Thread: One person's view of the floods & other natural disasters in Australia

Hello All,

I got interested in the identity and employment through my PhD when I interviewed people with Asperger's Syndrome very few of them were working. The National Autistic Society of the United Kingdom suggests that only 15% of people with a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome are employed (accessed 2nd of Feb 2013 from http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with...mployment.aspx).

No IsuzuRover I do not know what methodology and sample size the National Autistic Society used . I am still waiting for the Department of Human Services to respond to my request about the Australian statistics on the employment rate in Australia of people on the Autism spectrum. They have not contacted me back and it has been some months now.

Anyway, there are research documents that suggest that people form a strong sense of their identity from work. Because only 15% of adults with Asperger's have full time employment in the UK it denies the opportunity for people to develop a sense of competence and self worth -also factors in research that have been associated with being employed. Trying to get figures of the rate of ASD in Australia is not easy - for various reasons. However the Center of Disease Control in the USA cites the following information

Data and Statistics, Autism Spectrum Disorders - Centers for ...
www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html Found on: Google, Yahoo! Search

Mar 29, 2012 ... About 1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism spectrum More detail from - http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/20..._disorder.html. So if the Australian rates a similar to the rates in the USA what is the population of Australia and 1 in 88 comes down to ..... subtract from that the people who are under or over the normal working age in Australia and you come up with a figure of ......

It also means that any time you are at an event with 88 people at the venue then one of these people may have some type of an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some of these people may have a poor employment history, be socially awkward and do too much research about how people form a sense of identity; they may also like restoring Series 3 Land Rovers; and they might post too many documents up on AULRO. One of the one in 88 could even be me!!!

The percentage of these people who have Asperger's Syndrome - a condition which will be taken out of the DSM V and you get an indication of how difficult it is to get the exact numbers of people - however the amount is statistically significant.

Having employment also makes people contributors to society in that people who are employed pay taxes - so the economic loss; let alone the social capital loss is very significant.

Kind Regards
Lionel

So far, Ive been lucky, Between cyclone fire and flood Ive been missed every time yet have either been within range of or own property in the are of one of or all of those events. (I suffer more from idiot political fall out than actual damage)

Heres what worries me.

I've helped out where I can, when I can at every event I've had access to and it never ceases to amaze me at how grateful the affected people are
for what little that gets offered them.

My concern...

Whose going to protect the vulnerable from the greedy?

Here's an example

During the latest flood out, I got stuck at chinchilla and the less than scrupulous owner of the bed and breakfast bumped the prices on a lot of things or told people he only had the premium suites left, filled them and then began selling on the smaller cheaper rooms charging the same prices for those rooms as the premium rooms. Put signs out for a sausage sizzle then charged $5 for a softie and a snag in bread with onion. Dinner was now additional and the breakfast wasnt going to be a cooked one any more. I only stayed because I was willing to bare the cost, it was still cheaper than turning and burning the diesel to go the long way around, but what if I'd had no choice?

I seriously think his actions would come under the profiteering act, unless he can prove that those supplies he started charging extra for were actually costing him more to obtain as a result of the flooding. I would be noting his actions in a letter to the office of fair trading and let them sort it. I have heard of similar in Bundaberg of people being charged $11 for a coffee! ( or attempting to b charged ) the matter is with OFair trading now I believe. Aside from the legal side of it I would suggest to him that it would not buy a new premises if he continued in that manner!

Originally Posted by schuy1

I seriously think his actions would come under the profiteering act, unless he can prove that those supplies he started charging extra for were actually costing him more to obtain as a result of the flooding. I would be noting his actions in a letter to the office of fair trading and let them sort it. I have heard of similar in Bundaberg of people being charged $11 for a coffee! ( or attempting to b charged ) the matter is with OFair trading now I believe. Aside from the legal side of it I would suggest to him that it would not buy a new premises if he continued in that manner!

There were also rumours of some stores raising the price of milk and bread in Bundaberg, during the floods.. They might have put it down to the formula of supply and demand.

Kind Regards
Lionel

I think his act is well rehearsed, his booking sheet was always in full view and it was booked solid except for the premium rooms. Always seemed to have a convenient "cancellation" when he needed one. He made a lot of noise about wanting early payments for the next night because he was fully booked with a tour group coming out from brisbane that night (which would be tuesday, the day after australia day) He went very very quiet when he was asked how he expected them to get in and he had better call them and cancel then refund their booking.


