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A further $2 million in Commonwealth funding has been committed to progress the National Autism Strategy.

The funding will enable national cooperative research organisation, Autism CRC, to continue its research and provide advice to the Federal Government when developing the Strategy.

The Strategy is a welcome step towards improving life outcomes for the growing number of Australians on the autism spectrum and with other neurodevelopmental conditions.

It’s an overarching approach to enabling people with autism to better navigate and access opportunities to build the life they want.

The Strategy is intended to form a whole-of-life plan for Australians with autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions and will aim to positively change systems and practices in areas such as education, vocation and healthcare for people on the autism spectrum and their families.

Minister for Social Services, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP, said the Federal Government was partnering with Autism CRC to make sure the Strategy was developed in consultation with everyday Australians with autism.

Read more here.

A new, inclusive community is growing online, helping users to connect with new friends – and soon, with potential employers as well!

It’s called Kaboose, and it’s a safe space for young neurodivergent people. We recently chatted with community founder Michelle Risdale to learn more about it.

What is Kaboose and what does it do?

Kaboose is an app for the autistic and neurodivergent community to find friends with the same interests. It’s where young people with autism can build tribes and chat to their tribe. Its future features include the ability to find mentors and jobs.

Our overall aim is to improve mental health and connectedness, through friendships and employment.

What ages is Kaboose for?

We have a space for under 16s (we have users around seven to eight years old with parental support, and where the chat can be moderated by parents) and then over 16 and up to 30. We also have a space for parents/caregivers.

How is Kaboose working to increase social connection online and in real life?

At Kaboose, we are matching people based on their special interests, age, and location. We encourage in real life – or IRL – meet ups when safe to do so and with parental approval, where required. Many people in our community prefer to start their interactions online, but some want to move these friendships to in-person, and we definitely encourage both.

Kaboose launched in 2021 – two years after the global pandemic started. Did that in any way influence your decision to start Kaboose, and why?

The Kaboose idea initially started as Gecko Hangouts – an in-person social group focused on work readiness. This was prior to the pandemic. However, it was difficult to scale, and with the pandemic, it became obvious that an online solution would work better for our community.

Social isolation and loneliness significantly increased during the pandemic, along with deteriorating mental health, which I think shone a light on what was already an increasing issue for our community.

What can someone expect when they go on Kaboose, and how is it different from other social media sites?

Kaboose is a safe social platform. Unlike other social platforms, Kaboose requires all users to be fully verified. When a person signs up, they need to provide some basic information about their location, age and special interests in order to be matched with the right people.

To keep our community safe, we ask that everyone is verified so our members know they are talking to the person who has signed up. This means that whoever is signing up needs to provide their ID and a short five second video of themselves holding it.

We don’t store any of these documents, and once a profile is verified, these documents are automatically deleted. We also have the ability for parents to moderate the chats of our younger members.

Kaboose is built for young people with autism. How is it helping its users establish a foundation for adulthood that someone without social support may not have?

Many people in our community have not been able to find the right support or have the ability to find their tribe due to bullying and social isolation in their education setting. Sometimes attending groups can also be overwhelming, which leaves the neurodivergent community unable to find friends and practice their social skills in a safe environment.

Autism underemployment is sitting at 31.6 per cent, which is six times higher than unemployment for those without a disability, and three times higher than unemployment for those with other disabilities. While there are many contributing factors to unemployment, we believe that through building social skills, networks and matching with the right mentors and job opportunities, Kaboose can go some way towards reducing this significant gap.

With multiple offerings – finding friends, finding support, and finding employment for young people – there are a lot of moving parts at Kaboose. Can you tell us how you manage it all as a startup?

It is tricky at times! While I’ve worked in a lot of startups, this is my first startup.

I’m very fortunate to have experienced mentors guiding me, and I’m focusing on one feature at a time. For now, we’re all about finding friends and building a tribe based on special interests, and once our community develops further, we will be able to release the mentor and job matching features.

As the founder, I am extremely passionate about making a positive impact on the life outcomes of this community and welcome feedback and questions as we continue to build Kaboose.

As the parent of a child with autism and a volunteer within the disability space with a background in the tech industry, it seems like you had the perfect combination of knowledge, experience, and passion to start Kaboose. Can you tell us about that?

My professional background has been in HR and strategic people management, including recruitment within professional services and the tech industry. I’ve also been involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives within various organisations.

As part of my volunteer roles, I’ve been exposed to the challenges our young people face with their mental health, and in building the social skills necessary to find employment. After seeing my son struggle finding friends as a teenager, and then – as he got older – with accessing employment, I decided to combine my skills of connecting and employing people to build Kaboose.

