I've seen first hand, just in the last few months, how hard the cuts have actually affected our community. I called the police last Saturday night as there was a fight going on in the street that I could see from my bedroom window, one guy sitting on top of another punching his lights out. We live 200 yards from a police station. I got put ON HOLD to 999 and the call wasnt answered for 5 minutes. The police eventually showed up 40 minutes later by which time these guys were long gone. They were pretty fed up tbh, the first thing they did was knock on our door and apologise. Which was totally unnecessary, but they said there's simply not enough staff. Our station apparently is no longer open outside limited business hours. How safe does that make you feel? Put on hold for an emergency call?
The second is more personal. Our son has asd. Very obviously has asd, as in, a few. Knifes spent with him makes it very very clear. He's 9 years old and was only diagnosed last year after a long, hard and tbh quite bitter fight. The stuff on the news last week about ccgs trying to limit asd diagnoses struck a chord here as we suspected it was already happening. The CAMHS here regularly shuts it's waiting list for referrals for a year at a time. Over Christmas, our ds was saying he wanted to kill himself. There was NO HELP. At all. There are no resources for our kids. And this isn't just us, this story is standard. The fight for diagnosis and then the fight for support.
The local authority is responsible for giving children with additional needs an EHCP, what used to be called a statement. This costs them money and it's no surprise they don't give it willingly. That was another 18 month fight. Everyone I know whose child has been granted one is now fighting for it to be implemented properly. Again, fighting.
Which brings us on to schools. Our school is an academy and tbh it's been a disaster. We're on our third head since last summer and the school is now run like a business, the most important thing is the bottom line, and any child who isn't standard, run of the mill, is feeling the pressure and lack of support. We've lost about 20% of TAs, which again disproportionately affects those with additional needs.
I was in A&E twice last September and saw the absolute chaos caused by too many patients and too few doctors. The staff were amazing, and saved my life in absolutely awful circumstances. But god the women who were bringing me back to life at 9pm were stil on shift well into the next morning, and there simply weren't enough of them to cover the wad. I was readmirted a week later and saw bed blocking in action. I was one of them. I was put in a side ward after a&e assessment (my go sent me there btw, I felt fine) and told there were no doctors to discharge me so I'd have to wait til morning. My husband took me home as it had already been established that I was fine. The ward was full of mostly confused old women and it was truly awful. But again, a lack of social care meant there was nowhere else for them to be.
All of this stuff is very real and very frightening. It scares me how many of my friends, who should know better, who DO know better, because their experiences with their dc are the same as mine, say they won't vote, or that they don't understand what politics has to do with them. It has everything to do with all of us. This government has actively taken away the services and support that my child needs. Fuck that. That's not ok, never will be ok. Anyone who looks around them and sees what's going on, and still votes Tory is a bit of a dick, a fantasist, or an ostrich imo. Or loaded.