In all aspects his dogma got promptly flattened with a large serving of Karma. (and other than pointing out the blindingly obvious I played no part in any of it)

May the same fate befall all those who attempt similar against those in need with no choice.

Originally Posted by Ausfree

To S3ute, the Hunter Valley coalmining and destruction of this beautiful valley is testamount to what you are saying. You have to visit this valley to see the devastation that is going on. When a westerly wind blows the dust can be seen going over our house and we are miles away. Coal dust has even been reported at Tea Gardens on the coast of Port Stephens which is probably (at a guess) 150 k's from the nearest open cut mine.

Hello again from Brisbane and thanks.

I do know what you are describing with some genuine familiarity I regret to say.

While the massive coal developments in the Hunter from about the late 1970s has inevitably brought prosperity to the region and probably personally to a few AULRO members who live and work there, it was a very different thing for my own family.

Family settement of grazing land in and around Singleton and later Muswellbrook commenced around 1870, but had pretty much left with limited trace by the end of the 1990s, largely as a result of the coal and power development.

Expansion of the State coal mines near Hebden in the 1960s took a couple of properties, but these were offset by local land purchases in other parts of the region. Lake St Clair was built to supply water into the mines and associated electrical development and inconveniently for us happens to sit atop my late grandfather's property (St Clair) and the properties of several uncles and cousins. The resulting diaspora to the Peel, Namoi, North Coast and elsewhere, effectively broke a longstanding network of family contacts. The rapid expansion of the mines between Singleton and Muswellbrook knocked another couple of properties out of the system and these could only be offset by shifting much further to the west around Narrabri.

For myself, my parents owned a couple of farms in the hills just to the east of Muswellbrook in the valley just over the hills from Liddell power station and at night you could hear the plant quite clearly. The dust etc was also getting pretty ordinary as was the constant threat of having another transmission line come through the valley and eventually having to put up with a pylon on the flat below the homestead - having seen two lines go up in the adjacent valleys over the years, we were likely to be next. There were no coal reserves under either farm, but one sat over a very rich limestone deposit for which the state issued prospecting licenses in the early 2000s. That was enough and, after my Dad passed away, I could see no future in it and sold out. In doing that, I was one of the last of the family to go.....

Miss the landscape that I knew in the 1960s and 70s, but not necessarily what is there now.

Cheers,

=Lionelgee

Mar 29, 2012 ... About 1 in 88 chil[/I]dren has been identified with an autism spectrum *

It also means that any time you are at an event with 88 people at the venue then one of these people may have some type of an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some of these people may have a poor employment history, be socially awkward and do too much research about how people form a sense of identity; they may also like restoring Series 3 Land Rovers; and they might post too many documents up on AULRO. [B][I]One of the one in 88 could even be me!!!

Kind Regards
Lionel

Lionel,

Hello again from Brisbane.

I note from another thread (news please) your mention that no-one seems to have noticed your post herein on Aspergers.

Not so. I didn't need to put 88 people into a room the find a case - a very close friend's late son Ben had it. So, while this exceptionally nice kid lived among us we got to know it well. His passion, unfortunately, was cricket rather than Land Rovers, but I don't hold that against him.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

So far, Ive been lucky, Between cyclone fire and flood Ive been missed every time yet have either been within range of or own property in the are of one of or all of those events. (I suffer more from idiot political fall out than actual damage)

Heres what worries me.

I've helped out where I can, when I can at every event I've had access to and it never ceases to amaze me at how grateful the affected people are
for what little that gets offered them.

My concern...

Whose going to protect the vulnerable from the greedy?

Here's an example

During the latest flood out, I got stuck at chinchilla and the less than scrupulous owner of the bed and breakfast bumped the prices on a lot of things or told people he only had the premium suites left, filled them and then began selling on the smaller cheaper rooms charging the same prices for those rooms as the premium rooms. Put signs out for a sausage sizzle then charged $5 for a softie and a snag in bread with onion. Dinner was now additional and the breakfast wasnt going to be a cooked one any more. I only stayed because I was willing to bare the cost, it was still cheaper than turning and burning the diesel to go the long way around, but what if I'd had no choice?

Dave rip off merchants like that should be cut with a rat tail file.

John.