AVMED guidelines for assessing ASD
Dear Civil Aviation Safety Authority,
This is an application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 for the following document(s):
- The guidelines and/or assessment protocol used by AVMED, or provided by AVMED to DAMEs, to assess a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) against the Class 1 and 2 medical standards.
Please limit the scope of my request to active documents, not those superseded or in draft.
I am not seeking the details of any individual’s medical assessment.
Yours faithfully,
AB
OFFICIAL
CASA Ref: F25/13398
Dear AB,
I refer to your email of 29 April 2025 (below), whereby you requested access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act):
- The guidelines and/or assessment protocol used by AVMED, or provided by AVMED to DAMEs, to assess a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) against the Class 1 and 2 medical standards.
Please limit the scope of my request to active documents, not those superseded or in draft.
I acknowledge receipt of your request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
We received your request on 29 April 2025 and the 30-day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You should therefore expect a decision from us by 29 May 2025. The period of 30 days may be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Given that your request is for your personal information no processing charge will apply.
CASA's practice is to contact you using the email address and phone number you provided. Please advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
Please be advised that your request was sent to our junk email, and was only located today. I sincerely apologise for the delay in providing you an acknowledgement email outside of the timeframe. Please consider this email as an acknowledgement of your request. CASA will action your above request as a matter of priority, and will ensure to provide you a response by the decision due date.
If you have any questions or need to contact us, please email us at [CASA request email] and quote your internal CASA Reference number (F25/13398).
Kind regards,
Amy George
Freedom of Information Officer
Advisory Section
Legal Services Branch
CASA - Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs
13 17 57
GPO Box 2005 CANBERRA ACT 2601
http://www.casa.gov.au/
CASA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, water and community.
We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders past, present and emerging.
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
CASA Ref: F25/13398
Dear AB,
I refer to your email dated 29 April 2025, whereby you requested access to
the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act:
The guidelines and/or assessment protocol used by AVMED, or provided by
AVMED to DAMEs, to assess a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
against the Class 1 and 2 medical standards.
Please limit the scope of my request to active documents, not those
superseded or in draft.
Please note that as the document that relates to your scope is available
on the CASA website, I have decided to process your request outside of the
FOI Act, as an administrative release, as the documents you have requested
can be found on our external website.
Please follow the provided link for information for Class 1/2/3:
[1]Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) | Civil Aviation Safety
Authority
Please find the information regarding Class 5 on page 104 here: [2]Medical
Assessment for Aviation
Kind Regards,
Sara McMullen (Ms, they/she)
Freedom of Information Support Officer
Advisory Section, Legal Services Branch
Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs Division
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
13 17 57
GPO Box 2005 CANBERRA ACT 2601
[3]www.casa.gov.au
CASA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, water and community.
We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders past,
present and emerging.
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3. http://www.casa.gov.au/
Good afternoon Sara,
Thank you very much for your response to my request of 29 April.
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's handling of my FOI request 'AVMED guidelines for assessing ASD'.
In my FOI request, I specified documents relating to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to the class 1 and 2 medical standards.
In response, CASA provided:
- a document regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is not the same as ASD. I did not request a document regarding ADHD.
- another document regarding the class 5 medical standards, which have different criteria and application than classes 1 and 2. I did not request a document regarding the class 5 medical standards.
The provided documents are therefore not within the scope of my request, and I kindly ask that CASA provides documents which address ASD and the class 1 and 2 medical standards, as per my request of 29 April.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/a...
Thank you for your consideration,
AB
OFFICIAL
Hi AB,
I want to apologise for the confusion with the information provided.
I discussed the documents provided to you with the relevant business
area.
Unfortunately, all documents and guidelines pertaining to Autism are
within the ADHD guidelines.
These are currently under review and once finalised may have further
guidelines specific to a medical condition such as, Autism.
I hope this provides some further explanation regarding the documents
provided to you.
I invite you to withdraw your request for Internal Review.
Kind Regards,
Sara McMullen (Ms, they/she)
Freedom of Information Support Officer
Advisory Section, Legal Services Branch
Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs Division
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
13 17 57
GPO Box 2005 CANBERRA ACT 2601
[1]www.casa.gov.au
CASA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, water and community.
We pay our respects to them and their cultures and to their elders past,
present and emerging.
Hi Sara,
Thanks so much for getting back to me so promptly and for your clarification.
Prior to lodging my FOI request I did consult the Clinical Practice Guidelines, which as you mention cover ADHD but there was no statement that the same guidelines covered ASD. Hence I made my request under FOI for any documents that specifically addressed ASD as there wasn't any other information related to class 1/2 medicals that mentioned ASD on the CASA website, nor is that condition explicitly addressed in CASR Part 67.
By way of suggestion to pass on to the relevant business area if you would be so kind, I think it would be useful if it was clearer in the Clinical Practice Guidelines that CASA currently apply the same guidelines for assessment of ASD as they do for ADHD, notwithstanding the validity or otherwise of doing that given they are distinct conditions. I am pleased to hear those guidelines are being reviewed though, and if in future there was guidance specifically for ASD in the Clinical Practice Guidelines that would be valuable. I note past media attention regarding CASA's handling of ASD diagnoses and feel that having clearer and more relevant information available will build trust in the medical certification process.
With that and in consideration of the clarification you provided, please consider my request for internal review withdrawn.
Thanks,
AB