Disabilities

By bobb | Sun, 29/3/2015 - 09:01

Autistic Minority International included a section from A4 in its submission to the United Nations Day of General Discussion (DGD) on the right to education for persons with disabilities.The section from A4 says ..."While the Australian government readily signs up to many international human rights conventions, it refuses to take the required next step, that is enacting laws that ensure the protection of human rights for its citizens. This lack of legal protection for rights of Australian citizens with a disability results in especially poor outcomes.

Access to justice in the criminal justice system for people with disability

By convenor | Thu, 11/7/2013 - 07:27

A4's submission/feedback on the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Issues Paper on "Access to justice in the criminal justice system for people with disability" (see https://www.humanrights.gov.au/access-justice-criminal-justice-system-p…) can be downloaded below.

A4 highlights that for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Australia does not have a "justice system", what it has is a legal system; a system of legal processes that rarely delivers justice for people with ASD.

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