Here is another case of the Australian Immigration Department rejecting a family because they have an autistic child. In this case, the boy, who is 12 years old and autistic, featured today in a Federal Government calendar celebrating the International Day of People with Disabilities.

Despite being, literally, a poster boy for one arm of government, the child has received a colder embrace from another arm of the government – the Department of Immigration. It's turned down an application from him and his parents for permanent residency, on the grounds that he has a disability.

Making things tougher still for the family, the parents have been forced to give up any paid employment in this country, while they await an appeal which could still take months.

Immigration turns away the family of disabled boy