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Speaker 1: Already and this is this is the Daily OS. This

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Speaker 1: is the Dahlias. Oh now it makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: the third of April.

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Speaker 1: I'm sam, I'm emma.

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Speaker 3: And this week the Federal government released a draft strategy

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Speaker 3: aimed at improving the lives of Australians with autism. It

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Speaker 3: comes after a twenty twenty two inquiry found that outcomes

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Speaker 3: four autistic people in Australia were unacceptably poor.

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Speaker 2: So what does the strategy recommend and how could it

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Speaker 2: improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians. In

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Speaker 2: today's deep dive, we're going to speak to the CEO

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Speaker 2: of Autism Awareness to find out more. But first, Emma,

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Speaker 2: what is making headlines?

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Speaker 3: Four international aid workers, including an Australian, have been killed

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Speaker 3: by an Israeli air strike, according to a fish in Gaza.

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Speaker 3: The workers were part of the World's Central Kitchen charity

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Speaker 3: located in northern Gaza. The charity said in a post

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Speaker 3: to X humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be

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Speaker 3: a target. Prime Minister Anthony Alberanzi called the reports very

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Speaker 3: concerning in comments to the ABC and said the Department

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Speaker 3: of Foreign Affairs and Trade was urgently investigating.

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Speaker 2: National house prices increased by an average of around twelve

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars or one point six percent in the first

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Speaker 2: three months of twenty twenty four. That's according to the

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Speaker 2: latest findings from property data firm core Logic. It's also

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Speaker 2: the fourteenth consecutive month property values have risen. Rents were

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Speaker 2: up two point eight percent in the last three months,

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Speaker 2: with unit rent prices rising faster than housing rents across

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Speaker 2: the capital cities.

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Speaker 3: The Democratic Republic of Congo has appointed its first female

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Speaker 3: Prime Minister, Judith Sumnwar Teluca, will take on the role

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Speaker 3: of PMS amid increased violence across the country. Teluka, an economist,

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Speaker 3: was previously Minister for Planning. Speaking on national television, she

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Speaker 3: said she is aware of the great responsibility of the

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Speaker 3: role of PM and that she will work for peace

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Speaker 3: and the development of the country. There are over seven

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Speaker 3: million displaced people in Congo. According to the United Nations.

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Speaker 2: And Today's Good News, free flu shots are now available

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Speaker 2: in Queensland ahead of the flu season. Queenslanders above six

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Speaker 2: months old will be able to access the vaccine at

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Speaker 2: local GPS and pharmacies. State Health Minister Shannon Fentamen said

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Speaker 2: that nearly all people presenting to hospital with the flu

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Speaker 2: last year had not been vaccinated, and that offering free

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Speaker 2: vaccines will aim to reduce the number of people in hospital.

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Speaker 3: So am I.

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Speaker 2: Yesterday we learnt that the government is looking to improve

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Speaker 2: the lives of Australians with autism through this draft National

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Speaker 2: Auto Strategy. But I want to back up a little

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Speaker 2: bit on this story. First, while autism is very common

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Speaker 2: and there's a good chance our listeners right now know

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Speaker 2: somebody with autism or have been diagnosed themselves, what is

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Speaker 2: it exactly?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure most people have, as you say, heard

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Speaker 3: of autism or know someone with autism. But to be specific,

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Speaker 3: autism spectrum disorder, and that word spectrum is something that

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Speaker 3: comes up a lot in this conversation. Is a condition

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Speaker 3: diagnosed through developmental assessments and behavioral observations. So there are

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Speaker 3: about two hundred and five thousand Aussies who've been diagnosed

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Speaker 3: with autism, and it is important to note that autistic

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Speaker 3: Australians are almost eight times more likely to be unemployed

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Speaker 3: than the rest of the population. This is the kind

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Speaker 3: of key difference in outcomes that has inspired conversation and inquiry,

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Speaker 3: recommendations and now this strategy, this draft strategy we're talking

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Speaker 3: about today.

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Speaker 2: So we have the draft in our hands, we can

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Speaker 2: flick through it, we can read it. What does it

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Speaker 2: propose exactly?