To find out more about Kaboose and to download the app, visit www.kaboose.app.

A new role has been created in South Australia to reframe autism as an opportunity, rather than a disability, with the state government introducing a national-first Assistant Minister for Autism.

Emily Bourke, who is also Assistant Minister to the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, has been appointed to the role.

Premier Malinauskas says he wants the state to lead the way when it comes to engaging with people who are neurodiverse.

“I have heard from many South Australians that the time has come for a dedicated effort from government to make autism a priority,” the Premier said in a statement. “That is why we have created this new role.”

“We have made major commitments with the aim of implementing a whole-of-government autism inclusion strategy, starting with our schools.”

Ms Bourke will establish an Autism Education Advisory Group, with members to include people with autism and their family members, subject matter experts, community stakeholders and unions. The group will provide consultation on policies.

Ms Bourke will also help to develop a State Autism Strategy to operate alongside the State Disability Plan. In addition, all government agencies will be required to sign up to an autism-friendly charter.

Autism is the largest primary disability group in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and South Australia sits above the national average, with autism recognised as the primary disability of 39 per cent of NDIS participants in the state.

The South Australian government has committed $28.8 million to appointing an autism lead teacher in every public primary school. It will also aim to increase the number of pre-school staff who have autism-specific qualifications, and offer increased early intervention support in children’s centres.

Meanwhile, in national news, practitioners, people with autism and other stakeholders are invited to review and provide feedback on the National Guideline for supporting autistic children and their families. The Guideline supports the learning, participation and wellbeing of children with autism and their families in Australia. Feedback can be provided until 29 August.

A guest article by Chris.

Quite often, I have found that neurotypical people are unable to understand the autistic way of thinking and vice versa. In many cases, autistic people – such as me – do not use subtext, sarcasm and inuendo, and so much can be lost in translation.

For me, I so commonly feel as if neurotypical people are talking in a secret code I don’t have the cypher for. This causes a huge problem for both sides of the communication coin because, as difficult as it is for some autistic people to understand some neurotypical people, it’s often just as difficult for them to understand us.

I know I can be straightforward and blunt; I say exactly what I mean. A lot of people who don’t have autism aren’t used to blunt honesty and many get offended, misinterpreting my straight talking for rudeness when it isn’t.

It doesn’t make sense to me to say one thing when I mean another, and as much as some neurotypical people may dislike bluntness, I know a lot of people like me who have a real issue with people hiding their point ‘between the lines’. I can’t read between the lines because, when I talk, there isn’t anything between my lines. What you hear is exactly what I mean and trying to discern some ulterior motive in my comments is just going to lead you down the wrong path.

So many autistic people think literally. So, when we say ‘no’, we mean nothing else but that and exactly that. I perceive ignoring that as disrespectful and for some, that can trigger a meltdown or worse. In my own case, it makes me angry when people don’t take my words seriously.

What then, is the best way to speak with an autistic person (or, at least, with me)? Here are my top tips:

Many autistic people (me included!) often struggle to talk the way neurotypical people do because we just don’t know how! It’s that simple.  
The next time you have the opportunity to have a chat with me or someone else with autism, it might be a good idea to try to talk to us the way we talk – up front and completely blunt. Give it a go – even if you think you’ll hurt my feelings, it really is my preferred way to converse. Being honest with me is much more appreciated, and I tend to respect those who are honest with me a lot more than those who aren’t.


Hi, I’m Chris. I’m an autistic person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference, especially when that difference wasn’t widely known about. On top of that, I didn’t even get a diagnosis until my adult years. Looking forward, I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.


A guest article by Chris.

My initial reaction to learning of the Senate Select Committee on Autism’s recommendation that the Australian Government introduce a National Autism Strategy was not positive. There has certainly been a history of governments in this country making rules and regulations for minority groups that end up hurting, rather than helping, some within those groups.

However, reading that (if the recommendations of the Committee are adopted) the Australian Government will create the strategy in conjunction with the nation’s autistic community gave me hope that perhaps people with autism will finally be heard and our needs, as we stated them during the Committee’s inquiry, will be considered.

It was good to read the executive summary of the Committee’s report, Services, support and life outcomes for autistic Australians, which stated that during its inquiry the Committee had heard that many National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff and service providers ‘seem to lack even the most basic understanding of autism and the kinds of supports autistic people need’. The Committee went further to say this was ‘particularly troubling’ given the high number of autistic participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

“However, resolving problems with the NDIS for autistic participants will require a more focused consideration of the issues than was achievable within the broad terms of reference for this inquiry,” said the report.

