• Replies 7 replies
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 1206 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Autism Act and Finding Out the Facts

Paull

After not getting anywhere with my local authority I have written to my local MP and 6 local councillors to ask them to clarify the Autism Act 2009. Here is the letter

_____________________

Dear Mr. Hammond,

I would like make a complaint about Merton Local Authority who in my opinion are breaking the law.

I have an Autism Spectrum Disorder and was diagnosed last year after many years of wrong diagnoses. After my diagnosis I was relieved and assumed that after this diagnosis I could finally get the right help in order to make my life easier and give me the breathing space and living environment to get my life back together and allow me to put something back into society, however since then I have done nothing but come up against brick walls.

My main issue presently is that I also suffer from severe hyperacusis and am ultra sensitive to low frequency sound and I am in constant discomfort especially during the evening when I want to sleep. I can bear sound outdoors to a degree but indoors it vibrates more (I have tried white noise therapy and wearing ear defenders but they don't work). I applied to Merton Council for housing stating that I have ASD and severe hyperacusis but was told these are not of significance, this is quite a blow for me to hear that because they simply do not understand the nature of any of these conditions.

I have read that under the Autism Act 2009 local authorities must make provisions to meet the needs of adults with Autism Spectum conditions and that every local authority should ensure that there is a named joint commissioner or senior manager with responsibility for commissioning of services for adults with autism.

I have contacted Merton Council several times but am always pushed to the mental health or learning disability team (this is the reason the law was passed to stop people with ASD being pushed into these areas). I have also tried to find this 'named' joint commissioner or senior manager, I have been pushed from one department to another and nobody can offer a name of this person or even clarify if this person even exists. Three times I have been told that someone will call me back with details of this person but nobody has done so.

If the Autism Act states that this person should exist by law then surely this means Merton Council is breaking the law. I need to talk to someone in the local council who understands my condition/s not a mental health or learning disability team that do not. In fact when I talked to them they have no idea at all.

Can you as Wimbledon MP - which falls under the Merton Council jurisdiction clarify this law for me and confirm or deny if I do have the right by law to have my needs met by the local authority and that by law a named joint commissioner or senior manager with responsibility for commissioning of services for adults with autism should be present at Merton Council ?

Thank You
Paul ......

Parents

  • hi Hope,

    its pretty much the same, people slamming doors, car engines, music, alarms - but the thing that disturbs me more than anything is bass music because of the low frequency - sometimes someone can be having a party in their garden streets away and I don't hear the music just the bass, boom boom bang bang non stop for hours.  Its harder at night because often its quiet then followed by a noise, then quiet again etc so unless all the neighbours and people in the property are asleep then its difficult to settle down because each time there is a noise it rouses the mind so stress levels go up and if it goes on and on then I end up with chest pains and it can take days for them to go and for my stress levels to go back down - but then again it can happen any night and the sequence starts again and another few days of stress. Once I start getting pains I have to go out and buy alcohol as its the only way I can get my chest muscles to relax and it takes the edge off  - but long term thats not good. if I didnt have a drink then my stress levels will continue to go up and and and I worry I could even become seriously ill, in fact my body is telling me I will become ill. It doesn't help that I live in a bedsit with other housemates, some of whom think nothing of having 3-4-5-6 god knows how many people in their room all going in and out slamming the door, screaming and shouting and running about the property. This usually happens on a Saturday night from about 8pm - 10.45 then they all go out to a nightclub but sometimes it happens other days till silly hours. I can't just go outside and walk the street to get away from it so I am trapped by it.

    I have to make the local authority know that this is not a trivial matter - like as they wrote to me "not of significance" to my housing needs. I am a fighter and will fight to get a comfortable living environment because I know unless my environment is comfortable then I will never have the energy or enthusiasm to do anything else because I am under constant stress and suffering and preoccupied with trying to recover from it all.

    I have big hope though and was elevated when I read the Autism Act 2009 because it gives me a platform to fight because things are written as laws. I also hope that through my experience other people can learn about how to fight for themselves as well - but that will be in the future, I have to concentrate on winning the fight first - as of yet no replies from the MP or councillors - will keep everyone posted on any replies that I get. Thanks you your concern and interest.

Reply

  • hi Hope,

    its pretty much the same, people slamming doors, car engines, music, alarms - but the thing that disturbs me more than anything is bass music because of the low frequency - sometimes someone can be having a party in their garden streets away and I don't hear the music just the bass, boom boom bang bang non stop for hours.  Its harder at night because often its quiet then followed by a noise, then quiet again etc so unless all the neighbours and people in the property are asleep then its difficult to settle down because each time there is a noise it rouses the mind so stress levels go up and if it goes on and on then I end up with chest pains and it can take days for them to go and for my stress levels to go back down - but then again it can happen any night and the sequence starts again and another few days of stress. Once I start getting pains I have to go out and buy alcohol as its the only way I can get my chest muscles to relax and it takes the edge off  - but long term thats not good. if I didnt have a drink then my stress levels will continue to go up and and and I worry I could even become seriously ill, in fact my body is telling me I will become ill. It doesn't help that I live in a bedsit with other housemates, some of whom think nothing of having 3-4-5-6 god knows how many people in their room all going in and out slamming the door, screaming and shouting and running about the property. This usually happens on a Saturday night from about 8pm - 10.45 then they all go out to a nightclub but sometimes it happens other days till silly hours. I can't just go outside and walk the street to get away from it so I am trapped by it.

    I have to make the local authority know that this is not a trivial matter - like as they wrote to me "not of significance" to my housing needs. I am a fighter and will fight to get a comfortable living environment because I know unless my environment is comfortable then I will never have the energy or enthusiasm to do anything else because I am under constant stress and suffering and preoccupied with trying to recover from it all.

    I have big hope though and was elevated when I read the Autism Act 2009 because it gives me a platform to fight because things are written as laws. I also hope that through my experience other people can learn about how to fight for themselves as well - but that will be in the future, I have to concentrate on winning the fight first - as of yet no replies from the MP or councillors - will keep everyone posted on any replies that I get. Thanks you your concern and interest.

Children
No Data