Coalition has made a mess of NDIS, says Judy Fischer

By bobb |

The widow of former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer has accused the Coalition of mismanaging the National Disability ­Insurance Scheme, which she says is shrouded in secrecy and too ­important to fail.

Judy Brewer, a high-profile disability sector advocate whose son Harrison has autism, said she was angry the ­government appeared to be blaming people with disabilities for cost blowouts when it was likely the $24bn scheme’s financial assumptions were wrong.

NDIS FOI 21/22-0100 - misinformation and untruths

By convenor |

The NDIA did not respond to a number of A4's concerns. Issues of particular concern were:

  • "misinformation and untruths" from the NDIA's CEO to NDIS participants about the assessment tools that were planned for functional assessment of autistic NDIS participants for the so-called Independent Assessments, and
  • inexpert and misguided advice from the NDIA's Independent Advisory Council (IAC) about early intervention for autistic children.

The NDIA did not respond to A4 about its concerns.

Coalition government’s ongoing war on autistic Australians

By convenor |

Dear Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds,

Subject: Government’s ongoing war on autistic Australian

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4) deplores media reports (see Annex below) saying that “The Minister responsible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme has blamed an uptick of Australia’s aged, autistic and obese people for the ‘unsustainable’ rising costs of the service”. Your government’s war on autism is unacceptable. We complained about it before and were ignored. 

Aged autistic people are one of the smallest subgroups in the NDIS: there were just 125 of them in June 2021, just 0.8% of 14K+ NDIS participants in that age group. While their funding level is higher than average for the NDIS, we doubt the numbers in this very small group will increase significantly for some time. We have not found NDIA reporting on obesity; we doubt the NDIS even has reliable data on obesity of NDIS participants. 

Royal Commission welcomes new roadmap to improve the health of people with intellectual disability

By bobb |

The Disability Royal Commission welcomes the Australian Government’s release of a new national roadmap that aims to improve the health of people with intellectual disability (Roadmap).

The Royal Commission strongly supports any initiative that addresses the serious inequities people with cognitive disability face in the current health system, and that attempts to develop a system in which they have access to high quality, timely and comprehensive care.

FOI 20/21-0660 and FOI 20/21-0835 - NDIA keeps its records with Schrödinger's cat

By convenor |

The NDIA claims in its Participant Service Charter that it wants to be "transparent". However, it avoids making public communication and decisions about some key issues. For example, the following show that it does not want its records about commentary from a disability representative organisation (DRO) on advice it received from its IAC released.

Anxiety, not autism is holding many children back at school, researchers say

By bobb |

Sally Eeles

Queensland researchers say anxiety — not autism — is preventing many children on the spectrum from flourishing at school.

Key points:

  • Anxiety predicts quality of life more than a child's level of autism, researchers say
  • Researchers are hoping to reduce this anxiety by giving parents the skills to give to their children
  • Griffith University is seeking 30 families with an autistic child due to start prep in 2022 for the program

New national hotline to help Australians living with autism

By bobb |

Emily Cosenza

Australians with autism will have access to online, digital and phone-based support services that can offer specific advice through a new national hotline.

The federal government will announce the $8.4 million funding boost to the program, called Autism Connect, on Tuesday.

Following its success, it will now become a national service that will be run by peak autism body, Amaze.

Those needing information, advice or referrals will be able to call the hotline for free.

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