Next Steps for Victorian Autism Policy – June 2022
Amaze are excited to share their Opportunity Autism paper with Parliamentarians, which was produced for the first ever Autism@VicParliament event and outlines the next steps for Victorian autism policy.
Victoria led the nation by developing the first comprehensive Autism Plan. However, implementation has been significantly disrupted by the pandemic. With a ‘plan refresh’ scheduled and the new Australian Government soon to start developing a National Autism Strategy, it is time to strengthen and evolve Victoria’s Autism Plan.
Key actions needed include:
• Establishing targets and indicators to measure and track changes in outcomes for Autistic Victorians across key domains – disaggregated for regions, CALD status and gender
• Legislating a requirement for Victoria to have an Autism Plan as part of upcoming amendments to the Disability Act, with periodic reporting and updating
• Including an explicit focus on Autistic people with the highest support needs (Level 3 diagnosis)
• Uplifting the Autism Plan to an Autism Strategy with rolling annual action plans.
