Rebecca Armitage
Rebecca Armitage is a multiplatform producer with the ABC's Specialist Reporting Team. You can follow her on Twitter @becarmitage
Stalked by drones: Woman looked up and knew her ex-partner was watching
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Perpetrators are arming themselves with a new generation of technology, using drones to stalk victims, smart TVs to spy on them and tracking devices to follow and restrict their movements.
Topics: science-and-technology, law-crime-and-justice, community-and-society, domestic-violence, internet-technology, family, computers-and-technology, australia
‘No point flogging the same dead horse’: Australian scientists trial radical Alzheimer’s drug
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Nobel Prize-winning scientist Barrie Pittock is living with Alzheimer's and is involved in a trial that questions everything we know about the disease. Australian researchers believe the plaque on his brain may be a symptom of the condition, not the cause.
Topics: health, medical-research, alzheimers-and-dementia, diseases-and-disorders, australia
How Taylor Swift is helping 8yo Fletcher learn
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Fletcher Cox, an eight-year-old on the autism spectrum, struggles to cope at school, but with a little help from his pop idols, his mum has been able to take over his education.
Topics: autism-spectrum-disorder, access-to-education, parenting, children, education, disabilities, australia
Health experts 'not confident' about providing advice on pregnancy virus risk
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Research shows many Australian medical professionals aren't confident talking to pregnant women about how to prevent a common virus in babies that can causes disabilities.
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, reproduction-and-contraception, health, medical-research, australia
Why do men get penis enlargements?
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A growing number of Australian men are expressing interest in a penis enlargement, forking out thousands of dollars and enduring filler injections for "something extra special". Now a study has examined what motivates them — and it is not necessarily about impressing women.
Topics: mens-health, health, sexual-health, medical-research, psychology, australia
Your headphones could be making you deaf. Here's how much risk you face
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If you wear your headphones more than 90 minutes a day, or regularly go above 80 per cent of the volume, you could be causing yourself permanent hearing damage.
Topics: hearing, consumer-electronics, parenting, australia
Why your job might be making you sick
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Working through breaks, taking work home and not having total control over how you do your job can be particularly damaging to your mental health and now the Black Dog Institute is calling for change in Australian workplaces.
Topics: work, community-and-society, depression, anxiety, diseases-and-disorders, stress, mental-health, health, australia
Meet the couple who lost their little girl, but inspired a $500m budget pledge
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Mackenzie Casella's life was short, but her legacy will be long. Her parents have called for genetic testing to be made freely available so other Australian families can avoid a similar heartache and now the Government has backed a pilot study to make that happen — it's called Mackenzie's Mission.
Topics: medical-research, health, medical-ethics, family, budget, government-and-politics, family-and-children, australia
Children with devastating genetic illness to get access to 'life-saving' drug
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Children with a muscle-wasting condition called spinal muscular atrophy will get a "life-saving" breakthrough drug for just $40, instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars, with $240 million in funding to be allocated in the federal budget to list the drug on the PBS.
Topics: genetic-disorders, pharmaceuticals, government-and-politics, budget, federal-government, health, australia
'Unconscionable conduct': Ford tried to blame customers over faulty gearboxes
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The auto giant agrees to pay a record $10 million fine for unconscionable conduct after it failed to fix faulty gearboxes in more than 10,000 Australian cars and told some customers the problem was caused by their "driving style".
Topics: consumer-protection, courts-and-trials, automotive, australia
When mum and daughter are both on the autism spectrum
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Most people tend to think of autism as a disorder that affects boys and men, but psychologists now believe that girls with autism may simply be better at hiding in plain sight.
Topics: autism-spectrum-disorder, womens-health, mental-health, family-and-children, australia
Rotting skin, blindness, burns: Black market cosmetic drugs disfiguring patients
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Human placenta extract, counterfeit anti-wrinkle injectables and Chinese iodine have all been seized in a series of recent raids targeting dodgy beauty salons and back-alley clinics.
