SWAYS - Support Worker At Your Service

29/01/2026

ABOUT US WITHOUT US: A coalition of lived experience–focused Western Australian disability organisations has started a new push to pressure the Australian Government to open up exclusive National Autism Strategy implementation funding to local organisations.

The disabled people’s and disability representative organisations include People with Disabilities WA in partnership with groups including the PDA Perth WA Parents Community and Support Page group, Carers WA, Developmental Disability WA, Kiind and SWAN - South West Autism Network.

The coalition has written to the nation’s disability and NDIS ministers Mark Butler MP and Jenny McAllister in protest and is pushing back on the exclusivity and largely eastern-states-only nature of the invite-only NAS funding applicants list which largely leaves out WA organisations, and disabled people’s and disability-led-or-focused organisations.

The organisations have asked for a please explain on the process and decision-making rationale for the exclusivity of the funding and advice on when further funding will become available and if there will be a process enabling the organisations and local groups to apply.

Funding for Western Australia and all the states and territories has been absent for the last year. But the new “targeted and restrictive” funding unveiled in the past fortnight is being widely panned for its lack of inclusiveness, especially for the social inclusion grants on offer.

Disability advocate and People with Disabilities WA CEO Kat Johns said the new funding to implement the National Autism Strategy 2025–31 needed to be inclusive of Western Australia and valuing of disability-led organisations.

“Funding for grants around the National Autism Strategy must be fully inclusive and include disability-led representative organisations,” Johns said.

“It is inadequate to only make the information around the grants accessible. To be truly accessible the recipients of grant-funding must also be disability-led and lived experience–focused organisations that represent the autism and disability community.

“True co-design of reforms around people with disability is ongoing, and involves a deep commitment to the philosophy of Nothing About Us Without Us. It only through inclusion and a deep commitment to equity that the autism and disability community will achieve full participation in society.”

The only WA-headquartered organisation eligible to apply for funding is Curtin University’s Curtin Autism Research Group based at the national university’s Bentley Campus. Also on the list with some WA representation is Reframing Autism.

The other organisations on the preapproved list are east coast based and include organisations viewed by some as non-disability-friendly and non–disability led.

— People with Disabilities WA

People with Disabilities is a membership organisation that represents all people with disability in WA. Approximately half of PWdWA’s membership is neurodivergent, representing a large number of Western Australian citizens and residents with autism, AuDHD and other related conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, sensory processing disorder, epilepsy, and anxiety, gastrointestinal, immune, mental health and metabolic disorders.

17/01/2026

Thank you to the eloquent Square Peg Round Whole Public PAGE for bringing this issue to the attention of politicians. We need to do better and support autistic voices.

An open letter regarding the latest National Autism Strategy Grant Round;

Dear Ministers and Decision Makers

Please consider this a formal complaint/ concern regarding government administrative and financial processes as well as a letter of concern relating to National Autism Strategy delivery.

On behalf of Square Peg Round Whole and our community of Autistic people, families, allies, and supporters, we write to express grave concern regarding the current National Autism Strategy (NAS) grant rounds and to call for immediate corrective action.
These grant rounds have been released through invitation-only processes that explicitly name invited organisations, with application deadlines now imminent. If left uncorrected, funding decisions will be finalised under a process that is in direct contradiction of the National Autism Strategy itself, Australia’s disability policy framework, and the Commonwealth’s own grants obligations.

The National Autism Strategy already identifies this exact issue. The National Autism Strategy First Action Plan (2025-26) explicitly commits the Commonwealth to reforming grant processes to address precisely the problem now occurring.

Under Commitment 3, Action 2, the Government commits to:

“Evaluate government grants management to ensure how information and processes relating to grant opportunities can be communicated and designed in ways that are accessible to Autistic people.”

This Action further specifies that the evaluation will inform the development of grant processes that include:

“Provide transparency of grant round purposes and processes.”

“Support to apply for grants.”

These are not aspirational statements. They are concrete commitments that the Government has already agreed to implement.

The current NAS grant rounds do the opposite.

Closed, invitation-only processes that exclude autistic-led and grassroots organisations from even applying cannot be described as accessible, transparent, or supportive. They represent a clear failure to implement an action already committed to in the First Action Plan.

Review of the published GrantConnect documents for shows a consistent and troubling pattern.

Across all three grant rounds, the majority of invited organisations are not autistic-led. Instead, invitees are predominantly:

• large autism and disability service providers,

• research institutions and sector bodies,

• professional-controlled advocacy organisations, and

• in one case, a commercial awareness brand.

Only a very small number of invited organisations are governed and led by autistic people.

This outcome is not incidental. It is the predictable result of an invitation-only process that privileges institutional familiarity over lived-experience leadership.

This breaches disability rights obligations

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and General Comment No.7, governments are required to distinguish between:

- organisations of persons with disabilities (led and governed by disabled people), and

- organisations for persons with disabilities (including service providers, charities, research bodies and commercial entities).