“Accordingly, the Committee recommends an inquiry be undertaken by the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme to examine how the NDIS supports autistic participants.”

This was a welcome surprise, and I would wholly embrace such an inquiry as I’ve been fighting the NDIA for what I consider to be my basic human rights for the past 16 months.

So, if the Australian Government puts in place a National Autism Strategy to improve autistic lives, what will it look like, and how will it help us?

The extensive report, which was delivered following a two-year inquiry, suggests the Strategy should look at whole-of-life needs for autistic Australians. I’m hoping that means it will look at the things we need over our lifetimes.

I’ve been reading this report and it’s divided up into sections, as one would expect. The first section past the Executive Summary covers the recommended actions the Australian Government needs to take to better the lives of autistic Australians – there are 81 in total. After two years, I would have hoped for more calls to action from the inquiry, but the fact they’ve taken the betterment of our lives seriously is a step in the right direction.

I was pleasantly surprised by the bi-partisan support for, and involvement in, the inquiry.  Maybe it’s a tug of war for our votes, who knows? I just hope that whichever party is elected this weekend honours these recommendations and starts to make some real, tangible improvements for us.

Chapter 4 of the report is titled ‘The cost of failing to provide adequate services and support’, and it is what I believe the politicians are likely to really pay attention to – the cost of doing nothing.

Synergies Economic Consulting’s Economic Costs of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Australia report (the Synergies report), updated in 2011, estimated the annual economic cost of autism in Australia was in the region of $8.1 billion to $11.2 billion (2010 dollars). So, if that is the cost of doing what the Committee’s inquiry showed to be not looking after the autistic community, then surely – if nothing else does – that should help to motivate Canberra to better support our needs.

I do have one gripe about the Committee’s report – and that is that it is a list of recommendations that the next Australian Government can simply ignore. They are not new laws, they’re just a list of suggestions, and if the next Prime Minister, whomever that might end up being, decides to ignore them, there isn’t anything we can do about it.

Well, there is one thing we can do – we can band together and inundate every Member of Parliament, every senator, and the Prime Minister themselves, with emails and complaints about failing to uphold the recommendations. The figures vary, depending on the source, but it is estimated that approximately one in every 70 Australians is autistic. That’s a lot of people, and when you take our friends, family and support networks into account, that’s a huge group of people who can cooperate with each other (with or without assistance) to fill the email boxes of those in power until they have to listen to us.

The more I read the Committee’s report, the more hope I feel for a better future for me and other autistic people.


Hi, I’m Chris. I’m an autistic person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference, especially when that difference wasn’t widely known about. On top of that, I didn’t even get a diagnosis until my adult years. Looking forward, I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.


A Senate Select Committee on Autism has recommended the Australian Government develop a National Autism Strategy within the next 12 months to coordinate efforts to improve life outcomes for autistic Australians.

The recommendation – which sits at the heart of the Committee’s proposed reform pathway – is one of 81 made in a report tabled in Federal Parliament last month.

The Committee released its report following a broad reaching national inquiry into the issues facing autistic Australians. It recommended the strategy be co-designed with autistic people and the autism community, and that it align with other national strategies – including the National Disability Strategy – to address whole-of-life needs.

Life outcomes for autistic Australians

Approximately 650,000 Australians are autistic, and the Committee found life outcomes for this group of people were unacceptably poor. Examples include:

“These are not simply statistics on a page,” said the report. “Behind each set of numbers are thousands of autistic children and adults who have been denied the opportunity to fulfil their potential and live healthy, safe and productive lives, as well as scores of families who have been pushed to breaking point.”

Complex and interrelated drivers

During its inquiry the Committee heard first-hand accounts of the devastating impact that a lack of support has on the lives of autistic Australians and their families. Key drivers of poor outcomes include:

However, the Committee said it was ‘encouraged by accounts of appropriately tailored support and good practices’ that had already ‘made a difference to the lives of some inquiry participants and the autism community more broadly’.

Report welcomed by disability sector and autism advocates

Co-Chair of the Australian Autism Alliance, Jenny Karavolos, welcomed the release of the report and said co-design was ‘an absolute must to enable effective and sustainable outcomes’.

“We strongly welcome a National Autism Strategy and support the Committee’s acknowledgment that generic disability strategies have not improved outcomes for autistic people,” said Ms Karavolos.

The Alliance has called for priority action on:

  1. Establishing a National Autism Strategy through co-design with autistic people and the community, with strong outcomes, targets, reporting and accountability measures.
  2. Developing a National Roadmap for improving health and mental health services for autistic people – something also called for by the Disability Royal Commission.
  3. Lifting Medicare rebates and removing the age cap for autism assessment and diagnosis, together with initiatives to drive timely and quality assessments.
  4. Jobs initiatives to shift the dial on employment for autistic people.
  5. Reforms to markedly increase inclusion and attainment in education and training.
  6. A National Autism Workforce plan to build autism capability of key frontline workforces.

