It seems strange for Bill Shorten to once again launch his attack for cuts onto Autistic children blaming the numbers of them with diagnosis on the NDIS making it seem as if parents are just getting their kids diagnosed for the money. When in fact it was the change to NDIS which all those with special needs children and adult children had to do meant unless there was a diagnosis they would not get funding – that meant reports and reports and more reports and so the parent did that as it was required of them. Now they are being accused of doing it for the money. All this based on one report by some academics from the Australian University based at Canberra – not that independent at all from the government. Also when doing any research reports you are never to infer the causes as fact – they are theories why the numbers of those with Autism in Australia diagnosed is higher than other countries. Before NDIS children did not have to be diagnosed to acknowledge they were special needs, diagnosed with Autism that is – however now because the NDIS demands “evidence” parents seek out doctors and psychologists to get that evidence and diagnosis or they will not get any funding from the NDIS. Yet now they are insinuated as chasing the money - shamed for having an autistic child!
It should be the providers who are called out for chasing the money, and the government for lifting rates constantly so that the providers make plenty of money, and yet when they are caught rorting or even allowed vulnerable disability children to die, breaching duty of care to those children and adults they are not shut down but allowed to keep running as if it is ok and normal to allow 8000 children and adults with disabilities to be harmed and no prosecutions, no criminal charges laid for the workers who let them die through negligence only some compensation is criminal.
Looking at the rise in number of Autistic children from high functioning to severely affected the fact that parents had to get a diagnosis for any help meant more parents went after that to help their children. Along with this there are more children being born with Autism now than twenty years ago. In the early 1990s and 2000s years one in 25,000 children were born with autism now it is 1 in 32 children. Due possibly to more reporting but also to the fact that more children are now being born with autism. It could be environmental factors as there is not always one gene involved but many different in different children that are damaged which showed in research in the past. To blame parents for the rise in diagnosed Autism after forcing them to get a diagnosis to get help from the NDIS is a gross misjudgement and there needs to be more studies made than to just blame those parents of autistic kids the easy way out. The NDIS was made to help those with disabilities apparently and to give them more choice, not to make it harder for them and make them have to prove their child has a disability every year of their life!
An advocate for disabilities has noted that the NDIS is a broken system and because there is little else support in the community parents have had to rely on it.
https://www.theguardian.com/.../disability-advocate-hits
Noting in the article (the guardian) by Stephanie Covery 22 November 2023“Accessing an autism diagnosis is expensive and arduous, often taking years and costing thousands of dollars. Any subsequent funding from the NDIS for very intensive support is excessively difficult to obtain. Advocates for autistic children and their families told a parliamentary committee on the NDIS in August that 100% of the autistic children with intensive support needs who they helped access the NDIS were initially rejected and had to challenge the decision through the administrative appeals tribunal.”
In another article from the Daily Mail it notes “All states and territories must be in agreeance with any alterations to the scheme, but it is understood the federal government has been examining changes it can legislate without the support of the states, “ the Daily Telegraph reported. (19 November 2023)
Trying to make the rest of Australian society turn on those with Autism as the blame for the rising spending in the NDIS is wrong as it is the NDIS that is raising the rates of all services to keep the providers interested and rich while parents struggle to find those they can trust in the NDIS.
As the advocate, Skye Kakoschke-Moore, noted in the Guardian article “the current system is broken. It’s unfair, it’s complicated, and really, it’s not delivering results for children and young people with disability.” Yet that is all there is for those with Autism at present.
Before the NDIS there were many different organizations and therapy providers but all had to switch over to NDIS now Shorten wants to cut it all back and blame those who are being born with autism as the reason it all costs so much, as he kept lifting the rates the providers could charge.
Noted now in the Sydney morning herald also “But while Australia’s autism rates are higher than in the UK and the United States, they are on par with Japan, where early intervention is common and has been proven to help children later in life.” Perhaps the UK and USA do not have an NDIS forced on those with disabilities that they had do join or have no help at all what choice do any of us with children with disabilities have here in Australia? It was the government’s idea to make a business out of disabilities now they want to blame those they forced into it for its losses and failures instead of trying to fix it up or cut them off funding especially the autistic. Last year were multiple articles about families suffering whose autistic children had lost funding and then had to fight it in court or at the AAT how said when those most needy are treated like this. My son has a genetic disorder Fragile x which he was born with and will always have, just as autism is lifelong and not temporary as Shorten implicates. I would love my son not to have a disability and I feel for those with autistic children, who are being cut back, cut off from funding or help or blamed for the system’s failings. Unfortunately, the focus was on money and business but those who rely on it are forgotten by the system supposedly created for to help the vulnerable and playing up the taxpayer’s losses which did not come from those with disabilities but came from the government’s plans and agenda with NDIS. We parents must help each other and stand up for our children’s rights to help from a government that did sign the Human rights charter and must do the right thing by those with disabilities instead of ignoring their needs and putting the government’s moneymaking scheme first.
sign my petition for CCTV cameras to protect those in disabilities from harm which occurs in providers care and continues to without accountability change.org/disabilitycameras
all the best
Anndrea X
Notes stats on Autism: it is increasing in babies born every year and is now 1 in 32 babies in Australia - the possible causes are toxins in the environment and chemicals and whats in food - I checked this back in 2010 while doing psychology degree, and there is no one gene yet many genes are affected and the cause is more what we the parents and the generations before us ate and our toxic environment combined vaccines were part of this, and a theory in biology suggest while babies are being formed in the womb that the mother's anti bodies from fighting toxins attacks the brain stem of the baby being formed. Below are the stats of rising cases, but it is still a very real disorder and should not be disregarded as not needing therapies and help and parents need as much support as they can get to help their children.
(from Australian Autism and ADHD Foundation)
The number of children diagnosed with ASD has and is still growing at an alarming exponential rate.
In the 1950s it was estimated that 1 in 25,000 children was diagnosed with Autism.
In 1970s and 1980s, about one in 2,500 children was diagnosed with ASD.
In 2000, the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) reported that the prevalence of ASD had reached 1 in 150 children.
In 2004 this figure had reached 1 in 125 children
In 2006 The figure was one in 110 children
In 2008 this figure reached 1 in 88, based on the CDC’s ADDM network of 14 monitoring areas across the US. These ranged from 1 in 208 in under-populated states to one in 47 in populated eastern states.
In March 2013, the US National Health Statistics Report indicated that 1 in 50 children across the US were diagnosed with ASD. In populated US cities this is already 1 in 27 children.
If one extrapolates the trend from these figures as shown in the following graph, we could easily be looking at a 5% incidence in Autism by 2020. That is one child in every 20 children across the US having a diagnosis of ASD by 2020.
Actual and projected % Prevalence of Autism in the US
Projected prevalence ASD
In the above graph, statistics from CDC (2000 to 2008) and the US National Health Statistics Report (2013), Projection to 2020, indicate that the incidence of Autism is rising exponentially.
The worse is yet to come, as there is no plan and very little prevention and research in dietary and environmental factors being done to kerb the growth in autism.
Prevalence of Autism (ASD) In Australia.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Aging and Carers (SDAC) figures:
In 2003, 30,400 Australians had autism.
In 2009, 64,600 Australians had autism.
In 2012, 115,400 Australians had autism.