Pathological demand avoidance isn’t listed in the diagnostic manuals clinicians use. But that doesn’t make it less distressing for children or families. What can help?
Children with childhood dementia progressively lose all previously acquired skills and abilities, such as talking, walking, learning, remembering and reasoning.
Sophie Yates, Australian National University and Laura Davy, Australian National University
Structuring the NDIS around principles of choice and control recognised that not having those things puts people with disability in more vulnerable situations. That’s true for support workers, too.
Students with disability are experts in themselves and their needs. But we found they are often not consulted by their teachers about what helps them at school.
Many people in the disability community are distressed by the plan to register all NDIS providers. There could be a more nuanced approach that preserves their wishes.
If accessible crisis information is not accurate, complete, up to date and high quality, there can be life and death consequences for people with disability in a bushfire, flood or pandemic.
Dougal Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Neurodivergent employees can have specific needs. Inclusion in the workplace means businesses and employers need to consider differences that may not be visible to outsiders.
Washer-dryers and Thermomixers might not seem like disability supports at first glance. But excluding them from NDIS funding could limit the independence of people with disability.
Peter Whiteford, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Institute of Public Affairs says 425,000 more Australians are on welfare than in 2018, but it has double-counted some Australians and left out others.
Incorporating nature via biophilic design has interested architects and landscape architects for a long time, but its benefits for neurodiversity are not very well-known.
The release of the draft National Autism Strategy is cause for celebration – but its terms of reference mean it might not meet the most urgent challenges facing autistic Australians.
Although the NDIS Review set out a five-year timeframe for reform, many of the items within this bill are needed to modify the NDIS Act and to allow for changes to take place.
‘Neural noise’ isn’t the sounds you hear, but rather the variability of responses in your brain. Autistic people are thought to have greater variance that can be a disadvantage or a strength.
Hilary Stace, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Plans to cut respite care funding has been met with widespread condemnation. But to understand why it is such an issue, it is important to understand the battle for support in the first place.
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre and Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Healthcare, Monash University