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Speaker 3: Basically it is a huge document which identifies the key

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Speaker 3: challenges facing people with autism and from those challenges proposed

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Speaker 3: measures to improve their lives. So this is across key

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Speaker 3: areas ranging from social health, economic, educational, workplace outcomes. But

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Speaker 3: there is a lot there. So we really wanted to

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Speaker 3: talk to someone who understands this world, who knows their

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Speaker 3: staff when it comes to autism in Australia and the

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Speaker 3: importance of this strategy. So today we're talking to Nicole Rogerson.

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Speaker 3: She is the CEO of Autism Awareness Australia and she

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Speaker 3: joins us Now. Nicole, thank you for joining us on

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Speaker 3: the podcast today.

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Speaker 1: Welcome, Thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 3: So we're talking about the draft National Autism Strategy released

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Speaker 3: this week. What can you tell me very top line

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Speaker 3: about this plan? Why is it important?

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Speaker 4: Look, I think it's a really positive step. Australia needs

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Speaker 4: a national Autism strategy the same way it has a

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Speaker 4: national Disability strategy. A lot of other countries have them,

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Speaker 4: and it's important to have an overarching idea of what

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Speaker 4: we know we need to do to improve the lives

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Speaker 4: of Australians with autism. In saying that, it is a

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Speaker 4: very big laundry list of things that, to be honest,

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Speaker 4: we've known for a really long time were the issues.

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Speaker 4: And I guess where I'm a little bit more focused

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Speaker 4: on is great to have a strategy, but how we're

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Speaker 4: going to execute on that, How are we actually going

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Speaker 4: to do it? Because it's a very complex document that

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Speaker 4: covers off an enormous amount of issues across a lot

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Speaker 4: of different areas.

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Speaker 3: To understand the scope I suppose of the strategy you've

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Speaker 3: kind of touched on, I think maybe it would be

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Speaker 3: helpful for us to understand perhaps some of the challenges

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Speaker 3: that people with autism live with every day. Of course

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Speaker 3: it's a spectrum, but what are the kinds of challenges

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Speaker 3: that people in the community are facing and how does

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Speaker 3: that inform this strategy.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the challenges that they've really focused on

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Speaker 4: in this particular strategy are those of social inclusion, so

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Speaker 4: being included as a valued member of your community or

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Speaker 4: your school community, I think they're focused on mental health issues,

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Speaker 4: which can be very difficult for people across the spectrum.

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Speaker 4: And obviously access to employment is another huge effect that

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Speaker 4: it will have on individuals with autism. We know they

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Speaker 4: are eight times more likely to be unemployed. So there

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Speaker 4: are a whole range of really important and significant things

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Speaker 4: listed in this strategy. But it's more than that. It's

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Speaker 4: not just those things. It's housing, it's schooling, it's mental

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Speaker 4: health provisions. But how do we support people with autism

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Speaker 4: in a way that's appropriate for them as opposed to

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Speaker 4: potentially mental health strategies that might work with people without autism.

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Speaker 4: You know, there's just so much complexity here. I think

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Speaker 4: the top takeaway is everybody in Australia who had any

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Speaker 4: views on this thought it would be a good idea

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Speaker 4: to come together have a strategy.

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Speaker 1: They did that, Tick, let's.

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Speaker 4: Consult with lots of people, lots of different groups so

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Speaker 4: everyone feels heard and the strategy was co designed. I

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Speaker 4: think Tick, they did that, what do we do about it?

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Speaker 4: And I think that's where I land. And this is

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Speaker 4: really just because I've spent twenty five years in this

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Speaker 4: sector and some of the issues that are listed in

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Speaker 4: this strategy were true when my son was diagnosed back

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Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety nine. So I can't help it to

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Speaker 4: be a tad cynical about all of a sudden our

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Speaker 4: ability to be able to tackle these things. But my

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Speaker 4: old lady citicism should not get in the way of

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Speaker 4: the fact it's a great strategy, Jock. It lists out

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Speaker 4: a lot of the things that we need to do.

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Speaker 4: I'm just going to focus my organization's attention on making

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Speaker 4: sure we execute this strategy.

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Speaker 3: One of the biggest issues in autism is always diagnosis,

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Speaker 3: that first step or that first barrier to kind of support.

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Speaker 3: Can you give us a bit of context on what

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Speaker 3: diagnosis looks like in Australia at the moment and why

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Speaker 3: that might not be working.

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Speaker 4: It looks really differently depending on what age you're talking about.

