need some help??

As an afterthought, I've been mulling over why there should be so many people with autistic traits sleeping rough.

If you think about it, autism is to a large extent about social integration difficulty. It produces people who are loners, who don't fit in to social groups.

Most people who become nominally homeless are able to find "communal" alternatives - sleeping on someone's sofa or floor - different houses at different times, obtained by making social connections. Or living in a squat, which usually implies a group of people, socially connected, taking over an empty house without legal tenure. The ability to occupy illegally depends on some members of the squat staying in while others go out.

Or there are organised community initiatives, like Camphill Communities, mentioned by 'toffee' in the thread under Parents and Carers - Independent living for son with aspergers, in the context of Scotland, but also in England and Wales. These organisations rely on mutual help. Some "christian" organisations like Jesus Army take in homeless to form much of their community. But I cannot imagine many people with autism or aspergers being able to cope with the claustrophobic, intensely social structure of Jesus Army.

Most people in such difficulties know how to make social connections, one way or another, in order to cushion their low circumstances.

So the upshot is, people with autism, who cannot socially connect and access networks, end up living alone. And the chances of finding anywhere safe without networking is little if any. So they end up sleeping rough.

The risk, for people with autism, of ending up sleeping rough must be both considerable and predictable. So why has there been so little research on this?

Also if anyone feels I'm being harsh on the DWP, refer to the threads under Work and Volunteering: under ATOS leaked report...... (where I've looked at the evidence of how ATOS assessors operate, and the Litchfield Report) and under Equality Impact Assessment of DLA Reform (the truly ludicrous gloss over of the damage this policy could do to disabled people, and the ridiculous data on which their definition of disability is based). This bizarre data set also underpins the Disability Confident initiative.

The data on which DWP claim that many disabled people aren't entitled to benefit is appallingly badly put together, indeed it looks like someone has interfered with an earlier survey on just health conditions.

If there are more people with autism sleeping rough it is more down to negligence and malice by DWP than any failure of Social Services.

Someone needs to look closely at what is going on behind the scenes at DWP.

As an afterthought, I've been mulling over why there should be so many people with autistic traits sleeping rough.

If you think about it, autism is to a large extent about social integration difficulty. It produces people who are loners, who don't fit in to social groups.

Most people who become nominally homeless are able to find "communal" alternatives - sleeping on someone's sofa or floor - different houses at different times, obtained by making social connections. Or living in a squat, which usually implies a group of people, socially connected, taking over an empty house without legal tenure. The ability to occupy illegally depends on some members of the squat staying in while others go out.

Or there are organised community initiatives, like Camphill Communities, mentioned by 'toffee' in the thread under Parents and Carers - Independent living for son with aspergers, in the context of Scotland, but also in England and Wales. These organisations rely on mutual help. Some "christian" organisations like Jesus Army take in homeless to form much of their community. But I cannot imagine many people with autism or aspergers being able to cope with the claustrophobic, intensely social structure of Jesus Army.

Most people in such difficulties know how to make social connections, one way or another, in order to cushion their low circumstances.

So the upshot is, people with autism, who cannot socially connect and access networks, end up living alone. And the chances of finding anywhere safe without networking is little if any. So they end up sleeping rough.

The risk, for people with autism, of ending up sleeping rough must be both considerable and predictable. So why has there been so little research on this?

Also if anyone feels I'm being harsh on the DWP, refer to the threads under Work and Volunteering: under ATOS leaked report...... (where I've looked at the evidence of how ATOS assessors operate, and the Litchfield Report) and under Equality Impact Assessment of DLA Reform (the truly ludicrous gloss over of the damage this policy could do to disabled people, and the ridiculous data on which their definition of disability is based). This bizarre data set also underpins the Disability Confident initiative.

The data on which DWP claim that many disabled people aren't entitled to benefit is appallingly badly put together, indeed it looks like someone has interfered with an earlier survey on just health conditions.

If there are more people with autism sleeping rough it is more down to negligence and malice by DWP than any failure of Social Services.

Someone needs to look closely at what is going on behind the scenes at DWP.