The rights of persons with autism must be taken into account in efforts to address the COVID-19 coronavirus: “a public health crisis unlike any other in our lifetimes”, the UN Secretary-General said on Thursday.
António Guterres’s appeal came in his message for World Autism Awareness Day, observed annually on 2 April.
People with disability, and their organisations, across Australia are calling for urgent action, again, to keep us safe during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 70 national, state and territory disability organisations have come together to urge the National Cabinet to take the urgent action we need to keep people with disability free of the COVID-19 virus.
People with disability who receive the Disability Support Pension (DSP) urgently need access to the increased Coronavirus Supplement of $550 per fortnight, consistent with the Jobseeker Payment and other payments recently announced.
People with disability who are in receipt of DSP are experiencing and facing additional, unforeseen costs in this time of crisis, which is causing significant levels of distress and anxiety, and only serving to further entrench DSP recipients into poverty.
The Andrews Labor Government has established Australia’s first social behaviour change campaign to promote better understanding and inclusion of autistic people.
Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers Luke Donnellan today launched the new $2.8 million public education campaign Change Your Reactions with Amaze CEO Fiona Sharkie.
Change Your Reactions encourages Victorians to recognise some of the challenges that autistic people face and to understand the impacts of community actions and reactions.
On 3/2/2020, A4 sent its belated submission responding to the Disability Royal Commission's (DRC) Issues Paper on Education of students with disability. The submission was due in December, but A4 has limited resources to do this type of work. Hopefully, the DRC will consider A4's submission.
The submission makes the following suggestions to the Royal Commission.
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/1588and http://a4.org.au/node/1654. The NDIA omits this correspondence from its FoI documents below.
Findings from NIH-funded study could inform treatment strategies.
WHAT:
Identical twins with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience large differences in symptom severity even though they share the same DNA, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that identifying the causes of this variability may inform the treatment of ASD-related symptoms. The study was conducted by John Constantino, M.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues. Funding was provided by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study appears in Behavior Genetics.
A4 received this response (link to download and accompanying email below) to our DSS FoI request - see http://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.
A new Senate Select Committee on Autism has been established. The committee is made up of politicians who will look into the services, support and life outcomes for autistic people in Australia.
What will the committee look into?
The committee will look at a wide range of issues relating to autism – including diagnosis, education, health including mental health, employment, justice and rights, and housing.
A motion to form a Select Committee on Autism is expected to pass the Senate later today.
The terms of reference were developed by Centre Alliance Senator, Stirling Griff, in conjunction with members of the Australian Autism Alliance.
The wide-ranging inquiry will look at issues including approaches to diagnosis, the availability and appropriateness of services including in health and mental health, education and employment, the adequacy of the NDIS, and the prevalence of misdiagnosis and any gender bias in assessment and services.
Every inpatient with a learning disability or autism in a mental health hospital will have their case reviewed over the next 12 months.
All 2,250 patients with learning disabilities and autism who are inpatients in a mental health hospital will have their care reviewed over the next 12 months, the Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has announced today.
Western Australian babies and children with autism and developmental delay will be able to access world-first therapies and interventions backed by the latest research, thanks to a unique clinical service developed by the Telethon Kids Institute.
CliniKids, the first clinic of its kind in Australia and the first stand-alone clinical service to be offered by Telethon Kids, was officially launched today by Federal Health Minister, The Hon. Greg Hunt MP.