The landmark report – which includes recommendations regarding diagnosis, education, health care, housing, social inclusion, advocacy, research, justice, rights, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme – was also welcomed by Monique Blakemore, an advocate and mother of two autistic boys.

“While not every single autistic person or organisation will agree with every recommendation in this report, the critical thing is that we finally have in front of us a plan for providing autistic people with the educational, employment, health and social connection opportunities that are desperately needed,” said Ms Blakemore.

This is just the beginning

Labor Senator Carol Brown, the Committee’s deputy chair, said regardless of the result at the May federal election, the report’s recommendations must be adopted to redress the inequities faced by the autistic community.

“It’s now where the hard work begins, the report cannot be the end, but the start,” said Senator Brown.

Sources:

By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

A note from My Plan Manager: The tips and information in this blog are taken from personal experience and may not mirror your own National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) journey. If you haven’t yet read ‘Need help with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)? Here’s where to get it (starting at pre-access)’, turn around and start there!

Once you’ve read that, come back to this article where Chris shares his NDIS tips from personal experience.

The process of becoming a participant in the NDIS can begin with a verbal access request, where a person with disability, their family member or guardian calls the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and asks to apply. Another option to apply for the NDIS is to submit an access request form. Both of these require supporting evidence from a treating professional.

Note: We recognise that everyone’s experience with the NDIS is different. However, you can contact a Local Area Coordinator (LAC) free-of-charge to help you apply as the first step when you are thinking about requesting access to the NDIS.

Once done, contact a disability advocacy organisation for support. Most advocacy organisations will help to unpack the terminology and jargon that is often used in the disability sector and having someone by your side who is familiar with those terms and phases really helps. Most advocacy organisations will do this for free.

If your application to access the NDIS is approved, the first thing to do is to go to a pre-planning meeting that’s usually held with a Local Area Coordinator – or LAC. LACs help NDIS participants to develop, review and implement their plans. During the 90-minute catch-up, the LAC will gather information and work with you to determine what to put in your plan.

You can ask your current providers to help you prepare for this meeting, and they can even join your pre-planning call with your LAC. 

The process is challenging, but with patience and perseverance, you can make it through the experience.

If your application to access the NDIS is turned down, don’t panic. This decision can be challenged through a number of review pathways that you can find at the end of this article.

Once your eligibility is established, the NDIA will contact you to set up a planning meeting. During this meeting they will ask a series of questions about your experiences in regard to your disabilities, what disabilities you are diagnosed with and what services you think you will need. There may come a point in this meeting where they ask you to justify your needs, so it is a good idea to have someone from the organisation that helped you with the pre-planning meeting there with you for support.

It is always good to have someone else with you to take notes when you speak to the NDIA. If you’re not able to have a third person with you then politely tell the NDIA that you can’t talk at the moment and arrange a time when you can have someone else take part in the conversation. Do not take no for an answer to this request as they cannot force you to talk to them.

After the meeting, the NDIA will present you with your NDIS plan. If you’re happy with it, that’s great. If not, you have 90 days to request a review. Often people aren’t aware of the 90-day limit, so keep it in mind, because you have a time limit to challenge the NDIA’s decision. If you can’t resolve the matter by way of a review, this is where legal aid and/or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal come in. These are both free services and both have specialist teams that deal with matters relating to the NDIA.

Both options have resulted in positive outcomes for me, so I leave the choice to you. Just remember, these people are on your side, so always be polite with them.

You can find more information about getting a decision from the NDIA reviewed here: https://myplanmanager.com.au/not-happy-with-your-ndis-plan-heres-what-you-can-do-to-request-to-change-it/.


This month on Kinora, our online community for people with disability, their supporters and service providers, we’re exploring eligibility and access to the NDIS. If you have questions about applying for the NDIS or this pre-planning phase, log on to Kinora to connect with a coach who can point you in the right direction.

Log on to Kinora now.


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference, especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old.

By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

This is another sensory blog. This one is related to sound. This blog is about some of the auditory issues such as hearing difficulties that Autistic people often struggle to cope with.

Let’s get started with an especially difficult condition called Auditory Processing Disorder. The modern thought on the condition is that the brain of an Autistic person is unable to process the enormous amount of sound of every day life. This is incorrect. The cause is that we hear absolutely every sound around us which makes it impossible to pull the single thread of sound from the ball of tangled ball of sound-yarn. I myself have been diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder and when it is noisy it’s hard to understand a person talking right next to me but when it’s quiet I can hear individual sounds over a distance of more than a kilometre with relative ease.

