Published on 12, July, 2020
All her life my daughter has fought the stigma that being Autistic was defined as, first a "learning disabilty" and now a "disability". It has destroyed her life, made her feel inferior and sapped her self confidence. Then to see the BBC describe autism as a "lifelong disability" made me furious. Then to find that the source of this bigotry is the definition on the NAS website makes me incandescent with rage. I too am Autistic. The NAS does not represent me or my daughter. The challenges which Autistic poeple face are not what we are but how we are misunderstood. For the NAS to insist on perpetuating these myths makes you part of the problem. I can only presume your definition of Autism was written and approved by a bunch of, perhaps well-meaning, poeple who suffer from Autism Deficiency Syndrome and who lack the flexibility of thought that Autism gives us and we, in turn, have given the world the technology which I am using to write this.
i have a similar issue with the BBC implying that all people with autism have special needs. Some people with autism may have special needs but there are also people with autism who do not have special needs.
I don’t like the term special needs, I think it is infantilising and inaccurate. We have human needs like every one else and every human has different needs.
Ausomely Autistic said:I don’t like the term special needs,
Many autists do have special needs though.
Some cannot speak on the phone due to various autism related issues
Some cannot tolerate being around groups or crowds
Some cannot tolerate loud noises, types of lighting or smells
Etc
The needs are legion and it is because of this that I believe we need this term whether it applies to me personally or not - we need to look at the bigger picture of our tribe in my opinion.
That’s great, everyone needs flexibility.
My surgery has just introduced a system where if you want an appointment you fill out a form online and the form is then triaged and the most urgent cases get seen by the most appropriate person who will not always be a doctor. Patients can have an appointee fill out the form for them if they prefer or if they don’t have or don’t want to have an appointee they can still visit the surgery and the receptionists will help them (I’m not 100% sure whether they can do it over the phone - I’d have to check - but if the overwhelming majority use the form I don’t see why not. The other advantage is there is no 8am rush - you can fill in the form anytime.
Iain said:I understand there is a need for this for some people - do you have an idea of what sort of numbers of people need it?
According to this very specific video below, autistic doctor Mary Doherty explains that an extremely high number of autistic people avoid doctor appointments because they cannot use the phone. This obviously has very serious consequences.
https://youtu.be/s_8CZKmxxco?si=Ofz7UFcA0Vh3nenjI don’t understand why alternatives like email or a text based web chat would cost so much.
It’s not only people with autism though. Someone who was blind recently won a Tribunal case forcing DWP to send him correspondence in an electronic format which was compatible with his screen-reader (I can’t remember the format but it was probably something as common as Word) DWP retaliate by sending him stuff in Word but sending it to him so delayed that he has often missed deadlines for replying by the time he receives the material from DWP and he has to renew the complaint process all over again.
Taltunes said:Unfortunately DWP have to be dragged kicking and screaming one Tribunal verdict at a time to do something they should already be doing under the Equality Act
I guess part of that is that the DWP would have to decide which other area to take the money away from to pay for the autistic claims. Once you start to see it in that context it becomes difficut to keep fighting.
The source of the issue is a lack of funding and that is under the governments control, and following recent discussions on this forum, I doubt any other government is going to be any better.
On that depressing note I think it time for an afternoon coffee and donut!
Agreed but it doesn’t excuse e.g. DWP given the number of autistic people claiming benefits. Unfortunately DWP have to be dragged kicking and screaming one Tribunal verdict at a time to do something they should already be doing under the Equality Act - that’s why they keep losing Tribunals. Unfortunately it requires a great deal of persistence and support to get these issues to Tribunal.