A Melbourne man with a profound intellectual disability and autism, who was accused of assault and then left in a high-security prison because there was nowhere else for him to go, has had his charges dropped by Victorian prosecutors.

Francis was sent to prison because no service provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) would take him.

Andrew Cashin, Southern Cross University

As a society, we’ve come a long way in our understanding of the challenges people with autism face with social communication. But there is a large gap in our understanding of another cluster of behaviours that form part of an autism diagnosis: restrictive and repetitive behaviours and interests (RRBs).

Luke Michael

The federal government has announced the establishment of an Autism Advisory Group, but suspicions have been raised that the group’s agenda is about excluding people with autism from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Barbara Miller

The Federal Government has announced it's establishing an Autism Advisory Group to provide guidance to the National Disability Insurance Scheme on how to best deliver services to the increasing number of people with autism.

The move is likely to add to growing concern within the autism community, that there's a push on to cut NDIS funding for people with the condition.

The audio is available on the webpage below.

Rick Morton

An autism advisory group that will provide feedback to the managers of the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme has been ­established after revelations in this newspaper of a crackdown in support.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan announced the group yesterday following reports in The Australian that began when the National Disability Insurance Agency accidentally published a new list of conditions that gain automatic entry to the scheme and which excluded level-two autism.

Sara Gingold