Jo Abi

It's never a good day when my son's NDIS plan comes up for review.

NDIS is the National Disability Insurance Scheme which provides funding for my son with autism's treatment.

Medicare only provides partial funding and my private health insurance gives us a whopping $500 each year to use.

With a weekly occupational therapy session that costs $176, not to mention speech, food and anxiety therapy, making ends meet is virtually impossible for special needs families. And I haven't even factored in the enormous cost of his special needs schooling.

Kelly Baker

My son is officially on the Autism spectrum. He has Asperger's. It’s not something I generally discuss; it’s his information to do with what he will and I’ve always told him he can tell anyone he pleases, or nobody at all. It’s personal, end of story. And it’s his personal, so he’s in charge.

Jo Abi

A furious mum has lashed out at Emirates for forcibly removing her autistic son from a flight.

Euronews journalist Isabelle Kumar boarded the plane with her family, including son Eli, 17, at Dubai airport for the trip to France.

It was during the final leg of the trip from New Zealand to Australia that the incident occurred.

Ms Kumar phoned the airline in advance to ensure they were aware of her son’s needs. She’d requested the seat next to him be vacant, in case he suffered a seizure due to his epilepsy.

Gemma Carey, Helen Dickinson, Michael Fletcher & Daniel Reeders

The packages created for individuals under the National Disability Insurance Scheme are personalised — but when it comes time to evaluate whether they were successful, the approach is focused solely on costs and one-size-fits-all.

by Julia Boyd

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Alastair McEwin released a report today, A Future Without Violence: Quality, safeguarding and oversight to prevent and address violence against people with disability in institutional settings.

Commissioner McEwin said that violence against people with disability in institutional settings is a significant social policy issue in Australia.

Benjamin Millar

The peak body for people on the autism spectrum and their families* has criticised a TV program for airing confronting footage of an autistic boy acting violently towards his mother.

Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes screened a report on Sunday night featuring Max Whelan, a 12-year-old boy with severe non-verbal autism who lives with his family at Mt Martha on the Mornington Peninsula.

Rick Morton

A list of psychologists ­approved by the federal government to offer autism diagnosis and treatment services disappeared from the ­internet around the same time the National Disability Insurance Agency began telling people their diagnoses were invalid unless performed by a clinical psychologist.

The Autism Spectrum Disorder practitioner list, maintained by the Australian Psychological Society as a federal government requirement, included psychologists from a range of fields, not just clinical professionals.

In an extraordinary decision, Administrative Appeals Tribunal deputy president Gary Humphries has attacked the National Disability Insurance Agency for tearing through legal resources simply because it has such a “haphazard” approach to making decisions.