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Speaker 4: So we know we pretty reliably can diagnose children as

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Speaker 4: young as eighteen months to two years if the signs

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Speaker 4: are there. So if we're doing the right kind of

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Speaker 4: assessments at those ages, we can pick this up really early,

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Speaker 4: and that is ideal to start early intervention as early

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Speaker 4: as we possibly can. But just meaning that if a

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Speaker 4: child has a developmental delay, the sooner we can catch

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Speaker 4: that delay up, that's what we want to do and

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Speaker 4: support that child the way they need support. The problem

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Speaker 4: then becomes some children with milder forms of autism, particularly

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Speaker 4: those in girls, may get missed at that age because

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Speaker 4: they might not be displaying some of the behavioral characteristics

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Speaker 4: that will go on to meet criteria for autism. Because remember,

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Speaker 4: there's no blood test here, there's no way to find

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Speaker 4: out if you've got autism. It's really an observational diagnosis.

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Speaker 4: So those kids can sometimes get missed until they go

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Speaker 4: to school. But then there's this another complete different cohort

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Speaker 4: who may be missed all together. And I think this

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Speaker 4: has been the biggest growth we've seen in autism diagnoses

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Speaker 4: in the last year, those of adults who have gone

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Speaker 4: through life and struggled with a number of things and

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Speaker 4: not really known what to call it, and then later

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Speaker 4: in life they find out that they actually meet criteria

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Speaker 4: for an autism diagnosis.

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Speaker 3: So what does the strategy table about improving diagnosis, whether

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Speaker 3: that's improving rates, improving costs, access practitioners, what's it suggested.

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Speaker 4: I think it's all on the table, and it's pretty

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Speaker 4: light on the detail. At this point in time. You know,

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Speaker 4: there's a recognition that we need to do better. It

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Speaker 4: might be a discussion whether this becomes a medicare rebatable.

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Speaker 4: There's sort of some early suggestions in there, but this

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Speaker 4: is by this strategy has not done a deep dive

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Speaker 4: in how to solve these problems. It is a list

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Speaker 4: of the problems and areas that we need to concentrate in.

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Speaker 4: But again, it's never going to happen unless we have

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Speaker 4: an execution plan for this strategy.

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Speaker 3: The strategy also touches on visibility and representation of autism

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Speaker 3: in the national media sport arts. What is the importance

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Speaker 3: of visibility, Why is that included in this strategy?

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Speaker 1: What does that mean to the community.

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Speaker 4: If you live with a condition, whatever it is, whether

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Speaker 4: it be autism or whatever your hasens to be, the

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Speaker 4: more society understands it, understands you and understand how it affects.

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Speaker 1: You, the easier it is for you.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's just as simple as that people will

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Speaker 4: understand where you are and having that visibility and to

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Speaker 4: be seen and to be understood is really important to

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Speaker 4: the community. But we've got big issues here. Representation is

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Speaker 4: not the thing that's getting in the way of actively

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Speaker 4: supporting individuals with autism.

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Speaker 1: What happens next?

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Speaker 3: You know, there's this sort of feedback process, a public consultation.

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Speaker 1: How does that actually work?

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Speaker 3: And if people are listening, who you know, either are

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Speaker 3: living with autism, love someone with autism, or in this

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Speaker 3: space and they feel your kind of frustrations, what can

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Speaker 3: they do about that?

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Speaker 4: Do you know? It's a really good question.

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Speaker 1: And I know that what you said was right.

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Speaker 4: People tend to think this is bureaucratic, that's a submission

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Speaker 4: into a inquiry, and that all seems hard and.

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Speaker 1: I can't do it.

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Speaker 4: What I would really encourage people to do is jump

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Speaker 4: on and read the strategy. And even if you can't

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Speaker 4: be bothered to do that on the government website, they've

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Speaker 4: actually got a great thing called an easy Read which

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Speaker 4: is designed for people with intellectual disabilities to be able

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Speaker 4: to read these reports. But I find them very helpful

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Speaker 4: for me too, So by all means, you know, have

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Speaker 4: a little look at it. What I would really encourage

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Speaker 4: people to do is if it all seems too much

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Speaker 4: and it's too big and the scope is too much,

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Speaker 4: just go back to the inquiry and give them your

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Speaker 4: thoughts on the bit that really matters. To you. So

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Speaker 4: if employment is your focus at the moment, just go

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Speaker 4: and write your story about what that's meant for you,

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Speaker 4: what you find about the strategy that you think would work,

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Speaker 4: what would really help you, or what you think might

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Speaker 4: be a bit silly. I think no submission is not

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Speaker 4: considered realistically.

