A4 wrote to The Hon G. Hunt MP, Minister for Health, on 11/8/2020 about mental health support for autistic Australians. Having not received a reply, A4 wrote again on the 1/11/2020 (see A4's email to the Minister).

A4 received an  email on 8/12/2020 (at 6.22pm) that contained a PDF file of a letter (reference MC20-033766) dated 28/9/2020 (see below). It seems to have taken over 2 months to email this letter to A4.

The letter claims:

An estimated one in 70 Australians are on the autism spectrum, but many are out of work. They and their advocates say employers need to do more to make workplaces more neurodiverse, and businesses will improve as a result.

BY DARREN MARA

Advocates for people with autism have made growing calls for more workplaces in Australia to embrace neurodiversity, in a bid to reverse alarming unemployment rates for people on the spectrum. 

David Trembath, Griffith University; Andrew Whitehouse, University of Western Australia; Hannah Waddington,

As far as job descriptions go it doesn't get much better than the role of psychologist Heath Fletcher.

Key points:

• Founded in Victoria to help children with autism, demand for The Lab classes is growing across Australia
• The Gold Coast branch has three classes with four mentors every Saturday
• Participants who have never had a friend before are able to make social connections and improve their social skills

"My job is to make smiles, so it really is the best job in the world," he said.

Alex Turner-Cohen

An exhausted mum with a child with severe autism is calling on the Australian government to do more for children with special needs while in hotel quarantine.

Brenna Russell, 29, arrived in Sydney four days ago from Los Angeles and has been quarantining in Zetland’s Meriton Suites with her severely autistic son.

She has bruises on her arms from her son’s tantrums and she also fears for his safety.

Five year old Sebastien Russell has autism, ADHD, seizures, and a genetic variation of the NFIX gene that hasn’t been found before.

Joel Magarey

Andy Southam was a “sparky, chatty, funny” 24-year-old, his sister Judith McDonald says, when he left the family residence to enter a group home for men with intellectual disability in 1993.

“Back then,” she says, “he was interested in anything and everything.”

Joel Magarey

Disability service providers used unauthorised restraints, such as locking people in their homes and administering potentially harmful sedatives, on people in the NDIS more than 300,000 times in the previous financial year.