Has the NAS directly helped any independent adults who post on this forum?

Elephant in the Room here as SELF

May I ask if you utilise scraping tools to find out common comments and threads on the forum in order to help determine NAS policy?

I.e referral, assessment, waiting times, suicide, co-morbid conditions, relationships, masking, mental health, social isolation, etc

??

Dear Ayshe Mod, thank you very much for this reassurance. I'm more confident now in contacting the helpline now I know I won't be added to the mailing list.  I will fill out the helpline form shortly. 

Dear Qwerty,

Just wanted to reassure you that we do not add supporters to our mailing list without their consent and we do not add supporters onto our mailing list if they contact us via email. Please be assured, that if you contact our Helpline team, you will not be added to our mailing list.

Kind regards,

Ayshe Mod

Dear Trainspotter,

I am sorry to hear that some of your messages were not responded too. If you would like us to update your record, so you don't receive these type of emails from us, you can contact our Supporter Care team via email on supportercare@nas.org.uk.

Kind regards,

Ayshe Mod

I can do more outside of this forum than on it myself. I will certainly let the local services know it’s not a suitable website to refer people to. Plus the people I meet one to one are mutually supportive. I’m wondering about parents with young children now. Have to discuss that with children’s services. Thanks for responding. 

Directly, no. But indirectly, through this forum. Yes.

Still nobody? 

I have been thinking about emailing them about a question, but I really don't want to get general marketing emails...that's kind of putting me off about emailing them...and I just don't have time to call them during working hours....

Yeah, I think that's what I usually see when NAS moderators reply to posts, they advice people to contact the helpline. But there are two ways to contact the helpline: (1) telephone, (2) email. And it seems according to Maz2's experience of old getting one automated response in reply to several private emails, it seems that the email option is completely ignored.... It does say on the NAS website https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main/form.aspx it might take 28 days for a reply, but getting completely no reply..... Also, many autistic people experience difficulties with communicating verbally through telephone, or might have to work during "Monday: Thursday 10am-4pm and Friday 9am-3pm" which are the only times the telephone helpline is available. So shouldn't they put the same effort into answering queries from both (1) telephone and (2) email contacts?

And the abusive user I’ve reported is the automatic response system who censored Perdus post, perhaps. Who cares anyway. If someone is messing with posts that’s their problem. My questions about NAS still stand. Sorry for the near swearing. 

So that’s how you silence anyone who has anything to say?!!!! What the heck are you people doing!!!! Is this why nobody questions your authority? There is more freedom of speech in a fecking prison!!! Are you really only interested in monetary sources!!!! Silence me then! Prove I fecking exist! 

I waited over 6 weeks for a reply to my emails. Zilch! Nothing! If nobody can put me straight I will have to conclude it’s not personal. They don’t actually acknowledge any of us really. In that case I would question their right to exist more than mine. Can anybody say I am wrong? Have NAS ever for instance taken onboard anybody’s recommendations and actioned them? Have they ever valued your life experiences enough to use them to help others? Have they actually helped your child prepare to be an independent adult who reaches their full potential? Or do they just ask for money for this course and fundraising for whatever it is they fund? Do they prefer children to remain dependent? Why is sensible input not even acknowledged let alone considered? After all, your children will be adults soon. We were all children originally, obviously. Why are there courses to buy to discuss issues, but input from those with life experience are not welcomed. Why do professionals buy training, recommend NAS to newly diagnosed people but NAS does not support these people? So many questions. No answers. Please enlighten me. It’s a genuine search for answers. I completely misunderstood what NAS are about. So did the specialist who diagnosed me. 

Thank you for your responses qwerty and trainspotting. Hmmm. 5 hours and no other responses. Nobody admits receiving any help either or even supportive/reassuring/acknowledging emails. 

That in itself speaks volumes, but I’ll wait a while longer. 

Usually a standard response from NAS is to contact the helpline and give links. 

1. I have had responses to emails at times but others have been ignored.  They have also put me on a mailing list to which I get marketing emails, not that I mind them just it dorsnt seem an appropriate thing to do when help is requested

This is disappointing.... I would have thought they'd be more responsive, as they have both email and telephone options to access their helpline :(