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Here is the latest official news on the Austism Spectrum Disorder Guideline from the Ministry of Health. Some of the formatting and visual information has been lost in translation but you can see the original pdf at  New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Guideline Updates
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/8594/$File/asd-newsletter-dec08.pdf
Two new tenders have also just been released as part of the implementation process. […]

[This is an abridged version of a paper I gave as part of a symposium on the NZ ASD Guideline at the Australasian ASSID conference in Melbourne on 26 November 2008. I would be interested in any feedback.] 
Introduction
The New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline is a whole of spectrum, whole of life, whole of government approach […]

I am writing this story as a cautionary tale of what can happen.
I am a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, aged 41 and living in Christchurch NZ. My whole life story would take too long to tell, and is all very sad. I am on the Invalid Benefit, having other health issues as well, […]

The Herald on Sunday has a story about the death of Finn Higgins, noting that “an independent review of his situation shows that the mental health crisis team failed Higgins at every turn.”
Che Tibby is justifiably angry in response, and there are some useful comments under his blog post, including one from Finn’s mother, Diane […]

People may be wondering what has been happening with the implementation of the NZ ASD Guideline since a consortium led by the New Zealand Guidelines Group working in partnership with the Ministries of Health and Education began working on it earlier this year. An Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) was set up, has now met three times, and has started prioritising the […]

Finn Higgins was known to users of the Public Address System discussion forums as a keen-minded, literate, witty and sensitive debater, and an asset to the community. What we could not know was the extent to which he was struggling with depression and anxiety in his personal life. These problems were related to an undiagnosed […]

DISABILITY BILL PASSED
The first week of September was a busy week for Disability Issues. Tuesday night 2 September saw a significant step towards an inclusive New Zealand, with the passing of the Disability Bill that clears the way for New Zealand’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This work has been led by Minister for Disability Issues […]

When we were young my sisters and I spent many happy hours playing with a Hornby clockwork trainset which my father had collected in the 1920s. It had a gauge of about two inches, three shiny locomotives, and enough tracks and rolling stock to populate three bedrooms and a hallway. So I wasn’t surprised when my […]

For those who don’t know me, I’m Matt Frost. I work as Policy and Information Researcher at CCS Disability Action National Office in Wellington. I am also proud to say I am an Aspie!
Last month, I was privileged to be able to attend ceremonies at the United Nations in New York. This is somewhere I […]

The NZ Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline was launched at Parliament on World Autism Awareness Day, 2 April 2008. It is a world first in that it is a whole of life, whole of spectrum and whole of government approach to autism. It will be a living guideline so can be updated regularly and have gaps […]