By Ashleigh Keating

Connor Winfield was a gifted student, so no one could understand why he found school so difficult.

Key points:

• Autism is the fastest growing disability in Australia, having increased by 25 per cent between 2015 and 2019
• Mainstream teachers often lack the training and resources to cater for the needs of neurodiverse students
• Experts and advocates are calling for autism-specific training to be mandatory for teachers

"I would bet that most of my teachers did not understand what autism was," he said.

From the outset as Minister for the NDIS, The Hon. Bill Shorten MP, said (15/6/2022):

The NDIS will not fulfil the promise if it is the only lifeboat in the ocean for people living with disability.

Minister Shorten is increasingly concerned in relation to Autistic Australians needing NDIS support. He’s used this analogy repeatedly since then.

Australia’s mainstream media are reporting on the story of a 12-year-old girl accused of stabbing a stranger in an apartment, hostel or hotel (reports vary) in Melbourne Vic. The reports include:

Nancy Sadka, La Trobe University and Josephine Barbaro, La Trobe University

Ahead of the release of the government’s review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the topic taking centre stage is the diagnosis of autism. Over one third of people accessing the scheme list it as a primary disability.

Stephanie Convery

Chief of Children and Young People with Disability Australia says families are simply seeking help for their children, with the NDIS ‘the only place to turn’

An advocate for people with disabilities has criticised as “unhelpful” and “misleading” reports suggesting families are pursuing autism diagnoses because they see the NDIS as a financial opportunity.

By Natassia Chrysanthos

A diagnosis of autism is unlikely to be enough to guarantee future access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme as the government prepares to clarify that individualised packages were designed only for Australians with profound disabilities.

Elena Filipczyk Autistic writer

It took me two years after my formal autism diagnosis to build up the courage to ask my kind, empathetic GP to help me access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). I was mortified, but most of all, I felt like an impostor.

As my GP smiled warmly and took the paperwork off me, she admitted she’d never filled in an NDIS form before. I looked down at my feet and dug my nails into my palms. Was I wasting her time? Was I wasting government money?

Danielle Cahill

Thousands of autistic drivers could find their Australian licences are in legal limbo due to changes quietly made last year to the national standards that govern who is considered fit to drive.

The national 2022 Assessing Fitness to Drive standards are the first to list autism as a condition that "should be assessed individually", which may involve a practical assessment.

MEDIA RELEASE 

17 November 2023

The CEO of A4, a recognised Disability Representative Organisation for autism, has described an ANU researcher’s comments regarding the ‘prevalence of autism’ as flawed. 

The article says:

Australian estimates of prevalence in children are the highest in the world and have grown faster than the global average. Incentives in government policy, specifically the NDIS, is the key factor unique to the Australian context and potentially explains the additional growth in Australian prevalence. 

Bob Buckley

Research indicates that diagnosis rates for autism in Australia have been increasing for some time.

There are people who claim autism is over-diagnosed in Australia.

In 2005, several paediatricians published their claims that