Topics: health, womens-health, health-policy, law-crime-and-justice, australia
Health experts call for national strategy on child self-harm to curb rates of hospitalisation
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Young women and girls are being hospitalised for self-harm at four times the rate of boys, a decade-long study finds, and its lead author says "we need to do better" in the area of mental health support for children.
Topics: community-and-society, family-and-children, children, child-health-and-behaviour, health, suicide, australia
VW says 'tough luck' to Australian car drivers, ACCC tells court
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The Volkswagen Group is accused of thumbing its nose at Australian customers by denying it has a case to answer in Australia over the diesel-emissions scandal.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, industry, automotive, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, australia
Millions to be spent on improving access to genetic testing after baby's death
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After losing their baby to a genetic condition, Rachael and Jonny Casella were determined to prevent heartache for other couples. The Health Minister was listening and has vowed to make "Mackenzie's mission" his life's work and increase access to couples for pre-pregnancy screening.
Topics: babies---newborns, family-and-children, community-and-society, genetic-disorders, diseases-and-disorders, health, reproductive-technology, reproduction-and-contraception, health-policy, federal-government, australia
After their baby died, they learned a $385 test could have avoided the heartache
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Rachael and Jonny Casella lost their daughter Mackenzie to a genetic condition they had no idea existed. Now they're fighting for every Australian couple to have access to free screening before they start a family.
Topics: babies---newborns, genetic-disorders, infant-health, maternal-and-child-health, health-policy, reproductive-technology, australia
Nerve discovery offers hope to spinal cord patients
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Many people who suffer a major spinal injury are told they will never walk again. But an Australian study has found that nearly half of all people with major spinal cord injuries have surviving nerve connections from their limbs to their brains.
Topics: science-and-technology, health, neuroscience, australia
Pain and gain when codeine products pulled from shelves this week
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From February 1, medications that are mixed with codeine will only be available with a doctor's prescription. For some, that's a good move, but for others who suffer from debilitating pain, the change will make their lives more difficult.
Topics: health, pain, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, doctors-and-medical-professionals, australia
'Baby brain' is a real, measurable phenomenon, scientists say
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Foggy, absentminded and forgetful. Many women have long insisted that pregnancy-induced "baby brain" is not just a myth, and now Australian researchers have confirmed it is a scientific reality.
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, womens-health, medical-research, child-health-and-behaviour, australia
Innovation honoured at National Disability Awards
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Organisations and individuals using technology to improve the lives of people living with disabilities are being recognised by the National Disability Awards.
Topics: disabilities, awards-and-prizes, science-and-technology, internet-culture, community-and-society, australia
Does helicopter parenting make kids anxious?
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A new Australian study finds that kids whose parents push them out of their comfort zone and let them take a few risks are less likely to have anxiety disorders.
Topics: family-and-children, children---preschoolers, anxiety, parenting, psychology, australia
'You never know where you're staying': Young couch surfers slipping through the cracks
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They're perilously close to homelessness, but many young couch surfers may never reach out for help. A new report says governments need to be more proactive to stop them winding up on the streets.
Topics: homelessness, youth, family, family-law, charities-and-community-organisations, social-policy, australia
Banana Boat faces class action lawsuit over alleged sunburns
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A law firm wants to take on one of Australia's top sunscreen sellers after dozens of complaints from customers who claim they were burned despite wearing Banana Boat SPF 50+ sunscreens.
Topics: consumer-protection, child-health-and-behaviour, health, law-crime-and-justice, australia
It's young men at your gym, not professional athletes, using illegal steroids
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In the absence of medical advice, users of illegal steroids rely on "bro science" to inform themselves of the risks and benefits of performance-enhancing drugs.
Topics: health, mens-health, drug-use, australia
Strangers are prowling children's social media accounts
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A new survey of Australian's social media use has found 60 per cent of parents never check their children's accounts, but teens are increasingly interacting with strangers online.
Topics: child-health-and-behaviour, internet-technology, social-media, mental-health, adolescent-health, parenting, australia
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