We've got a massive great thread on this board about accommodating wheelchair users on buses but I don't recall seeing anything on such a scale about hidden disabilities such as autism.
Tourist attractions, hotels etc nearly always publicise how they can accommodate visitors who use a wheelchair or guide dog but nothing for those who may have difficulty with crowds, need routine etc.
A friend of mine who has Aspergers got ridiculed by his employer for it and bullied out of his job. I doubt that colleagues would have stood by and let someone with a physical disability be treated in this way. His condition also meant that he couldn't face going to a tribunal.
Another ASD friend got forced out of a job because he was having difficulty dealing with people. The employer's attitude being that he could be "normal" if he tried hard enough.
A local man with autism got forced off a bus after failing to understand a figure of speech from the driver who then jeered at him along with other passengers and told to pull himself together.
Despite having Aspergers myself I got accused of being anti-disabled after saying that a wheelchair user had made a nuisance of himself. The statement had nothing to do with his disability and everything to do with his insulting and bad mouthing my colleagues.
Parents whose children have autism/ADHD being called bad parents because of the way the child is or abruptly told to give them a good clout to cure them. Explanations about the child's disability get met with "He doesn't look disabled!". I don't remember the last time some one was called a bad parent because their child was visually impaired or told to cure their spina-bifida with a good clout.
Worker at theme park saying that he could only allow a disabled person and one other individual on to ride through the exit to a group of 4 (one of whom with ASD/anxiety and another in wheelchair) and expected person with anxiety to get in crowded queue whilst allowing wheelchair user on.
DH's aunt (who knows I have ASD) saying it was extra good to see BIL at family party when he had recently had surgery. Seeing me was only good despite awkwardness with social situations.
AIBU?
To be sick of hidden disabilities getting overlooked
ProudAS · 02/01/2013 16:59
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
My Ds was born at 28 weeks, and, as a result, he has health problems which aren't always obvious.
For starters he has Chronic Lung disease, and Restrictive Airway Syndrome, and asthma as well. He has all sorts of allergies- these get a 
look from some people who feel we are being ott. He is severely allergic to peas, nuts (and their oils) every type of fish there is, and egg yolks when not cooked. He has intolerance to wheat as well. However, if we take him with us and dd for a meal, and ask about the food available, you often get withering looks. One silly woman in a cafe once said I was "daft" as "who'd ever heard of a kid who can't eat fish fingers?"
Of course, the lung and breathing issues are the worst for him especially. He cannot be as active as some children when he has a bad period. The nursery he just left, well, they expected him to go outdoors in damp weather, and it took months to remind them that damp will irritate him. I even had a paramedic tell me off for calling him an ambulance (we had no car at the time, it was 10pm at night) as he was having an asthma attack and wasn't responding to his inhalers as he "didn't look that bad" (this was after he'd been on a nebuliser).
The whole change to DLA scares me so much. We did used to receive the "Care" part- his Restrictive Airway illness is worse at night as he snuggles down flat, no amount of propping him up works and as a result we both end up shattered throughout Winter especially. This was stopped last year and, on phoning them at the end of my tether (appeal took between June and January) I was told "all parent's have to look after their children, most don't expect to be paid for it". Ds is very different to dd, I didn't claim as some deadbeat who was interested in the money, more as we have been around the country to different consultants (got us nowhere). In the end they allowed us motability, but I dare say that will be clawed back as soon as they see fit. Having a car (which we couldn't afford before) has helped alot- his attendance this time last year was 51%, its now 73.8%, so not having to walk everywhere in all kinds of weather has helped. But now the last consultant we saw has signed him back to our GP, as he couldn't offer any further help bar what we are already doing (inhalers, steroids when necessary and daily doses of medication to ward off allergy attacks), this will be used against him by the DWP.
I hate the government's and general consensus that as they are our dcs, we should just get on with it. I hate that unless a child has a visible disability you are seen as a bit neurotic for voicing concerns.
As I always say, if ds was in a wheelchair, no one would say anything untoward.
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Ds is hypermobile and has trouble walking/standing for longer than a few minutes as his ankles are weak and cause pain. The bus we catch to school is always rammed and there's often no where for him to sit because people who look healthy have taken them all. I have to stand next to him and watch as the colour drains from his face. 
I've asked people to move a few times so that he can sit down, it's not the greatest feeling.
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