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Speaker 3: What is the kind of timeline and process. Then you know,

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Speaker 3: after we get the feedback submitted, public consultation is over.

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Speaker 3: That closes at the end of May. What happens to

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Speaker 3: the strategy from there?

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Speaker 4: I think it gets panel beat it into a better

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Speaker 4: kind of looking document, and I think it will be

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Speaker 4: released by the end of the year. What I don't

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Speaker 4: want to happen is in six months, we get together,

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Speaker 4: we talk about it to release, everyone pats itself on

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Speaker 4: the back, and it goes and sits on a shelf somewhere.

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Speaker 4: I would like this to be a working living strategy document,

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Speaker 4: and we split the list and you go and do that,

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Speaker 4: and you do that, and you do that, and it's

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Speaker 4: an activity and we get it done and we start

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Speaker 4: chiseling away at some of these issues that we have

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Speaker 4: known for a long time were difficult for people with autism.

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Speaker 4: There is honestly not a lot new in this strategy.

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Speaker 4: We've known it now, it's what are we going to do.

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Speaker 1: About it in five years time?

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Speaker 3: And considering the impact on your life and your son's

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Speaker 3: life being in this community.

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Speaker 1: How would you like your life to change?

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Speaker 3: What are the sort of achievable short term goals that

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Speaker 3: maybe in five years time we get this awesome round

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Speaker 3: of lived experience feedback, we re polish the plan things.

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Speaker 3: A legislator, the world is looking better. What does that

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Speaker 3: world look like to you?

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Speaker 4: Oh, that's so complex, And because to be honest, you know,

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Speaker 4: my family are some of the lucky ones. My son

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Speaker 4: is an absolute delight and through a lot of luck

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Speaker 4: and a lot of intervention and a lot of support,

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Speaker 4: he has a really happy existence. And autism doesn't play

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Speaker 4: a negative role in our family. If anything, it's quite

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Speaker 4: a positive role. And so you've got to understand, autism

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Speaker 4: is my whole community, it's what I work with that

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Speaker 4: they're all of my friends, they're my my son's friends.

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Speaker 4: You know, I live in this community twenty four to seven.

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Speaker 4: So what I want at the end of all of

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Speaker 4: this is for everything to just be a little less

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Speaker 4: difficult for everybody. There are certain parts about autism that

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Speaker 4: we can't change. For some people, the sensory issues are

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Speaker 4: just too hard and living in a very loud, obnoxious,

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Speaker 4: bright world is not something we can change for them.

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Speaker 4: We can make some accommodations here and there, but I

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Speaker 4: can't change the world to easily make sure it accommodates

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Speaker 4: my autistic child in every way, shape or form possible.

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Speaker 4: We have to be realistic about that. You can say

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Speaker 4: we need the world to accept autism. I want the

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Speaker 4: world to change to be more accepting. Okay, that would

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Speaker 4: be nice, but the world isn't accepting of lots of

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Speaker 4: different people actually, So we have to find ways to

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Speaker 4: support our loved ones in our community and inform our

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Speaker 4: institutions and our society so that that just makes those

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Speaker 4: interactions less and less fractious. And if we keep moving

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Speaker 4: towards that, and we keep understanding that it's not just autism,

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Speaker 4: how do we feel about difference, How do we get along?

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Speaker 4: How do we stop yelling at one another? There are

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Speaker 4: so many areas that this kind of traverses a lot

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Speaker 4: of the problems that we're talking about. What we need

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Speaker 4: to fix here we need to fix more broadly in Australia,

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Speaker 4: for those with mental health conditions and for those who

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Speaker 4: are finding modern society just quite frankly difficult. And I

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Speaker 4: think that's a lot of Australians.

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Speaker 2: Now, thanks for that chat em, and thank you for

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Speaker 2: joining us on the Daily OS if you're interested in

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Speaker 2: learning more about the strategy and submitting public feedback. As

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Speaker 2: Emma and Cole discussed, there's a leak think in today's

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Speaker 2: show notes ullyak again in is tomorrow morning. Until then,

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Speaker 2: have a great Wednesday. My name is Lily Maddon and

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Speaker 2: I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Calcotin woman from Gadighl Country.

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Speaker 2: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on

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Speaker 2: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to

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Speaker 2: all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations. We pay

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Speaker 2: our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both

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Speaker 2: past and present.