“I can’t imagine my legitimacy being brought up in headline in a newspaper” said NDIS Chair Kurt Fearnley on ABC Radio May 4, 2023.
If you can imagine it Kurt then why weigh into the the ongoing damaging discourse around autism and the NDIS.
“The need for a diagnosis of autism early in a child’s life to secure NDIS support may have “unforeseen consequences” as they face the long-term stigma of being labelled disabled, National Disability Insurance Agency chair Kurt Fearnley says.” (The Australian, May 1, 2023)
At least 2 times a week of late there has been commentary on autism and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Much of the damaging discourse is akin to the scare tactics used to deny support to populations like refugees. Autistic people are being portrayed as a horde who will take tax payer money and sink ‘the only boat on the ocean’ for people with disability.
If you are an Autistic person or a family with an Autistic child you know exactly what its like to have your legitimacy brought up in a newspaper headline. Its traumatising, destabilising and dehumanising.
Autistic people are not unfamiliar with this discourse, it has been part of the public sphere for 20 years. The autism discourse has involved ‘the systematic deployment and manipulation of both cultural fears and cultural hopes’ (Broderick, 2021).
Public discourse on autism and the NDIS has unwittingly played into the global narrative of the Autism Industrial Complex (AIC). Both discursively and economically the Autistic people, their families, and the NDIS have been expertly trapped by the AIC and the media is fuelling and profiting from the resultant dumpster fire.
The Autism Industrial Complex positions autism as a ‘epidemic’, and ’emergency’ to create sufficient fear in order to deploy ‘hope’ in the form of treatment and intervention (Broderick, 2021). The horde waiting to take taxpayer money is manufactured by the AIC and tacitly supported by the NDIS.
At risking the the overuse of metaphors ‘if you build it they will come’. They have come, and I am not referring to Autistic people I am referring to organisations who deploy fear and hope to capture the economic profitability in the NDIS. Organisations who facilitate diagnosis, NDIS access and prescribe extensive intervention programs. This is capitalist machinery at its peak. For the AIC ‘the only boat in the ocean’ is a gleaming bucket of cash.
Back to legitimacy and stigma. Without a doubt there is a population of Australians, particularly young Australians, who have developmental support needs. Under the current system the way to have these needs met is to have a ‘diagnosed disability’. However, Kurt Fearnley’s argument for avoiding a diagnosis of autism should not be one of avoiding ‘the long term stigma of being labelled disabled’, as this comment plays into the cultural fears already being deployed.
Autistic people and their families are positioned as an economic product of the industry and their removal from the scheme as an economic solution. No-one is paying attention to the traumatising, destabilising and dehumanising effects of being captive of a public argument relating to the legitimacy of your need for support.
Before you start assuming that this is an argument to stop diagnosing autism, it is not. It is a plea to examine all that is play here, people’s lives and futures, a predatory industry, a poorly managed scheme, underfunded and exclusionary mainstream systems, and a society that does not value broad investment in the lives of children with developmental delays or adults with complex needs.
Autism is a word that does not sufficiently capture the complexity of living with the needs that come with a diagnosis. Autism is also a word that has been weaponised by an industry and by the media in pursuit of capital gain. Autism is cast as both a problem and a solution. What is left silent is the people.
Sources
ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings with Virginia Trioli (May 4, 2023, timestamp 1:04:30) Interview with Kurt Fearnley NDIA Chair. https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/mornings/mornings/102278108
Broderick, A. A., & Roscigno, R. (2021). Autism, Inc.: The Autism Industrial Complex. Journal of Disability Studies in Education, 2(1), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888803-bja10008
The Australian Newspaper (May 1, 2023) NDIS diagnosis of autism may have ‘unforeseen consequences’, Kurt Fearnley warns https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/ndis-diagnosis-of-autism-may-have-unforeseen-consequences-kurt-fearnley-warns/news-story/816a97ad53cc5e2275e86189b7b74577
