Post-school social inclusion 107were enacted as the national policy to promote social inclusion. The Disability Care
and Support report (Commonwealth Productivity Commission, 2011) provided the
extensive economical and rights based rationale for creating the National Disability
Insurance Scheme (NDIS) (NDIS, 2015).
Social inclusion: Community participation and
interpersonal relationships
The key indicators of social inclusion for adults with ASD will be described within
the context of the Disability Standards under the DDA (1992), the CRPD (UN,
2006), and the NDIS (2015). Two sets of Standards enacted under the DDA, the
Accessible Transport Standards (Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department,
2002) and the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth Attorney-
General’s Department, 2005) represent two drivers of social inclusion for adults
with ASD. Together these Standards provide opportunities for community par-
ticipation and to enhance outcomes related to valued social roles and increased
social networks. Recent reviews of both Standards reveal that considerable more
progress is necessary (Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure and Regional
Development, 2015; Commonwealth Department of Education and Training,
2015). The more recently adopted CRPD and NDIS will provide the context to
examine social inclusion issues related to employment and accommodation.
Transportation access. Opportunities for social inclusion often are predicated on the
ability to get to and from the locations in the community to access services, participate
in leisure activities, and to seek and maintain employment (Lubin and Deka, 2012).
For individuals with ASD, community mobility skills have been found to be a strong
predictor of competitive employment in the community (Simonsen and Neubert,
2012). Adults with ASD are less likely than people without disabilities to drive a car
and are reported to have greater challenges learning to drive than adults without ASD
(Daly, Nicholls, Patrick, Brinckman and Schultheis, 2014). Therefore, people with
ASD may choose to use public transportation or may rely on it to provide opportuni-
ties to engage in employment and to participate in the community.
The Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 are intended to
provide legal guidance to meet the requirements of the DDA (1992) for public
transportation operators (Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, 2002).
These Standards have been reviewed twice since their implementation, with the
findings of the 2012 review released in 2015 highlighting barriers that remain
(Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, 2015).
Barriers to public transportation for adults with ASD include the availability of ser-
vices, especially in less urban areas (Currie, 2009), issues related to communication
access, and perceptions of lack of safety (Lubin and Deka, 2012). Other potential
transportation barriers include lack of accommodation for support workers or assis-
tive animals travelling with adults with ASD and environmental barriers related to
aversive stimuli, such noise levels, crowding, or lighting. Aligning with the CPRD
general obligations (UN, 2006, Article 4f), universal design considerations could