Introduce mandatory training in autism for all NHS mental health services.

petition.parliament.uk/.../207658

Please sign and pass on to people you know.

  • it could even make it seem like using the telephone would be a good way to communicate with us, when in fact, it often is not at all!

    A point I made in 2012 during a local consultation about mental health services. Of course, my point was ignored.

  • Signed when firemonkey linked to it elsewhere.  One thing I would like to add, is that I think such training needs to involve people who are actually on the spectrum.  My worry is that, if this does happen, the training will be the usual presentations by "experts" who are not actually autistic themselves.  Paradoxically, this could just end up reinforcing a lot of existing misconceptions by simply trotting out the classic "triad of impairments" theories which have very little to say about our actual lived experiences of dealing with NHS services.  A classic example would be to single out problems with eye-contact and body language, which many of us can simulate to some extent when we're passing - it could even make it seem like using the telephone would be a good way to communicate with us, when in fact, it often is not at all!

  • I signed the petition shortly after Former Member posted the link, however, as at today (1st February 2018) the petition has attracted just 282 signatures.

  • I also think it should be mandatory for police and paramedics, because they are the people that one has to deal with if something happens whilst out of the house if something goes wrong.

  • ...and I had an open-minded one who was prepared to go along with the findings of my therapist without question.  She's been very supportive since - even though it's clear that it's a foreign language to her!

  • awful!... ignorance of our condition is everywhere... GPs seem to vary widely too, I was lucky and got a clued up one when I requested a diagnosis but it seems from reading these forums that there are some very ignorant ones around.

  • And in special needs care.  I've been told by a carer 'That's not autism... everyone does that!'

  • Done! Training in schools would also be very beneficial... I've had the "well we're all a little bit autistic" line trotted out to me twice when I alerted my eldest son's primary school that I thought he might be on the spectrum. 

  • Signed it - though I'm not sure how useful these petitions are.  But this is a necessary step.  Autism understanding in MH is woefully inadequate.  Even qualified psychiatrists don't often know what they're dealing with - relying on stereotypical ideas of hand-flapping, rocking, repetitive behaviour patterns, etc.  I'm sure it's the reason many people go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, then kicked down into support services that treat symptoms, not causes (as I was, many times).

    Also shared on social media.