Terrified about upcoming eviction as an autistic 30 year old.

Thank you. I woke up wishing I wasn't alive. Something has to give. 

Good job, you have somebody on your side now.

Update: Talked to autism initiatives, they're going to try to get me intimidation points, I doubt it'll work but hey. 

Thank you for this. I'll look at it and talk to the woman from autism initiatives too 

in addition, your landlord's current frequent unannounced visits appear to be causing you distress and is interfering with your peace and comfort in your home.  This is illegal and here's a useful page with information relevant to Northern Ireland  https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/protection-against-eviction

Under the Equality Act 2010 you are classed as disabled and therefore vulnerable and entitled to increased protection from homelessness.  It sounds like so far you are contacting people who can help you.   In the meantime to help you get more information, you can contact/look on the websites for Shelter and Citizens Advice.   

A crucial thing to note:  If your landlord doesn't live with you, you do not have to leave the property until a Court tells you so.  Given your needs, the Court will have to take this into consideration.   While you are a tenant, it is illegal for a landlord to break into your home and change the locks.  Courts take this very seriously and can fine landlords for doing this. 

I urge you to get a ring doorbell or set up a camera when you have to leave for everyday tasks so you always have evidence if your landlord does anything illegal/harrassing.  Keep evidence if you can of your landlord saying/texting ableist/discriminatory things to you.  All this will help when it comes to providing evidence for the Court.  Always:  if you feel unsafe or in danger from your landlord, call the Police and tell them what is happening and that you are disabled.

Local Authority Housing departments have a duty to make sure they take your needs into consideration, so when making an application for homelessness, make sure you include all the documents relating to the people who are supporting you.  If your autistic needs are being ignored and rejected in your first housing application, ask for a review with a Senior Housing Officer stating you believe you are being indirectly discriminated against because your needs have not been taken into consideration, when other's disabilities are taken more seriously than yours on the housing list.

I did this and I have what I need now.  Don't take no for an answer, best of luck :)

This could be it, yeah. I can't handle it. 

It's possible it is intentional to intimidate, to get you to leave quickly and cause no trouble. Don't necessarily take it all at face value.

It makes sense to keep details of any unreasonable behaviour regardless.

Yes, he's acting very strange and odd. He's been coming in every day since Friday, and disrputing my routine and today it got beyond the pale. My basil is upset, I'm shaken and triggered. I hope they can help me.

His behaviour sounds odd, You might already keep a written record of the issues you mention here, but if not it could be useful to have a record handy for meetings or for completing forms. 

I hope your meeting goes well tomorrow. 

He keeps trying to tell me his dementia is in any way comparable to my autism. And says "I care about you, That's why I'm here." I do  NOT feel safe here.

How cruel of him! His behaviour is contemptible. It’s good that you are lodging your complaints. Let’s hope your landlord’s horrible actions can work to your advantage in getting a suitable home. 

Landlord was a nightmare today. My cat hasn't been back all day, Terrified.

He saw that I sliced my finger, and said "You'll live".

Let a TV drop on my back and was more concerned about the TV, When he kept making noise, I asked him to stop because it triggers my sensory overload, He just laughed.

I will be lodging my complaints with Autism Intitiave, tomorrow at 2pm. And with my GP on Wed. I will use this to get housing.

Thank you,  I hope that they can advocate for .e and this nightmare will end. And I'll have my Kitty with.me.

How awful for you - I’m so sorry. I read the reply to you below from Buddha and I think it sounds like great advice. It’s a terrible system where we have local councils giving out the kind of advice they gave to you  - it puts you under so much stress as an autistic person I’m sure to be put in that position. You will get through this though - try to focus on the that fact and take it day by day. Eventually - not too far in the future - this will all be sorted and you’ll have a new place to live. Take care - and I hope it doesn’t take too long before you find your new home. 

No they absolutely did not understand the difficulties that my autism causes when I first spoke to them. I was treated like anyone else would be treated and no consideration was given to my neurodivergence and the special needs I have as a result of it.

I asked for a second assessment and for this to be done face-to-face with a senior staff member and from the housing department and this is when things changed. Once someone with authority sees you and understands your situation and needs then attitudes will change. The discretionary payments are designed for exactly people like us in precisely these kinds of situations and actually help the council to save money by preventing homelessness for individuals for whom that problem would be extremely costly to resolve. You just need to get the message through to the right person in the housing office because many of the staff are - to put it as politely as I can - less than impressive.

