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Why I am not renewing my NAS subscription

Deleted user
over 5 years ago

I have thought hard about this and have decided not to renew this years subscription for the following reasons:

1) Mendip House.  The abuse at a NAS care home has been described as on a par with that at Winterbourne View. Despite the CQC giving NAS a fine, I am still deeply uneasy about it. Especially, as I may need to assisted living/care in the future.

It also raises questions whether charities should arranged care services.

2) NAS seems more tilted towards neurotypicals than those with ASC.

For example Your Autism magazine, if indeed it arrives, is aimed at a NT’s.  I have not found one useful piece of info or help for those actually on the Spectrum. For their families and carers yes, not for me though.

The helpline has never answered a call I ever made.  And I made quite a few.  The online service was poor at best.

The Spectrum magazine is meh. 

The forum is ok, but I only use it now infrequently.

I have yet to use the social group service, mainly as it is 20 miles away at best. 40 miles round trip.

3) NAS seems to want to promote itself rather than us.  Oh look it’s our birthday, let’s sign up a celeb. But what really bought this home was the All party group on autism. I believe arranged by NAS. On their birthday do they want us to give evidence to the committee? No. Just experts.  Can we watch? Well there is very little room so book early. 

So I am sorry. I won’t renew my membership.

Parents
  • over 5 years ago

    I recently attended a course run by NAS that was aimed at supporting autistic adults. It was held in their head office, which is an incredibly autistic unfriendly building, which was shocking when the charity is aware of our needs. It was in a busy central London location and on a main road, which was a popular route for ambulances to take. This meant there was a constant noise of traffic and sirens. The lights couldn't be adjusted to suite the needs of the group, it was either on or off, and no lamps were provided. Plus, the room was split into two using a thin divider, which added to the noise issues when others were using the space. This meant I was unable to stay for the whole course due to negative impact the location had on me. 

    I wasn't sent a feedback form after the event to raise the issues I faced. Therefore, I'm now taking the chance to let you know that at  £380+VAT for two days it did come across that NAS were more interested in income generating that providing a quality service and I really wish some of the fee had been spent on a hiring a more suitable location so that I could have fully engaged with the event. 

    I would I'd like to see NAS to consistently seek feedback on the services they offer and to think about us more at the planning stages.

Reply
  • over 5 years ago

    I recently attended a course run by NAS that was aimed at supporting autistic adults. It was held in their head office, which is an incredibly autistic unfriendly building, which was shocking when the charity is aware of our needs. It was in a busy central London location and on a main road, which was a popular route for ambulances to take. This meant there was a constant noise of traffic and sirens. The lights couldn't be adjusted to suite the needs of the group, it was either on or off, and no lamps were provided. Plus, the room was split into two using a thin divider, which added to the noise issues when others were using the space. This meant I was unable to stay for the whole course due to negative impact the location had on me. 

    I wasn't sent a feedback form after the event to raise the issues I faced. Therefore, I'm now taking the chance to let you know that at  £380+VAT for two days it did come across that NAS were more interested in income generating that providing a quality service and I really wish some of the fee had been spent on a hiring a more suitable location so that I could have fully engaged with the event. 

    I would I'd like to see NAS to consistently seek feedback on the services they offer and to think about us more at the planning stages.

Children
  • over 5 years ago in reply to NAS50301

    Dear NAS50301,

    Thank you for sharing your feedback and experience regarding an NAS training course you recently attended.

    I alerted our Training team to your feedback, and they are very much interested in getting in contact with you regarding your feedback. They have asked that you email them on training.enquiries@nas.org.uk and they will have to look out for your message as a priority.

    Kind regards,

    Ayshe Mod