Grassroots Voices
AUSTRALIA
STOPPING SENSELESS
DEATHS OF THOSE WITH
AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDER
Ben Cooper
It’s a stunning statistic—accidental drowning
accounts for 90% of deaths of children with
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as per a
2014 report by the University of Sciences in
Philadelphia. This translates to children with
ASD being 160 times more likely to drown than
their neuro-typical peers.
It was late at night when ASD
Clinician Erika Gleeson’s life
changed. She had been working
on a government contract in the
Australian capital city of Canberra
with colleague Dr. Geoff Potter,
and in the midst of their research
they stumbled across the drowning
statistics.
“It troubled me that I didn’t know
the statistics, particularly as I’ve
been an ASD Clinician for over
a decade and not once in my
studies, research, writing of journal
articles, assessments or designing
of programs had those statistics
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Change Magazine January 2018 www.changemag-diinsider.com
The report, which covers deaths of children aged
14 and younger between 2009 and 2011, led a
young Australian woman to start an innovative
international company fighting to change a
disturbing reality.
presented themselves,” Ms
Gleeson says.
After initially thinking the statistics
were incorrect—the result of a
typing error—she stayed up all
night collating every piece of
associated information. Alarmingly,
the article was right. And
unfortunately, whilst statistics are
unavailable for her native Australia,
it’s thought the percentages would
be comparable. “It stood out to me
immediately how underreported
the statistics were, “ Ms Gleeson
says, noting she’s yet to meet a
single person who knows about
the statistics before being told.
More disturbing, however, was
the extensive information on
drowning statistics and horrific
stories which contrasted against an
absence of strategies addressing
the problems. “There was no way I
could turn a blind eye to something
that I considered so very
preventable, and something that I
knew I was in a prime position to
facilitate change on.”
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