There are many issues with my having a heightened sense of hearing: I can’t stand fireworks, parties, night clubs, or anywhere there’s loud noise. That’s almost everywhere outside of my own house so most days I’m content to stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet of my single room flat. I can’t even tolerate living with other people.

Some helpful tools include ear plugs, noise cancelling headphones, and living in the country. The headphones actually work very well. It doesn’t cancel out noise 100%, nothing can do that, but it reduces the noise to a more tolerable level. That makes things much easier to cope with out there in the big, bad world. The best part is they come in an incredible variety of styles, sizes and colours. The down side is the better ones can be very expensive, up to $500+ in Australia.

If you’re on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for Autism, the noise cancelling headphones can be purchased through cooperative vendors or reimbursed through your plan manager or directly, if you’re not plan managed as they relate directly to treating Autistic auditory difficulties.

Alternatively, there are Autistic people whose Autism makes it difficult to hear the sounds around them or even cause deafness. This is what I would call Auditory Processing Disorder if I had the power to change the way things are labelled. These are the people who cannot hear because they’re Autistic. It’s the other side of the coin from having over-sensitive (or heightened) hearing. There are treatments for this as well, such as hearing aids.

Both conditions make life for Autistic people more difficult than it should be. Loud neighbours are a special kind of hell, especially the type that bring people over and have impromptu ‘gatherings’. If you live next to someone with Autism do show them a little courtesy and keep the noise down.

There is a minor caveat – Auditory Processing Disorder can exist without the individual being Autistic. Though it is very rare for this to occur, it does happen from time to time.


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic Person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old. Looking back I now realise how miserable I was and how badly I was being treated by everyone. Looking forward I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.

By Chris

This article is part of My Plan Manager’s guest blogger series.

Today’s blog is the start of a series covering the sensory issues of Autistic People. Most of us have heightened senses that can cause a problem dealing with everyday life. It’s a large topic and could easily cover far more blogs than I have time to write, so I’ll focus on the five main senses (there are far more than five but I’m keeping it simple). 

As usual I’ll be writing from personal experiences. I’ll start off with writing about my extreme sensitivity to light. I wear the darkest sunglasses I can find (the Cancer Council has the best for the price, in my opinion). Even with these on, a cloudless Australian summer day can be so bright I have to walk around with one eye closed (fortunately nobody can see my eyes behind the glasses). 

My sensitivity to light is so strong on some days that even the light of a full moon can be ever so slightly too bright. 

As with everything related to our senses, the level of sensitivity fluctuates. 

However, my senses seem to be getting sharper as I age, instead of getting duller as one would normally expect. Sometimes when it’s overcast, I don’t need to wear my glasses, but I always keep them with me in case the sun breaks through the clouds. 

There are some wavelengths of light that affect me emotionally – the setting sun shining between the earth and an overcast, rainy sky is my favourite light of all. 

It’s a mystery to me why my brain processes light the way it does and why it changes the way it processes it, or what triggers that change and its various intensities. 

Since sunglasses are basically Personal Protective Equipment for me and many other Autistic People with the same sensitivities, I have sometimes had to wear them indoors – especially if there is bright lighting. For this I have been called names, endured cowardly passive aggressive bullying, and even had to leave a class because the people running the art school were so narrow-minded. 

The point I’m making here is it’s tough just trying to get by when small-minded and ignorant people make life more difficult than it already is for someone just because that person is trying to protect themselves enough to live a semi-normal life with as little pain and discomfort as possible. 

The same sensitivities that make bright light painful make things like eyedrops and contact lenses next to impossible to endure. However, this ties in more with my oversensitive tactile sense. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I can tell when a picture is off centre by a little as 1mm (literally) as well as ‘eyeballing’ whether something is level when building something; that in particular is extremely useful as you can imagine. 

So as with most things Autistic, there are good and bad aspects. I try to embrace the good and cope with the bad but it’s not easy. 


Hi I’m Chris. I’m a 44 year old Autistic Person. Originally from California, I ran away to Australia as soon as I could. Raised in the country, life wasn’t easy with an invisible neurological difference especially when that difference wasn’t even widely known about. On top of that I didn’t even get a diagnosis until I was 39 years old. Looking back I now realise how miserable I was and how badly I was being treated by everyone. Looking forward I want to leave behind some small piece of myself that maybe, if I’m lucky, might make a positive impact.

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My Plan Manager acknowledges the objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

My Plan Manager acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders both past and present.
© My Plan Manager 2020
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