Feedback on the Draft National Autism Strategy

Complete the survey

The Department of Social Services wants your feedback on the Draft National Autism Strategy. You can provide your feedback by answering this survey, or you can email a document, video or audio file to AutismPolicy@dss.gov.au.

When completing these questions, you should refer to the Draft National Autism Strategy.

Some resources have been prepared to use as a reference for when you are providing your feedback.

Background

The Australian Government Department of Social Services is working with the Autistic and autism community to create a National Autism Strategy that will support Autistic people across Australia to live the lives they want and deserve.

The Australian Government, alongside the National Autism Strategy Oversight Council, has developed a Draft National Autism Strategy. The Oversight Council is made up of 10 Autistic members and also includes six (6) government representatives from across social services, education, health, NDIA, Prime Minister and Cabinet and employment.

The Draft Strategy has been developed from evidence and what we heard from thousands of Autistic people, their families and carers, and other stakeholders. During September to November 2023, we asked people to share their ideas about what the Strategy should do and include. You can read about the consultation process and what people said in the Consultation Reports.

About the survey

The Australian Government now wants to know what you think of the draft Strategy: whether you think it covers everything it needs to and if it will be effective in improving life outcomes for Autistic Australians.

This survey is for anyone who wants to give feedback, including:

• Autistic people and their families
• People who work with or care for Autistic people
• Other people with an interest in the Strategy.

If you don’t have this document, you can still respond to the survey as we provide information from the Draft Strategy with each question.

The survey will take approximately 15 to 30 minutes to complete, depending on the length of your written responses.

The survey will be open until 3pm AEST, Friday 31st May 2024.

Who is conducting the survey?

This survey is being conducted by the Department of Social Services.

The Department of Social Service’s Privacy Policy.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary.

 What is in the survey?

This survey contains 4 main sections covering:

1. Strategy Overview: Provide your feedback about the Vision, Goal and Guiding Principles
2. Commitments: Provide your feedback about the different Commitments. These are grouped under 3 main themes: 1) Social Inclusion, 2) Economic Inclusion, 3) Diagnosis, Supports and Services. We’ll also ask for your feedback on the commitments relating to governance, research, evidence and evaluation and reporting.
3. Strategy Gaps: Tell us if you think the Strategy is missing things.
4. About you: We’ll ask some questions about you such as your age, gender, where you live. This won’t include your name and all of this information will be kept private. It helps us to know that we are hearing from people with different experiences and from different parts of Australia.

The survey includes some questions that ask you to rate items on a scale and other questions that ask you to write about your views and suggestions.

If you do not want to answer a question, you can select the ‘Prefer not to say’ response option or skip the question.

How will responses be used?

Answers to this survey will be brought together with other community feedback on the Draft National Autism Strategy to write a report about what, if any, updates people want to the final Strategy. No personal or identifying information, such as your name, will be shared in this report.

Support to help you complete the survey

If you need help to complete this survey, please email the Autism Policy team at AutismPolicy@dss.gov.au.

You can also use these details to ask for a hard copy of this survey.

If any of the questions or content in this survey causes you distress, you can end the survey at any time.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or feeling distressed and needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636, or 13 YARN on 13 92 76.

You can also contact Autism Connect (a free, national helpline providing independent and expert Autism information that you can trust over phone, email and webchat) on 1300 308 699 or by visiting the Autism Connect website.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.