Our oldest son is an Aspie with a special interest in sport and fitness. Despite having both fine and gross motor skills issues, compounded by the usual social and communications hassle, he's managed to master riding a bike (five years but he got there), learn to swim (quite well and with good endurance) and has played rugby (in local club teams) for six years. He does weight training three times a week, cardio circuits twice a week, and does cross-country runs three times a week. The mental health workers and psychologists who work with his social skills group say his physical skills are outstanding compared with most Aspies—largely down to his obsession with his getting his form 100% correct. It might take him years to get something right, but if that's what it takes…
However, as he heads into his mid-teens he's finding it increasingly difficult to take part as sport clubs and coaches don't want Aspies (swimming club wouldn't take him, football didn't work, current rugby coach is very negative etc.) The majority of players are very good—seeing his idiosyncracies as no different to the rituals of professional athletes—but club officials and coaches find it too difficult, to challenging and too threatening to have "one of this mental kids" in their sport. On top of that, we're in a rural part of Scotland so there's a shortage of sporting opportunities and facilities. So, I contacted Scottish Disability Sports regional manager to see if there were sports that might be more welcoming/inclusive of Apsies.
I was astonished when she replied to say that autism doesn't fit the disability classifications of the Paralympics and Commonwealth Games, therefore sporting people with autism fall outwith the remit of Scottish Disability Sports. I find it bizarre that people with autism are regarded as able bodied when it comes to sport—the condition is known to be associated with deficiencies in motor skills, compounded by communication and social skills issues, but it's not seen as a sporting disability.
So, if Scottish Disability Sports can't help as autism isn't a sporting disability, what are we supposed to do to help our son get into a sport that's genuinely inclusive of Aspies?
I'm wondering if there is a general problem with Scottish organisations and services not applying the rules when it comes to Asperger's and autism.
I am having lots and lots of problems with the NHS, you have had problems with a school and now sport too.
I wonder if there needs to be something done so that organisations know their responsibilities when it comes to discrimination and reasonable adjustments. It looks to me like things are not happening as they should in Scotland and that it is just individuals complaining that get things to change, but the change is only for the individual and it doesn't last long (you mentioned backsliding, and I have found this too. Lots of apologies and promises which come to nothing, and you start from the begining every time you go somewhere new) and doesn't transfer to anyone else with Asperger's/autism. There are lots of rules and regulations but if the people on the ground refuse to implement them except when a complaint goes in then it is no good, plus the complaint process is very very long and so stressful that it totally ruins your life (that is my experience of the complaints process), and the autism charities are not there to help you as an individual they only give advice you can get from the internet, you are on your own.
Anyway, maybe the Scottish Strategy for Autism is just not working if no-one is overseeing that it, and the Discrimination Act, are actually implemented.
I'm wondering if there is a general problem with Scottish organisations and services not applying the rules when it comes to Asperger's and autism.
I am having lots and lots of problems with the NHS, you have had problems with a school and now sport too.
I wonder if there needs to be something done so that organisations know their responsibilities when it comes to discrimination and reasonable adjustments. It looks to me like things are not happening as they should in Scotland and that it is just individuals complaining that get things to change, but the change is only for the individual and it doesn't last long (you mentioned backsliding, and I have found this too. Lots of apologies and promises which come to nothing, and you start from the begining every time you go somewhere new) and doesn't transfer to anyone else with Asperger's/autism. There are lots of rules and regulations but if the people on the ground refuse to implement them except when a complaint goes in then it is no good, plus the complaint process is very very long and so stressful that it totally ruins your life (that is my experience of the complaints process), and the autism charities are not there to help you as an individual they only give advice you can get from the internet, you are on your own.
Anyway, maybe the Scottish Strategy for Autism is just not working if no-one is overseeing that it, and the Discrimination Act, are actually implemented.
