<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336471</docID> <postdate>2025-01-14 09:54:29</postdate> <headline>Better health services for autism under $42m strategy</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336472" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241129124838258528-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>A national autism plan will focus on improving social and economic inclusion, diagnosis and health. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Tess Ikonomou</strong> and <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>People with autism and their parents are being promised a better diagnosis system and health services under a $42.3 million plan.</strong></p> <p>Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, whose daughter has autism, said she had experienced first hand how hard it was to have the right tests and diagnosis done.</p> <p>As a result, her daughter had felt lost for many years as they navigated that path, she said.</p> <p>"So trying to make that easier for parents and autistic people themselves is really important," she told ABC TV on Tuesday.</p> <p>Australia's first national autism strategy and action plan will focus on improving social and economic inclusion, diagnosis and services, and health.</p> <p>Almost $3 million has been earmarked for a study to identify the prevalence of autism in Australia.</p> <p>"It's about looking at ways to open up better employment opportunities, greater inclusion for people with autism, better understanding of how people with autism navigate the world," Senator Gallagher said.</p> <p>She described it as "a bit of a hidden condition where we force people with autism to navigate the non-autistic world".</p> <p>"And that's difficult for many of them," she said.</p> <p>It outlines 22 commitments to boost wellbeing.</p> <p>Almost $20 million across four years will go to a peer support program to provide lived-experience advice for autistic people under an initial two-year action plan to roll out practical measures.</p> <p>National Autism Strategy Oversight Council co-chair and autistic person Clare Gibellini, who helped develop the blueprint, said its existence recognised change was needed.</p> <p>"It's a very significant opportunity to change some of the narrative around autistic people as problems to be solved," she told AAP.</p> <p>Ms Gibellini said the study of autism's prevalence would provide real data, saying "if we're not counted, we can't have good outcomes".</p> <p>Women, girls and gender-diverse people were identified by the strategy as facing "substantial disadvantages" due to misconceptions it primarily affected men and boys, leading to under-diagnosis and inadequate support.</p> <p>Autistic women were found to only discover their neurodivergence later in life, with mothers facing judgement about their ability to parent.</p> <p>Ms Gibellini said so many women and Indigenous people fell through the cracks due to societal misconceptions.</p> <p>"This really gives me great hope," she said.</p> <p>"It's not about autism being the new cool thing, and it's not about opening up floodgates to services and supports.</p> <p>"This is about making sure that they get access to the supports and services they deserve."</p> <p>Employers also have a role to play and should create inclusive workplaces understanding the diversity and needs of autistic workers, the strategy says.</p> <p>Bosses should be supported in hiring and retaining autistic employees under commitments in the blueprint to improve economic inclusion.</p> <p>Oversight Council member and associate professor Josephine Barbaro said the strategy was "probably a once in a lifetime" opportunity to make lasting change.</p> <p>She said the strategy's statement that the need for change "sits with society as a whole" was extremely powerful.</p> <p>"It actually makes me quite emotional that my autistic son will grow up in a world that accepts him as he is," she said.</p> <p>The strategy, which will inform the federal government's policy approach, runs from 2025 to 2031.</p> </body>