The UN Committee has repeatedly warned that organisations for people with disability must not substitute for organisations of people with disability in representation, consultation, or decision-making, due to conflicts of interest and the dilution of lived-experience leadership.

By designing NAS grants that overwhelmingly privilege organisations for autistic people over organisations of autistic people, the current process is incompatible with these obligations.

This also breaches domestic policy and grants rules.

The current approach conflicts with:

the National Autism Strategy’s guiding principle of “Nothing about us, without us”;
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021 - 2031, which requires removal of systemic barriers and improved economic participation; and
the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles, which require grants to be administered in a manner that is transparent, equitable, ethical, and not unfairly advantageous to particular applicants. Invitation-only grants are intended to be exceptional, not the default mechanism for delivering a national policy framework.
Urgent action is required - now

Given the imminent closing dates, this matter cannot be deferred to future rounds, evaluations, or post-hoc reviews.

We therefore call on the responsible decision-makers to:

1. Immediately pause or amend the current NAS grant rounds to prevent funding decisions being finalised under a flawed process;

2. Rectify these specific grants by reopening them to open, competitive access or issuing amended rounds that genuinely prioritise autistic-led organisations and those at a community level;

3. Investigate how invited organisations were selected, including the criteria applied and how conflicts of interest were assessed; and

4. Implement preventative measures to ensure all future NAS grants comply with the National Autism Strategy, its First Action Plan (including Commitment 3, Action 2), Australia’s Disability Strategy, the CRPD, and the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles.

This is not a technical or administrative issue. Grant funding determines who is resourced, who employs staff, who builds organisational capacity, and who holds influence in shaping policy and practice.

A National Autism Strategy that systematically excludes autistic-led and community representative organisations from funding and leadership is not being implemented in good faith. The Government’s own Action Plan has already identified this issue. The responsibility now is to act on it.

Failure to intervene immediately will cause lasting damage to trust in the National Autism Strategy and undermine the Government’s stated commitments to co-design, transparency and human rights.

I look forward to your prompt response and confirmation of action taken to rectify this egregious situation.

Square Peg Round Whole will be supporting our community in their respectful direct advocacy on this matter, which has understandably caused much distress and concern, and will be publicly sharing this and any responding communications in hopes that open communication will assist in creating community understanding and confidence that this important issue is being urgently addressed.

Yours Sincerely,

Symone Wheatley-Hey (autistic National Coordinator)

Square Peg Round Whole”

09/01/2026

Let me be more like Patrice ❤️

08/01/2026

A feel good clip 😊

05/01/2026

Celebrating 🥳
First year of SWAYS
So many people to
thank ❤️❤️❤️

01/01/2026

Fringe World Festival Perth is on it’s way! A great opportunity to see a variety of performances. Remember to use your Companion Card WA as well ❤️❤️❤️

21/12/2025

If you’re too busy to be kind, you’re too busy 🤗🥰

16/12/2025

Jump onboard if you have a companion card in WA. Follow Companion Card WA as they continue this promotion this weekend 😃

Dive into wonder at AQWA The Aquarium of Western Australia

We’re thrilled to have AQWA as one of our Perth’s Big Five Companion Card Affiliates! Explore the incredible underwater world that stretches from the icy southern ocean to the tropical coral reefs of the north — all without leaving Perth.

🎁 Prize:
5 complimentary Concession Entry tickets to experience WA’s amazing marine life up close!

🐙 Fun fact: AQWA is home to Australia’s largest single aquarium and one of the world’s longest underwater tunnels — 98 metres of pure ocean wonder! You can even come face-to-fin with sharks, stingrays, and turtles gliding above you. 🦈✨

How to enter:

✅ Like this post
✅ Follow Companion Card WA and AQWA The Aquarium of Western Australia
✅ Comment below: What’s your favourite sea creature or tag a friend 🌊
✅ Must be a Companion Card Holder (if you are a carer on behalf of Companion Card Holder, winner will need to provide proof)

Entries close 19 December 2025 at 5pm. Winners announced on the Companion Card WA page! 🏆

Come back tomorrow for the NEXT competition



(Image description: A close-up of a clownfish swimming through bright sea anemone tentacles. Text reads “Perth’s Big Five” with a number 2 badge and the Companion Card logo)

15/12/2025

Anything that reduces paperwork for these deserving members of the community is a WIN in my eyes. Now maybe the Feds might like to look at the NDIS?!?

Great news for ACROD parking permit holders – from today, you’ll only have to renew your permit every five years instead of every two!

The Cook Labor Government is committed to ensuring people with disability can participate in our community – and that includes cutting red tape to make getting around just that little bit easier.

Current expiry dates for existing permits will still apply, but all new permanent permits and those renewed from today onwards will be for five years.

I’m proud to be able to make this announcement on International Day of People with Disability, the day on which we acknowledge and celebrate the unique, important and productive contributions that people with disability make to our community.