Senators quote Amaze for World Autism Awareness Day
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In a rare show of unity, political parties have come together for a Notice of Motion regarding World Autism Awareness Day.
WAAD acknowledged in Senate.
On Wednesday, senators Carol Brown (ALP), Rachel Siewert (Greens) and Linda Reynolds (Liberal) moved that the Senate:
a) Notes that:
a. Sunday 2 April 2017 is the ninth anniversary of World Autism Awareness Day;
b. The theme of World Autism Awareness Day 2017 is “Towards autonomy and self-determination”, and
c. Current estimates indicate that over 1 in 100 Australians are on the autism spectrum.
b) Acknowledges that:
a. Awareness of autism is relatively high in the community, with recent polling commissioned by Amaze showing that over 50% of Australians know or have known someone on the autism spectrum.
b. However, the same poll showed that 74% of Australians agreed that autism and its associated behaviour is still very misunderstood by the broader community, with only 29% agreeing that they have a good understanding of how to support people on the autism spectrum: and
c. More needs to be done to increase community understanding and acceptance of autism to better support autistic Australians to live an ordinary life.
c) Recognises that:
The same polling showed that 72% of Australians agreed that more needs to be done in schools, workplaces and the wider community to better support autistic Australians and urges all Governments to consider the specific needs of autistic Australians in the development of policy and programs.
