Oct 28, 2020, Daily Mail: Outrage as autistic girl, nine, is HANDCUFFED by police after a meltdown at her school - and it's not the first time cops have used force to restrain her https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8890491/Confronting-moment-autistic-girl-nine-HANDCUFFED-cops-meltdown-school.html A nine-year-old autistic girl was dragged away in handcuffs by two police officers after having a meltdown at school. Makayla, who has autism, Tourette's, ADHD and anxiety, had an outburst at her south west Sydney primary school earlier this week. Confronting footage showed Makayla screaming while two male police officers pull her away in cuffs…. It's not the first time authorities have used force to apprehend Makayla, who has been put into police paddy wagons, sectioned under the Mental Health Act, and restrained in emergency departments. Her mother Megan said health professionals have told her that her daughter is 'one of the kids who has fallen in between the gaps, and she will stay there'. Megan, who has been attacked by her daughter before during her meltdowns, said she doesn't blame police, carers or the school for their response. But she said the system is failing to provide treatment and support for kids with disabilities…. CEO of the Autism Advisory and Support Service Grace Fava said there are thousands of Australian parents who feel a lack of support. 'For every one that comes through to us, there are at least another 100 that are crying out begging for help,' she said. 'The system is letting them down. I'd say the system is broken but as somebody once eloquently put it, there is no system.' 'Nurses in hospitals are not mental health nurses, and they are just as traumitised as we are by this.' Ms Fava said more psychiatrists and safe centres for children with autism are needed. … There were 205,000 Australians with autism in 2018, up from 164,000 in 2015 and just 64,000 in 2009.
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