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Though unrelated to Edward Said, I feel a connection to the Palestinian cause

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  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia I am from a mixed ethnic background - Greek, English and Maltese. My parents were both born in Egypt and I am an Australian Citizen. I embrace all of these countries as having contributed to my identity. I have no single ethnic identity but my ancestry is mainly Greek.  My surname, Said, is of Middle Eastern origin but was introduced into Malta generations ago and I inherited my surname from a distant Maltese ancestor. We also inherited the Catholic faith and British Citizenship down the male line of the family. British citizenship caused our family to be expelled from Egypt during the Second Arab-Israeli War. My parents fled to England which is where I was born. The Second Arab-Israeli War of 1956 was fought over ownership of the Suez Canal. In this war, England, France and Israel joined forces to attack Egypt for nationalising the Suez Canal. The war was unjustified because the United Nations ultimately declared the Sue...
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Does “Support at Home” meet the needs of Autistic elders?

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By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia In November 2025, the Australian government introduced a new system of providing care for elders who live in their own homes. Over the past month and a half, I have been comparing the “Support at Home” granted to my mother, who has just received aged care funding, with the services previously granted to my late father, who was funded under the old system of aged care packages.   As an older Autistic advocate, I have also been pondering how well these new services will meet the needs of Australian Autistic elders living in their own homes. I have attended online Autistic discussions and forums about the needs of elder neurokin, and even been an elder guest speaker. However, neither our speeches nor discussions addressed the specifics of government services provided to elder Autistics living in their own homes in Australia.    Elders to have more rights, less services and increased costs A few months ago, shortly before ...
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White Autistics, please discuss your sensory aversions to our foods respectfully

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  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia I come from a multicultural family and I love all kinds of foods, but this is not the case for all Autistics. Some Autistics have strong sensitivities to the texture, taste or smell of certain foods and cannot eat them. They often self advocate for accommodations for their sensory sensitivities, or make special arrangments, to access food they can tolerate, when they go out to restaurants or travel overseas. As much as we need to respect the Autistic minority's sensory needs, Autistics with food sensitivities need to respect the sensitivities of migrants and second generation Australians from non-Anglo backgrounds, by not pulling faces or making expressions of disgust about our multicultural Melbourne restaurant food or the foods on sale in our countries of origin.  I once attended an Autistics only event, held in a pub because this food was deemed safer for those with food sensitivities, and a small number of indivduals ...
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Should Autistic children be removed from the NDIS?

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By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia The federal government is proposing to stop Autistic children, with low or moderate support needs, from obtaining NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) services. A new system called "Thriving Kids" will commence, from July 2026. According to the Thriving Kids Fact Sheet, " The program will be delivered by scaling and building on existing mainstream and community services that can better support families and children in settings they already are connected to. This includes child and maternal health, GPs, playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools, as well as digital and phone-based supports." https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/thriving-kids-fact-sheet  I welcome the introduction of the Thriving Kids Initiative, on the proviso that no child with seemingly “mild” or “moderate” Autism be prevented from accessing NDIS funding for services which are critical to their health and devel...
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Single Mums lose thousands through superannuation co-contribution rules

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  By Helen Said, semi-retired single mum   Single mums need superannuation to look after ourselves later in life. We are less likely to own our own homes, and more likely to become homeless if we don’t have retirement savings to fall back on. Unfortunately, some Australian Tax Office superannuation rules are stacked against single mothers. The government offers low-income earners up to $500 per year, as a superannuation co-contribution, until we are 71 years old. If single mums were given this money, we could retire with a nest egg of tens of thousands of dollars or more. But most single mums will never get this money, at least not while we are bringing up children. To get $500 a year from the government, paid into your superannuation account, you need to lock away $1000 every year. When you are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table for your children, how can you lock away $1000 each year for your old age? How it works : if you earn less than $47,488 thi...
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Neuroableism

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  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia Some people who come across this blog might wonder,  do we really need another "ism"?  "Isms" are needed to help us think critically about our attitudes and the world we take for granted. When we notice a pattern of bad attitudes and structural problems that cause disadvantage to a group of people, we need to discuss it, name it and address it. The term "racism" was coined in 1902 by Richard Henry Pratt, a brigadier-general in the US Army who opposed racial segregation. It was to be many decades before the word "racism" was commonly used and understood. As I was growing up, after Martin Luther made his historic "I have a dream" speech, the words "racial prejudice" started being used. In those days, many colonised countries, such as the US, Australia and South Africa, legally segregated Black people. As there were no anti-discrimination laws, racial prejudices were openly ...
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Deporting White Supremacists could backfire

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By Helen Said, a proud migrant living in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia)  Pictured above is the anti-refugee boat trophy that conservative former Prime Minister Scott Morrison kept on his desk, which had a sign reading "We stopped these". The sign has been corrected to say "We arrived on these", to remind Australians that 97% of us are of immigrant origin. Last weekend, a misnamed "March for Australia" was organised in a number of cities in Australia. The marches scapegoated immigration for domestic problems such as the current housing shortage. People who marched had varying motivations. These marches were led and addressed by aggressively racist politicians and violent Nazis, however many who marched were not violent racists.  Australia's mainstream political parties condemned the marches as racist, however many people have been manipulated into believing that migration levels are responsible for the current housing crisis and they were unaware of the v...
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