Far to go in managing autism

Australians with autism need circuit-breakers to improve their quality of life. Autistic people, generally, have life expectancy more than 20 years shorter than the general population and are nine times more likely to die of suicide. They are also eight times more likely to be unemployed. And 80 per cent of autistic young people experience difficulty in education. The Albanese government’s draft autism strategy sets out worthy aspirations. But it lacks detail about how to achieve its objectives, and at what cost. Nor does it set out the way to resolve over-reliance of autism sufferers on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. For those reasons, the so-called strategy, unfortunately, takes the nation no closer to solving one of the major challenges in social welfare policy.

The draft strategy’s release coincides with new data from autism advocacy group Aspect, which underlines the importance of federal and state governments getting autism policy right. According to Aspect, as many as one in 40 people – significantly higher than the previous estimate of one in 70 – are potentially on the autism spectrum. That represents 675,000 people. Diagnoses have increased among women and girls, and people aged 60 and over.

The number of Australians on the NDIS, as Stephen Lunn reported last week, has increased to more than 640,000 people, driven largely by children with milder levels of autism and developmental delay being admitted. Nine per cent of children aged five to seven are currently on the NDIS. Many do not need to be there, the government admits. But it is the only way their families can access any support after Canberra and the states scaled down services when the NDIS was introduced 10 years ago. Children with severe autism, often combined with other disabilities, need to be on the NDIS, of course.

The new draft plan calls for employers to hire more autistic workers and for companies to include people with autism on boards and senior management, and for public spaces to be made sensory-friendly. The strategy also calls for a national plan to increase “representation of autistic people in the media, sports and the arts”, with a focus on healthcare, education and jobs.

But it fails to address the key issue of the fast-growing number of children with autism accessing the NDIS. In December, the federal and state governments agreed to provide autism support outside the NDIS, with the states to receive more GST funding. But they are now claiming their obligations are unclear and they are not sure of the costs. That is where federal and state governments must concentrate their efforts.