“We want this plan to continue to close the gap between the needs of an evolving autistic community and the design and delivery of government and community services.”
- Autism Plan Advisory Group member
3.1 Safety in emergencies
Action areas
Key actions are connecting emergency services to expert advice of people with disability and increasing the use of accessible communications. We are continuing to improve accessible communications during emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. These are the actions we will undertake:
3.1.1 Work with people with disability, including autistic advocates, to develop inclusive processes in emergency management planning within the emergency management sector.
3.1.2 Build the capacity of emergency management agencies to understand and respond to the needs of people with disability before, during and after emergencies. This includes the diversity of people’s communication needs and engagement approaches.
3.2 Disability advocacy
The Victorian Disability Advocacy Program draws on base funding of more than $3.3 million a year, plus demand funding provided through the 2023–24 State Budget. It delivers services through 23 funded agencies that support the rights of people with disability and their families.
Action areas
We will increase value of the Victorian Disability Advocacy Program to autistic people. These are the actions we will undertake:
3.2.1 Draw on insights from new outcomes and output reporting approaches.
3.2.2 Work with relevant service providers to understand demand, key and emerging issues for autistic people and strategies to ensure safeguarding and fairness for autistic people.
3.2.3 Consult with the Autism Plan Advisory Group in relation to future reform directions to be progressed by Commonwealth and Victorian Governments in response to the findings of the Disability Royal Commission and recommendations from the NDIS Review.
3.3 Justice
Action areas
We will increase access to support services for autistic people in contact with the justice system. These are the actions we will undertake:
3.3.1 Continue to support the Children’s Court Clinic to undertake comprehensive assessments that may identify autistic children and their parents. This may lead to referral to appropriate support services by child protection or youth justice.
3.3.2 Reconvene the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal disability reference group to help develop reforms to service delivery.
3.3.3 Ensure that people with signs of autism in the justice system, including Community Correctional Services and young people in youth justice, are appropriately identified so that opportunities offered by the NDIS are maximised, ensuring access to and continuity of services and supports both in prison and community.
3.3.4 Continue to drive improved coordination and service integration with the NDIS to increase NDIS uptake and ensure continuity of services and supports for offenders in corrections and young people in youth justice.
3.3.5 Continue to ensure that:
- initial assessment and planning workers in prison will continue to provide appropriate housing information and advice for vulnerable people, including those with autism, transitioning from prison to release in the community
- people in prison with autism have their housing needs assessed as part of a reintegration assessment that drives transition planning and supports. In particular, service users accommodated in prison continue to be informed about housing and homelessness services, including through post-release supports.
3.3.6 Continue to develop workforce capabilities through the delivery of formal and informal training on understanding disability, including supporting autistic people, to justice staff and other stakeholders.
3.3.7 Pilot the RISE recruitment program to provide work for autistic people.
3.3.8 Partner with the NDIA to develop:
- an information-sharing schedule in relation to sharing data on NDIS participants, including autistic people, who are involved with the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety
- a Victorian NDIS justice handbook to guide NDIA staff and staff of the Victorian justice system to work together to support people with disability, including autistic people, who are involved in the Victorian justice system.
3.3.9 Continue to deliver the Prison Disability Support Initiative (PDSI), including workforce disability training, dissemination of dedicated written information and support from specialist clinicians for autistic people across all prisons.
3.3.10 Seek opportunities to co-design policy and programs with autistic people.
3.3.11 Senior/Specialist Disability Advisers deliver Youth Justice face-to-face training. This includes induction programs for new staff that contains training related to disability and use of effective strategies to support children and young people with disability in the justice system, including autistic people.
3.4 Personal safety
Action areas
We will increase police workforce capability to better serve autistic Victorians and increase their personal safety. These are the actions we will undertake:
3.4.1 Establish a network of police employees with knowledge and understanding of disability to champion good practice and services that respond to the needs of people with disability, including autistic people.
3.4.2 Work with people with lived experience and autism organisations to co-design initiatives under the Victoria Police disability action plan. This includes promoting access to training resources and developing factsheets to support autistic people in their interactions with police and building the capability of frontline police.
3.5 Family and sexual violence reforms
Action areas
We will continue to implement the family and sexual violence reforms to strengthen access, inclusion and responsiveness of the family violence and sexual assault sectors. This will ensure all autistic adults, young people and children have equal access to services by breaking down systemic barriers in line with the Everybody Matters: Inclusion and equity statement. These are the actions we will undertake:
3.5.1 Continue to address access to, and remove barriers that people with disability, including autism, face when seeking safety and support through the implementation of the Disability Family Violence Crisis Initiative; the Disability Practice Lead project; and the case management program requirements for specialist family violence services which support victim survivors.
3.5.2 Continue to build professionals’ understanding of different risk factors for people with disability including autistic people experiencing or at risk of family violence as part of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework.
3.5.3 Support best practice where autistic young people are identified within the system as using violence against family members. Victoria is committed to ensuring holistic, therapeutic-focused support is provided, that accommodates autistic people’s needs while addressing risk and harm.
Highlight
The Disability Family Violence Crisis Response Initiative (DFVCRI) provided immediate practical assistance to more than 302 victim survivors with disability who experienced a family violence crisis in 2022–23.
Victim survivors accessed more than $150,000 of disability-related supports to remain safe or escape family violence. This included funding for personal support workers and carers, disability aids, assistive technologies and accessible transport options.
Additional funding helped to administer brokerage funds and contributed to building the sector’s capacity. It also raised awareness through information sessions and presentations on disability and disability-based family violence to various organisations who have contact with or support victim survivors living with disability.
This initiative also supported family violence practitioners and other mainstream professionals to provide more tailored and effective support to victim survivors with disability. It did this through a secondary consultation service. This service provides advice on safety planning, disability specific needs and referrals to other specialist disability support services.
For example, DFVCRI provided the state-wide family violence service provider, Safe Steps, with specialist and flexible support.
Safe Steps assisted a 32-year-old client and her two young children who had fled the family home due to ongoing family violence. The client’s 6-year-old son, who is autistic, received daily living supports through the NDIS and attended a specialist school.
Safe Steps supported the client with accommodation and assisted her to set up new disability supports for her son. When she first entered Safe Steps accommodation, all existing supports ended because it was unsafe for her children to attend school and childcare. All communication with existing support workers also ceased in order to stop information being shared with the person using violence, who was listed as the child representative on the child’s NDIS plan.
Safe Steps sought a full review of the NDIS plan to remove the person using violence from being the child representative. This would prevent them from receiving information regarding the whereabouts of the family. During the interim period, while new supports were established, Safe Steps brokered support workers and purchased sensory items to support the child. This included the replacement of an iPad with support aids that was smashed when they fled the family home. Safe Steps also supported the client to make arrangements for her autistic son to attend a specialist school in the new year.
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