Help Us Parents Keep The Carers Allowance

Please sign this petition and stop the government from taking the carers away from us... here is a little bit about why i am trying to STOP the government from taking it away from us parents.

I am writing this letter in response to the article written by Mr. Jonathan Porter and Michael McKinnon "Plot to axe allowances for 35,000 carers of disabled" which appeared in The Australian Newspaper on 9th August 2004. I am a parent of a child with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder and I am fortunate to receive a Carers Allowance of $172 a month. It greatly concerns me that the Government is considering abolishing the Carers Allowance. Children on the autistic spectrum, no matter where on the spectrum they appear, generally require a number of interventions in order for them to function appropriately in society. Each type of clinical intervention such as Occupational Therapy or Speech Therapy costs around $50.00 per session. Add medication and alternative interventions such as gluten and casein free diet or Neurofeedback therapy, Brain Gym or Kinesiology, Naturopath or Chiropractor which often work to a greater degree than conventional medication, plus the cost of pediatricians, psychologist, psychiatrist and/or pediatrics neurologist AND medications that may be required as a result of commonly occurring co-morbid conditions like Epilepsy and you will easily see that the average family with one autistic child is overwhelmed with financial responsibilities beyond those necessary for able children.

I am outraged at the fact the Government chooses to discriminate against thousands of families, by imposing stringent conditions on children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, especially those with Aspergers Syndrome, for it is these children who often suffer horrendous injustice at the hands of their peers due to presenting as odd or eccentric in this neurotypical world. To add insult to injury the Government education system often neglects to cater to the intrinsic needs of children with AS further complicating their puzzling existence. I am particularly maddened to read in Mr. Jonathan Porter and Michael McKinnon article, that he couldn't even tell the public what Asperger’s Syndrome is.

Is it negligence or laziness that prevented Mr. Jonathan Porter and Michael McKinnon from sufficiently researching this complex condition which would have enabled him to write an article from an informed perspective rather than writing the existing article from an uninformed, discriminatory stand point? It is my hope as a parent of an Autistic child, that before making such ill informed decisions that affect the well being of many thousands of children, that Government will seek to acquaint itself more fully with the debilitating aspects of an ASD. I have chosen to include in this letter some of the symptoms that may manifest in a child who presents to a clinician for diagnosis. Reading these symptoms will ensure that your readers will see how this disability affects our children and those of us who care for them. It is necessary to point out that all manifestations of Autism are life long and that education is a major contributing factor to ensure children on the Autistic spectrum may maximize their potential in our complex world.

SIGNS OF ASPERGER SYNDROME. http://www.aspergers.co.nz/whatIsAsperger.shtml Every person in the world will have a few of these signs. It is when a person has a lot of them, and also when the intensity of the symptoms is more extreme than in the average person, that there may be cause for concern. Each person who has Asperger Syndrome is also an individual, and may not have exactly the same profile of characteristics as another. Every possible symptom of Asperger’s Syndrome is not listed here. A more precise checklist is provided under the heading "Diagnostic Criteria", also on this web-site.

· Difficulty making friends and in general social interaction.

· Difficulty understanding non-verbal social cues such as facial expressions and body language.

· Communication difficulties, e.g. not understanding the mechanics of a conversation situation.

· May be either withdrawn, or makes over-eager, inappropriate approaches to others.

· Difficulty understanding that others may have thoughts or feelings different from one’s own.

· Obsessive focus on narrow interests, e.g. train timetables, or obsessively collecting items.

· Awkward or clumsy motor skills, co-ordination or balance difficulties.

· Over-sensitivity to sudden noises, and/or other sensory inputs, e.g. textures.

· Eye contact may be lacking or unusual, e.g. staring.

· Inflexibility about routine, especially when changes occur spontaneously.

· Odd quality to voice, e.g. monotone.

· Problems with understanding idiomatic expressions, i.e. taking things literally.

· Difficulty with multi-tasking, or in coping with more than one significant issue.

· Difficulty in thinking or performing under pressure.

· Tendency to be able to deal with only one sensory channel at once, e.g. seeing OR hearing, not both.

· Tendency to be overly sensitive to criticism, failure, and humiliation.

· Easily bullied, manipulated, tricked or taken advantage of by others.

· May be highly intelligent, but lacking in "common sense."

· Intelligence tends to be very uneven, with one or two areas of talent, and other areas of marked inability.

· High anxiety levels may be an almost constant feature for some individuals.


As a parent of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, I want to share a few of the things we have to deal with on a daily basis. We have an eight year old son who has ASD. There are daily outbursts from him because his perception of the world and how he functions in it are totally different to the ordinary child. The sensory differences and the lack of ability to perceive the world in the same way as other children cause him to be argumentative and on occasion, violent. His anger is generally directed towards his sister or myself. He perceives that I should know his thoughts and be able to assist him in every aspect of his life because he remembers that I did when he was an infant. We have had to teach him every little thing about the world. Nothing comes automatically, not even knowing we will come home after a family outing, for instance. Then when we have taught him something, we have to teach it again for the school setting or for grandmas house, because he cannot naturally transfer skills he has learned in one setting over to a new setting. He knows rules exist but we still have to remind him that the rules are for everyone including him. The ‘rules’ issue causes bother for him in all aspects of his life because he looks perfectly normal and so he is expected to behave normally. We desperately need this Carers Allowance. We cannot save for holidays like other families. Our medical bills are never-ending. We cannot simply go out to a show or the movies like other families, without saving for it and spending considerable time preparing our Autistic child in order to diminish the element of surprise, which will in turn lessen his anxiety. The community is not yet sufficiently informed about Autism for us to have a family outing without some unkind person making derogatory remarks about our parenting skills or well meaning people remarking that if we gave our child to them for a week, they’d soon ‘knock the behaviour out of him’. Our children do not behave the way they do expressly to inconvenience others around them. In order to minimize their stress autistic children will employ extraordinary tactics (which are almost always socially inappropriate) as a direct response to the pain and confusion they experience in our world. Government is misguided in the judgment that we should be able to cope without the Carers Allowance. We barely cope with what we do get. To take it away would cause immeasurable hardship to families like ours.