Nov 5, 2018, Australian: Autism revealed as major NDIS cost https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/autism-revealed-as-major-ndis-cost/news-story/5fb868feefe495b881bb6bbfb397c662 The flagship National Disability Insurance Scheme is on track to cost more than $33 billion by the end of the next decade after executives in charge of the rollout for the first time singled out children with “high-functioning autism, developmental delay and sensory disabilities” as one of the key challenges. In its five years, the Nat¬ional Disability Insurance Agency, which handles the rollout of the scheme, has not gone into detail about specific causes of budget risks, but its 2017-18 annual report confirms there are at least four major factors never modelled by the Productivity Commission. The agency is now predicting total NDIS costs will rise from 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2020 to 1.4 per cent in 2030, hitting an even more expensive peak 15 years earlier than first forecast. … “The number of children in the scheme is higher than expected, particularly for children with high-functioning autism, developmental delay and sensory disabilities.”…
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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