New Statutory body as an alternative to the NHS for mental health and hidden disability

To pick up on IrishInManchesterUK  point about a lack of morality and moral values from our leaders—I'm not so sure that it's strictly about morals and ethics myself. It's about them being fundamentally parsimonious. They are gripped by a short-sighted, false economy. As the numbers show from my responses earlier in this thread, they are willing to let mental health problems bleed the UK economy to the tune of £160 billion a year because they are too stingy to invest the fraction of that needed to build a self-sustaining community infrastructure.

In simple terms, given my Catholic faith, I firmly believe and maintain that it is a moral and ethical issue, when we consider the public attitudes and perceptions of and towards autism, mental health and hidden disability issues and in terms of public education, where ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse in the Internet age - there are still those who point-blank refuse to understand and accept the reality of autism and hidden disabilities (even to the point of arguing that all mental health and hidden disabilities are fake and are regarded as a form of attention seeking) due to no publicly legally mandated training programmes that are not even part of the school curriculum - as a consequence, we are fobbed off, regarded as dysfunctional, not taken seriously when we try to express our support needs or on anything else, our arguments are automatically regarded as being wrong and invalid by default by reason of our autism diagnosis, where the horrific cases of autistic people incarcerated in mental hospitals for years being a prime example of this - there are many clear grounds for urgently required amendments to the Autism Act 2009 to provide for far greater enforcement measures and legal requirements for public education on these issues - if people were properly educated on the support needs of autistic people and those with mental health and hidden disability issues, funding issues would be at least diminished - strong and uncompromising legislation is one of many tools to change attitudes and perceptions, getting us the support that we need and deserve - advances in modern medical science only partially explains the causes of why so many adults in particular are being diagnosed later in life in our times, but it certainly does not explain why the lions share of mental health funding (which is a pittance compared to other health spending) is almost exclusively on children’s autism (important though that is) 

You make a really good point to highlight a dark, painful and I believe possibly evil truth there IrishInManchesterUK  .  You're right to highlight how in the wider media and perhaps amongst the wider public being diagnosed as autistic or having a mental health diagnosis or having a hidden disability can be used to strip away agency, invalidating what we have to say and treating support needs as "attention seeking" or even "gaming the system".  Yes that sort of systematic dismissal and misrepresentation is exactly what can cause locking people up - and by a matter of timing I've just responded to another post that is exactly what you're talking about.  (albeit one where thankfully the prison services in that case were able to help identify autism and get the person the support they need).

The slight disconnect I see tho' is whether or not public education, amending the autism act or  forcing curiculum changes will solve the funding issue.

I suggest that the establishmnet doesn't leave adults with autism stranded because they are ignorant - they do it because parsimony and institutional convenience rely on that ignorance.  As long as the public view mental health as a "poor relation" to physical health, the governmnet has a perfect political cover to underfund it and "save money".  The prejudice serves the budget.

I have long tried to live to the epithet of "invest in loss" - not particularly an ethical or moral thing - but a practical one.  If I admit that I'm wrong then I might get it right next time.  If I admit that i don't know then maybe I am more likely to go out and find and answer.  If I want a decent harvest on the allotment I have to invest in seeds, compost and watering and weeding - all things that are a "loss" at the time but without there's no decent harvest.

So the government should to the same.  Otherwise those with mental health problems or are neurodivergent are "withering" in the proverbial allotment.

So to come back to the question of how to enact a change w/r/to mental health and neurodivergent services, The disability discrimination act wasn't passed by waiting for the establishment to complete a moral education programme.  It was achieved by grass-roots activism creating unavoidable legal and economic leverage AND publicly shaming society into moral education (images of people in wheelchairs chained to buses springs to mind) that made it impossible for the state to keep stalling.

I have personal experience of how strong laws on paper are only as good as the enforcement mechanisms.

Good luck with trying to morally educate government and bureaucracy - as has been pointed out the religions which of all organisations one would expect to be exemplary in this fashion can't even do it.

It's my belief that until the failures in care end up coming back and biting the ar$e$ of the bureaucrats running the system - the establishment will continue to use public prejudice as an excuse to not treat us fairly and with due care and consideration.

Over my 25 years living here in this council flat and hearing stories from older people regarding the local council and their attitudes, behaviour and their statements, public and otherwise regarding council housing and social housing given their leftist mindsets (as we are in a Labour stronghold council area), even outside of mental health and hidden disabilities, I’ve had some strange experiences with them myself over the years long before my diagnosis and it partly ties into what we heard during Covid - privately, but they would not openly admit to it, they do not really believe that single people should be “allowed” to be living alone in council properties, even a property that is designed for single person occupation without some kind of “support” (constant supervision and monitoring/surveillance) - one example of this was when I first moved in here, I was told by a housing officer that I was “not allowed” to put up any curtains on any external windows because “the police helicopter’s cameras need to be able to see into the property at all times, day and night” and in the early years, I had some very bizarre interactions with council housing officers at that council - both older people living in the area and workmen doing maintenance on the property later on, not only verified the things I was told and added some pretty bizarre stories of their own about their dealings with the council 

Yep I get your "good day" comment TheCatWoman 

The thing is that if you were planning to walk a hundred miles and you said "on a good day I can walk 10" can you guarantee ten good days in a row?  To me the disability relates to dependability and just how easy it is for me personally to have so many more situations and environments that can end up being "bad days".

Unlocking that magic help?  Yep like trying to find rocking horse poo in my opinion because the people who are holding access to it can't empathise with the ones who need it.  Cue  the buck passing.

Eventually because autistic people intenalise neurotypical expectations they can't empathise with their own needs.   Personally I've had to have mine explained to me and even then it really damaged my pride/ego and maybe most damagingly/maddeningly my self confidence so it sets up a downward spiral.

Admit you're disabled and that label sticks and is demonised but you can't even ask for help without it and unless your "worst day is everyday" you still won't get it.

TheCatWoman said:

I guess I'm lucky enough to be in a postition where I an arrange my life as I choose.

Yes!

And as far as I'm concerned, the support for autistic people needs to be precisely that: giving us the tools and the framework to arrange our lives as we choose, rather than being treated like a stray parcel passed from one unfeeling organisation to another.

Yep I get your "good day" comment TheCatWoman 

The thing is that if you were planning to walk a hundred miles and you said "on a good day I can walk 10" can you guarantee ten good days in a row?  To me the disability relates to dependability and just how easy it is for me personally to have so many more situations and environments that can end up being "bad days".

Unlocking that magic help?  Yep like trying to find rocking horse poo in my opinion because the people who are holding access to it can't empathise with the ones who need it.  Cue  the buck passing.

Eventually because autistic people intenalise neurotypical expectations they can't empathise with their own needs.   Personally I've had to have mine explained to me and even then it really damaged my pride/ego and maybe most damagingly/maddeningly my self confidence so it sets up a downward spiral.

Admit you're disabled and that label sticks and is demonised but you can't even ask for help without it and unless your "worst day is everyday" you still won't get it.

TheCatWoman said:

I guess I'm lucky enough to be in a postition where I an arrange my life as I choose.

Yes!

And as far as I'm concerned, the support for autistic people needs to be precisely that: giving us the tools and the framework to arrange our lives as we choose, rather than being treated like a stray parcel passed from one unfeeling organisation to another.