Hannah Gadsby on her autism diagnosis: ‘I’ve always been plagued by a sense that I was a little out of whack’

By bobb |
Hannah Gadsby portrait

Even as a child, the comedian knew her brain was atypical. But it was only in her late 20s that her anxiety, depression and meltdowns finally made sense

ou don’t have to be an expert to know that people with autism don’t get to speak about their own experiences. Until very recently, autism has largely only been understood through the prism of the experience of parents and as a list of observations that mostly neurotypical medical professionals have made and assigned meaning to.

Pleas for NSW flood survivors with disability to be prioritised for urgent housing, care

By bobb |
mother holding her autistic son

ToyNera Macgregor and her 16-year-old son Annan are homeless after floods swamped their Lismore rental.

Key points:

  • Governments are being urged to prioritise the needs of flood survivors with disability
  • Service providers say evacuation centres are often not accessible
  • The Northern Rivers was already experiencing a housing crisis before the floods

Convenor Message, March 2022 - A4 Updates return

By convenor |

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4) is resuming a regular newsletter. It’s been a while - we stopped back in 2010, when the Helping Children with Autism (HCWA) package was in place rather than the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Since then, support for autistic Australians has changed significantly. The NDIS is a big focus for the disability sector, but it is far from the only program that needs improvement. 

Greater training needed for health professionals caring for people with cognitive disability

By convenor |
Commonwealth logo - words: Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has released a Commissioner’s report on Public Hearing 10: Education and training of health professionals in relation to people with cognitive disability.

The report makes 9 findings and 12 recommendations in relation to the education and training of health professionals across Australia including nurses, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists and speech pathologists.

New job led to ‘broken life’ under disability scheme spruiked as success story

By bobb |
hands makinbg coffee at a coffee machine

Luke Henriques-Gomes

Woman tells inquiry how her experiences at ‘coffee school’ in $1bn-a-year federal program damaged her health and left her heartbroken

On her first day in an exciting new job, Mzia walked in to find a small “Breville-style” coffee machine placed on a computer desk in the reception.

Next to the machine was a container of long-life milk.

Mzia looked at the small Breville machine and told a senior manager: “This is not a commercial machine.”

Federal Election - coming in 2022

By convenor |

With a federal election on its way, autism-related politics is a current issue. This is a real chance for Australian politicians to take positive action and for the autism community to tell their prospective political representative what they can do to improve outcomes. Here is some material ...

The time has come for Australia to get serious about Autism

Shifting the dial on autism

‘Wildly unreasonable’: agency slashes mother’s NDIS funding and then her daughter’s

By bobb |
Jannine Scott and daughter Bethany 11 from Kallangur, Queensland

Jannine Scott says funding had been ‘life-changing’, but now feels every time she interacts with the NDIA ‘it’s combative’

When Jannine Scott first joined her daughter Bethany on the national disability insurance scheme, it was “life-changing”.

The scheme funded in-home support workers for Scott, who has a spinal cord condition, and even paid for a power wheelchair and other assistive technology.

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