Ten years ago Australian Story featured Nicole Rogerson, her husband, and her son in a story about how the couple worked to “push the Autism out of him” with ABA. Since then, the Neurodiversity movement has risen. Where are we now, as a culture, and what is apparent now that was not before? Is it possible that the determined mothers of the 90s and naughties who laser-focused on pumping their kids through ABA were themselves Autistic?

If attendance actually mattered, wouldn’t the State of NSW fund for inclusion? Wouldn’t it try to resolve the barriers that keep children away?

It is past time that Disabled parents in NSW have access to justice in their interactions with Child Protection; and have their voices heard, safely.

We are about to welcome a new member of our family who will have a very important role - as an Assistance Dog for my son.

I realised this evening that for months I have been calling the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry a ‘Senate Inquiry’ and rather than rush to change this everywhere I have written it, I have decided to refuse the shame I was taught for being disabled - instead. Learning to walk with Pride in learning disabilities is hard, but I am doing it.

Medical gaslighting is so, so real. I am not up for it costing me my life.

This has been quite a month. I think I am probably full of less f-ks than when I went in, to be honest.

Two things are on my mind today: the right to free, prior and informed consent for Autistic children, and the fact that I do not want to die.

“For interest sake,” I texted my brother, “Here are my lovely lady-lumps. Checkemout.”

“Lol”.

Gallows humour is pretty useful at the moment.

Every day I spend at least some time reading the stories of Palestinian people; their writing, viewing their art; and learning their histories. It feels important to honour them, their home, and it feels important to fight for this in some way, every day. Alongside them, as they shout in determined refusal to be forced from their homelands and wiped away. It belongs to them.

There are many hidden costs of undiagnosed Neurodivergence in mothers, for those mothers. One of them is the constant gnawing terror of what will happen to my children if I die? The privilege that comes with the capacity to organise one’s affairs and the care of your children after death is something far too many Neurodivergent mothers are locked out of - through a lack of support for them as Disabled people, and as parents.

It shouldn’t be this way; and it needs to change.

Transformative justice thinker and community organiser adrienne writes: “When the response to mistakes, failures, and misunderstandings is emotional, psychological, economic, and physical punishment, we breed a culture of fear, secrecy, and isolation.

So I’m wondering, in a real way: How can we pivot toward practicing transformative justice? How do we shift from individual, interpersonal, and inter-organizational anger toward viable, generative, sustainable systemic change?”

Anyone who has ever worked in the Disability Advocacy sector knows it has a problem with lateral violence. There are key architects of the experience, and then the rest of us caught up in it, playing the role of fox or mouse. What is guaranteed though, is that almost everyone gets a turn at both.

A pilot program called ‘Inklings’ is proposed to be rolled out via the NDIS in South Australia. It has already been tested with 700 Western Australian families through the WA Community Health Service.

The purpose of the experimental program is to gather data to test the essence of the hypothesis of Professor Jonathon Green and Andrew Whitehouse: that pre-emptive intervention with babies showing signs of Autism, through training the parents of those babies to play with them in neurotypical ways (hint: the parents are probably Autistic too) can make those babies seem less Autistic.

And if they seem less Autistic on the outside, they won’t need as much support. Right?

Wrong.

Over the last ten years, proponents of ABA have worked to embed behaviourist approaches into the NDIA. This has run parallel to the rise of the Neurodiversity movement, creating what is now a fierce policy contest in Australia. But with all the focus Federally on ‘treating’ Autistic kids to get them off the scheme, why is nobody talking about other options, like de-funding a controversial, expensive therapy Autistics reject, which has shaky-at-best evidence for use with Autistic children? Is de-funding ABA another possible approach to reduce costs to the NDIS?

A brief statement on my resignation as President of ANPA.

Being anti-Zionist doesn’t make you anti-Semitic, because Jewish people are not synonymous with Zionists. It’s actually awful (and historically and culturally inaccurate) to conflate the two things, and it would offend a lot of Jewish folk if you did. If someone sells you this line, you’re probably talking to a Zionist. Hot tip? Play candy crush instead.

Yesterday, I was put on a ‘communication plan’ by the Director of Educational Leadership in our Directorate. As an Autistic person, what does this mean? Is it legal, and what is the impact of this on a person with disclosed communication needs?