Published on 12, July, 2020
My soul-mate "D" has autism and lives in a flat provided by a social landlord.
He is extremely fearful of people as he was so badly bullied as a child both by his family and at school. He typically lives in a world of stereos and computers. He lives alone and does not get any support at home.
To help people to understand his needs he has written an Individual Autism Passport for himself. It has taken him more than 3 years to write. It contains lots of info about it his behaviours and how they should approach and respect him. He has given a copy of this to his landlord so that should they need to visit him in his home, they will be aware of how he reacts and the things that they should do to support him.
He gives a copy of this passport to everyone he comes into contact with. However, despite his Estate Team being given a copy of this document, it is blatantly obvious that they have not bothered to read it. I know this because the Estate Manager took it upon-themselves to ring D's Emergency Support Contact to ask "what the best way was to contact him" (This information is clearly stated on the first and second pages of his Autism Passport document). Although his Support Contact instructed them on how to contact him they have STILL yet to do as they have been told!
I would like to know if there is a) any way that his "Passport" can in any way be made as a "legal document" (sort of like a "will") that must be read by anybody who works with him or supports him. I have autism myself so I know how frustrated he is feeling
Although a social sector landlord, they are terrible when it comes to equalities and awareness. They apparently attended an autism awareness course some time last year but it is obvious that they have not learned anything from it! They like to show off about things but when it actually comes down to acting on their promises they are rubbish! They are so ignorant that even when they are given advice they do not do as they are instructed.
They want my soul mate to comply with them rather than them make reasonable adjustments to help him, they are then harassing him because he is struggling to comply with their demands. It is not the first time he has had trouble with them. He has said he has thought about moving but he can't cope with the change and doesn't really see why he should move as it is not his fault.
His needs are by no means excessive. it just means they have to be careful how they approach him and how they speak to him. He is trying to help them to support him by giving them his passport but they are having none of it.
I feel like throwing the book at them as they are not making reasonable adjustments to help him in the right way.He doesn't want me to do this though as he is afraid of losing his home and obviously I won't betray him but just wondered if anyone can offer any advice.
Many thanks :-)
Maybe the document is simply too long? If you say it's on the first and second page... Such people don't have time reading through long documents, maybe try to come up with a 10 bullet points list or so?
It does sound like the council are trying if they called to ask for help. I live in social housing and come into contact with many different people. For example, a gas engineer had to come out the other week but before that, I had to contact their call center to re-arrange the time. It's unlikely that everyone you and your partner will come into contact with will have access to the same records, including the ideal list of how your partner would like to be treated. It's important to remember that these things are a two-way street and there will need to be give and take on both sides. Although the council will be able to adapt in some areas of how they communicate, you and your partner will need to adapt to meet their needs sometimes too.
It could help if you wrote down specific examples of the issues you and your partner are experiencing then the forum could provide targeted advice on these situations.
There is not way to make it a legal document, you can ask but you can't force people to behave in a certain way when you deal with them.
Can I ask what kind of changes you're asking to be made? Some things they may not be able to change (for instance they are required to send notification of certain things by post) and they may have in their social landlord contract that they are required to conduct periodic inspections etc.
NAS6800 said:I feel like throwing the book at them as they are not making reasonable adjustments to help him in the right way.
I don't think you have any book to throw at them, you aren't legally responsible for him and it's him that has the relationship (legally) with them so if he wanted changes then he needs to take action.
If the issues are covered by equality legislation then you can ask Citizens Advice for help and they are usually very good, the issue you will have is that unless he's prepared to take action then you're unlikely to see any changes.