The NDIS responded to A4's FoI request (20/12/2019). The two document can be downloaded from the links below.

A4 had some follow up correspondence with the NDIA about the NDIA's response to A4's email to the Ministers. That correspondence is available at http://a4.org.au/node/1588 and http://a4.org.au/node/1654. The NDIA omits this correspondence from its FoI documents below.

Australian society seems to be afraid of telling stories about people with disabilities that show the truth of what it really is: difficult, challenging, exhausting and sometimes painful.

Authentic representation matters and when creators, writers and the TV networks get these stories wrong, it distorts how society views people with a disability.

Bushfire season is a stressful time for all of us, including children on the autism spectrum. Children on the autism spectrum can sense that adults around them are anxious, fearful and overwhelmed. Additionally, their anxiety increases as their routines, schedules and living situations are disrupted during the fires.

We would like to offer some suggestions for you to help your child adjust to the changes and the stresses related to the fires.

Sandra Fulloon

Many people with autism have never held a paid job, but at an innovative program is helping some young entrepreneurs break the cycle.

Of the 250,000 Australians diagnosed with autism, fewer than half have ever held paid work, despite having the skills and qualifications.

That was the finding of a new study commissioned by autism body AMAZE.

Of those who do gain work, more than 20 per cent say they have lost a job due to their symptoms.

A4 received this response (link to download and accompanying email below) to our DSS FoI request - see https://a4.org.au/node/2155.

Basically, DSS's response below says it has no record of anyone passing A4's letter to the Department (which should mean DSS, the NDIA is "the Agency"), as Assistant Minister Prentice's Office told A4 in an email on 4/12/2017. A Department representative suggested (on the telephone) that A4's letter was sent to the NDIA, not to the Department.

Dear Dr Nugent

Ellen Coulter

Stephanie Maass was told her son Oliver needed occupational therapy and speech therapy when he was just 19 months old.

It’s not as if Deborah Frith wants to put her eight-year-old son Jacob in a group home. She loves him deeply, and would give anything to protect him. But looking after a boy who has autism and severely challenging, often violent, behaviours has pushed the sole parent to her breaking point.

“I absolutely adore my child and I'd move hell and high water to keep him,” she says. “But it’s too much to sustain without the correct support. It’s a very unfortunate situation where you’re forced to suggest the things that come to you in your darkest moments.”