Once I decided to get a private rent it was pretty quickly done. I paid one week's rent as a holding deposit then went to the council and presented them with a solution to the problem with the caveat that without financial assistance this solution would a lost opportunity. I think they wanted to get me and my sister out of their hair by that point and they readily agreed to paying my security deposit. Again I stress that this kind of help is designed specifically to assist people with disabilities so although I couldn't say that you're guaranteed to get it I do expect you will if you can speak to the right person and keep being politely pushy. Speaking to the right person is often a matter of speaking to everyone until you get to the right one so daily calls and emails might be the best approach.

I hope you have good fortune and that the help is agreed to quickly. If not, get proactive and keep calling.

I know you must be exhausted and there's no advice I can provide that wouldn't seem either patronising and/or one of those things people say that sound helpful but that are functionally useless. It's one of those situations where we just have to keep on keeping on because we have to deal with the ordinary humans more than we'd like to get what we need. But you will get what you need. Do all you can each day and once you can't do anything more until the next day just chill and let the knowledge that you are working hard be a source of comfort and confidence. And then just chill as best you can.

I'm rooting for you.

Thank you so much for your reply — it genuinely means a lot right now to hear from someone who’s been through it.

I completely relate to the fear you mentioned — it’s constant. The idea of being forced into a hostel or waiting until I’m actually out before anything happens is exactly what’s been keeping me up at night.

I’m glad your sister was able to help fight for you. I don’t have anyone like that locally, but I do have a social worker involved now and Autism Initiatives are supposed to be supporting me too — though I haven’t properly started with them yet. I’m hoping they’ll help push for supported housing or a single-let situation, because a hostel honestly would be unbearable for me.

Your point about having to push hard is something I’m trying to prepare myself for. It’s tough, though, when you're already exhausted just trying to cope day to day.

I might take your advice about looking at private lets too, and asking the council for help with a deposit if it comes to that — I hadn’t even thought that might be possible.

If you don’t mind me asking: how long did it take for things to actually move once you made that final push? And did your council understand your autism right away, or did you have to spell it out repeatedly?

Thanks again. Your message gave me a bit of clarity and some hope, and I really needed that.

I went through this last year. My local council at first provided me with guidance that instructed me to remain in the property and refuse to leave and wait until the landlord had the locks changed one day while I was out and then I would have to go to the town hall to declare myself homeless and they would then be able to get me some temporary accommodation. This was terrifying and wholly inappropriate.

As an autistic individual you must be treated as vulnerable and you are entitled to additional help from your local authority. Unfortunately, this additional help is unlikely to be given willingly by those you deal with at the housing office. It's one of those situations in which you need to be very demanding when it comes to getting them to go the extra mile for you.

Do you have someone who helps you? A family member or a support worker? I have a sister who fights for me and I'm quite certain that is what made the difference. Local authorities can and do give discretionary payments to help people in the exact situation you find yourself in. I was offered a bump up the housing list but managed to find a new private letting through my own and my family's efforts. The deposit was almost one thousand pounds and I didn't have the money. It was made clear to the housing office that if they didn't assist me in securing the new apartment then my mental health would suffer, I would lose my part-time job, and the costs to the local authority of getting me back from that kind of disaster would be many times the amount required for the deposit. We badgered them and secured the full deposit from the council and that made the move an enormous amount less stressful.

Bottom line I think is that you can get some of the help you need but you must fight for it and I hope you have people around you who can assist you with that. Speak to the housing office and don't hold back when it comes to outlining your conditions and the fact that you need additional help. Don't let them dismiss this and repeat it as often as you can. If you can find an appropriate property privately then you should be given help to secure it but again it depends on how hard you push for that help.

I know how terrible it all feels when you're at your current stage of the process but if you can focus on the basic need of finding a new place and then going all out with the council to get them to do what they should do but don't want to do, I am sure you'll be fine in the end.

Remember that you have the right not to be discriminated against by potential landlords and to be treated as vulnerable by your local authority. You need more help than most people but getting that help will depend on how persistent you or your advocate are prepared to be.

I wish you the best of luck and will answer any questions if you want to pick my brains any further.

Hope this helps.

You are welcome, I only wish I could be of practical help.

My GP knows about the housing situation. They assigned a social worker. I'm absolutely terrified of a hostel and I'm really hoping that it can be avoided. 

And thank you