The State of Affairs of Autism in Australia

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Was aired today here in aus, not sure if it will be view-able outside aus. Interesting facts on cost and how the aussie govt is doing nothing to help parents. Interesting watch for any parent.

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8437692

Of course, these programs are only ever about the parents, siblings and other relatives of autistic people (and it is always about "children" with autism). They never talk to (or better, listen to) autistic people themselves.

It's annoying that while they mention HFA they don't mention aspergers and the fact that even if a person doesn't have severe autism doesn't mean there's not suffering and it didn't show the suffering of the actual kids and the fact that it only features kids
But it is essentially a plea for money from the government so it's a pull at heart strings type of story

Hi, I am curious about what you mean by HFA. What is the difference between mild autism, HFA and Aspergers?
Thanks

i saw it on "a current affair". i was not particularly interested because it showed a subset of autistic kids that were not able to cope with their world. it was biased in it's focus on only difficult to manage autistic children.

in my opinion, one's native temperament is not affected by autism. autism does not explain every aspect of a persons behavior.

i am a HFA autistic, and i did not speak until i was 3 years old, but i did not protest about my world like the children that were shown in the segment.

i believe that all autistic people have a fundamental NT personality, and it's development is stymied by an autistic overlay. autistic people are not all the same. some autistics have a fundamental aggressive personality and some have a passive personality. the personality is not governed by autism. it is as genetically inevitable as NT's personalities, but the difference is in how one manages their attitude toward life as it unfolds (which is affected by autism).

i was a passive child who was completely divorced from other people, and i never screamed in discontent because:
1) i was not discontented, and
2) i did not expect that any complaint i made would be able to be addressed because i felt that other people were not like me.


the fundamental personality traits of people are many and varied. some are aggressive and dominating, and some are acquiescent, and some are followers and some are leaders.
some are artistic, and some are goal oriented, and it has nothing to do with autism how a persons personality is in a native sense.

the children showed in the segment on a current affair were rather violent and dominating, and if they did not have autism, they would probably be the leaders in their social sets, but because they were draped with the unhung curtain of autism, they were extremely frustrated at their inability to control what they felt they deserved to control.

i always lived in my own world, and the worst i did was to ignore all that anyone said to me and continue to forge my path through life like a mole digs it's solitary way through the ground where no one else exists.

i never felt that i had any capacity to influence other people, and i did not protest my inability to do so.

they focused on the personality types of autistic children that were the most problematic.

i think that there are many autistic children like i was who are not problematic, and who have a quieter soul who are just peacefully unreachable but not antagonistically so.

it is sensationalism that was the force behind the segment i saw tonight.

on another note, i liked the segment where a young thug road raged an old person and the old person got out and belted him to the point that he ran away.
that was funny.

It's a current affairs show. It's all about sensationalism and showing emotion to attract viewers who don't like to think too much. You can never expect them to show any balanced, realistic overview of any subject. The best outcome possible from such a show is that it may prompt someone to do their own research into autism, but you certainly can't take any of their "facts" for granted. Little things like truth and reality mean nothing to the producers of those shows.

after watching it again more than anything I was concerned and a bit surprised about a couple of families there, one had 9 kids with 4 of them on the spectrum and the other with 7 kids and once again 4 on spectrum. I know having kids is a personal choice but when you have 9 and 4 of them need extra attention and the cost of therapies for all 4 of them??? why would you get yourself in this situation?? and yet they are complaining that the govt is not doing enough??

my apologies if this offends anyone but I think if you didn't get the message after having 5 or 6 kids and knowing that some of them are on the spectrum, why would anyone one in their right mind continue to bring kids into this world??? I feel sad for the kids in such families. My daughter is nearly 4 and not once has it crossed our minds about extending our family, Our focus is entirely on our kid and until we feel she has improved we would never consider having more. just my opinion though.....

who knows their individual situations...some kids, like my son, arent identified until much older...and by then you can have more kids. I think what they want is services to be provided for their children, I cannot imagine cutting services at age 6. My heart goes out to each of those families.

I thought A |Consumer Affair was rather even handed I would say that wouldn't I their was no biffo's, profanity, foot in doors or threats of legal action.

|Though to be fair they did present the "highly intelligent" autistic who really struggles with friendships since the child is so smart as is the farther (the apple doesn''t fall far from the tree I imagine) I'd say to them "don't bother" even with the lovie dudie * parents looking on it's more trouble than it's worth. Though I can only imagine they'd be getting their advise from people who aren't even autisitc.



I agree nothing more than a pity party/ cap in hand event. It would work the carerist bureaucrat Adrian in Canberra may consider more funding than he'll come on to autism Tv and his head will explode in confusion , he will think it's a privilege persons disorder ie College educated supermodels that are sociable. And he'll say "no | to new funding.



I don't see what the point of autism tv is, apart from making tha aspie losers feel like crap (and to increase hits) I should start a thread "whats the point"


*I presume their lovie duddie he got an early diagnosis those that had it bad with severe co morbid without early dx I presume have family member's that don't give a $%^& about them or is that just my experiences?

In am relieved that DS received his dx after DD was born because I am sure this would have thrown a serious spanner in the works in terms of having more children. My daughter appears pretty NT so far, but then so did DS. At one stage I was thinking of having a third but there is no way we would do that now - we need to spent our time and resources on the children we have.