Women With Disabilities Australia’s (WWDA) response to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Consultation Paper on ‘Interventions for Children on the Autism Spectrum’.
This letter is informed by feedback from our membership, including Autistic women and girls, their parents, carers, support people and representative networks. In line with the communities preferred terminology, we use the term ‘Autistic’ to refer to individuals on the Autism Spectrum.
While we understand and welcome the need for a more effective and evidence-based approach to supporting Autistic children through the NDIS; we are concerned that the approach reflected in the Consultation Paper is inconsistent with both the views of the Autistic community and with the evidence base that it refers to.
Our response outlines four key areas:
- Inconsistencies in decision-making
- Limitations of Evidence base
- Exacerbation of inequalities based on Culture, Race and Gender
- Assumption of community-based supports