Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone I need advice on whether my nephew has been discriminated against under the Equalities Act 2010 or Auitsm Act 2009 by his local council. I did ask this on another genreal forum but felt no one really replied. So have signed up here to get some specialist advice.
My nephew suffers from autism, which causes meltdowns (anger outbursts) and self-harm in relation to sensory overload from noises.His support worker contacted the council's adult and social care team to request an occupational therapy assessment to establish if soundproofing could help reduce noise and provide a safe space to go when needed. All adaptations carried out in this council area if you are a tenant there are free and do not require an application for a disabled facilites grant. An OT called back from the council today and explained that because his needs arise from a sensory disability and not a physical one, the funding policy for the revenue budgetdoes not cover soundproofing or sensory issues.
I'm understanding that autistic people are protected under the Autism Act and the Equality Act 2010 from discrimination against their disability, regardless of whether it is physical or not.
Could anyone provide any insight as to whether this is true or if the Council has the legal right to decline an OT assessment?
A big thank you in advance to anyone who can help shed light on this situation.
NAS86512 said:sensory disability and not a physical one,
eesh... but sensory can be physical too though cant it?if you had sensory issue related to the sense of touch that is a example of sensory being physical.hearing is physical too though.... sound assaulting you is physical and can feel physical. sound waves actually can be felt and i myself feel the thud vibration of thunder when it sounds, i describe it like a mini earthquake feeling of vibrational waves.this only goes to show that officials still are clueless on any issues like this. sensory is physical, just they cant sense it that way themselves while the people with it can sense it physically in most occasions so it is physical to them.
It’s far more a case of council and other officials refusing to understand, as a way of scoring political points for thier higher ups - it goes way beyond simply being clueless or not caring