Anyone else noticing the uptick in open hostility towards people with ASD?

[FFSakeDrinkSake]

As the title says. It feels like it's open season recently. In the last few weeks alone I've seen many threads questioning the validity of Asd, the credentials of those diagnosing the condition, the 'explosion' of diagnosis', the 'fact' that you qualify for extra benefits if you are autistic and/or have ADHD, the apparent drain on resources kids with ASD have on the educational sector depriving others and most recently the idea that someone (self diagnosed) can 'outgrow' autism. Most of which contain the worst misinformation about what we're trying to deal with on a daily basis and making it sound like we're just trying to .. i dont even know tbh.. scam our way through life?

Disclaimer NATAAT.

Well not having an education my child can access will mean they will have to live on benefits. So one way or other society pays the bill. I'd rather they paid it through giving them an education so they could grow up and contribute to society

No, parents should accept that in choosing to have a child, there's the potential for ND.

Schools not making cost free adaptions are stupid and need calling out. But ime schools bend over backwards to try and accommodate children. Then next week, the adjustment isn't enough and the child/parent wants more. Not all parents and not all children, but the list of interventions/adaptions some children have is huge, and there's little improvement in their behaviour.

Oh, I know. Sadly I think those that do are the exception

Well yes the idea if an adaption doesn't work you need to try something different.
I'm sure ramp angles were perfect from the get go but over time they worked out what angle of ramp was needed to suit all types of wheelchair. They didn't give up and say we tried, it's not our fault your chair doesn't manage the ramp get on with it

I've taught in UK secondary schools for a decade and a half and I haven't seen that at all (maybe a little in the expensive private one but if needs were great, they'd be required to employ a one to one at their own expense).

State schools don't make loads of adaptations! And parents have a very limited amount of influence.

Meanwhile local authorities are getting away with awful stuff and wasting taxpayers' money routinely on legal cases they can't win.

Parents are not the enemy here.

And there comes a point where you've tried everything. You're one frazzled human teaching multiple classes with multiple different needs and you're fed up with Fred's apparent adjustments changing every 4 weeks. Especially when (despite all promises from Fred) none of his behaviour changes.

I agree with PPS that the school offer needs to be different. Classrooms don't suit everyone. But nor does inclusion in mainstream education. Kids are more excluded by mainstream than ever because there are so many different needs.

To be fair, it's a small minority of parents like this, but they are there. They're loud and proud and vocal about how shit teachers are and how their child is the second coming. The loud and proud brigade dont help when it comes to people's perception of ASD.

Majority crack on with their day.

Well my child doesn't cause problems with behaviour. So their needs go un noticed. Years behind their peers and won't ever catch up as deemed not to need support.

Are the adaptions/interventions about improving behaviour. I dont mean that snarkily. It's just my son has lots of adaptions/interventions that aren't really about improving his behaviour. So if that was the measure for if they worked, you'd be very disappointed. He is at a special school though.

I think its very sad that limited resources pit parents against schools. I've seen schools with amazing practice and schools that are terrible. I've seen reasonable parents and parents that it's not safe to have on site.

👏

I've seen it in the workplace no empathy and no patience . Yes people should be able to work Independently but a little bit of support would help people with Asd achieve that .

Dc adaptations have nothing to do with behaviour, they are to enable them to learn. I'd imagine this is the case for the majority.

Parents aren't, the government is.

Improving behaviour is often the measure for children that are so dysregulated they are stopping those around them learning.

There are obviously cases where behaviour improvement isn't the goal. Those needs are usually much easier to meet in a classroom. Things like key words, printed resources, Pre draw diagrams, phonics to decode new words etc.

There seems to be a big uptake of adults self-diagnosing which I'm not sure is helpful or just an excuse for their behaviour eg we all have idiosyncrasies but it doesn't mean we're on the spectrum.
I'm not even sure of the purpose of genuine adult diagnoses.....if you suspect you are then you'll know the answers to the questions a psychologist would ask already.
I'm a bit odd and suspect if I'd seen someone as a child I might fit the criteria of something - dyscalculia, at least, but it wasn't invented in the 80s/90s - so I was just an enigma, good at everything except maths, sense of direction, common sense.
I'm just not sure how beneficial a diagnosis as an adult is - I just say "I'm crap at maths/ can't read a map/ follow directions/get stressed over little things" etc etc I wouldn't say (even if I was) "I'm 'on the spectrum' so you'll have to excuse all my annoying foibles!" anyway.

I'm not even sure of the purpose of genuine adult diagnoses.....if you suspect you are then you'll know the answers to the questions a psychologist would ask already.

It helps find coping strategies if you know what is exactly wrong with you. When learned that i have clinical depression, most likely - hereditary, it helped me to see thing and address my feelings more clearly, rather than "i hate the world".

I'm not even sure of the purpose of genuine adult diagnoses.....if you suspect you are then you'll know the answers to the questions a psychologist would ask already.

It’s not a pass or fail verbal examination 🙄

@shrunkenhead if you suspect you are then you'll know the answers to the questions a psychologist would ask already.

Tell me you have absolutely no experience of the autism assessment process, without telling me you have absolutely no experience of the autism assessment process...

@CatkinToadflax I'm really sorry to hear you went through that such a horrible shitty situation and I'm glad you're son has finally got the help he needs.

I, along with lots of my NHS colleagues, are very worried about the huge increase in diagnoses and what often seems like misdiagnoses (many now sought privately).

Not concerned for any reason other than it resulting in less resources for those who really need it. 4-5 year waiting lists.

I'm not anti ASD, in fact, I'd go far out of my way to help anyone with additional needs, whatever that looks like. I just think there's finite resources and someone's got to manage it. I think social media and the internet is a lot to blame in spreading fear and misinformation (I get the irony as I'm on Mumsnet!).

I may be wrong of course, but I don't think there's anything wrong in people noticing social trends.

Are you an NHS clinical psychologist or psychiatrist?

And yet the last governements great idea to save money was to reduce the number of ehcps and force more and more kids in to mainstream without funding any support. I know of non verbal asd kids, learning difficulties and doubly incontinent where the la is saying that mainstream can meet needs and they need to try two terms without support first to see how they get on and if an ehcp is required. The kids actual needs don’t change just becuase the powers that be say mainstream can meet needs, it’s short sighted at best and quite frankly dangerous to have a teacher with a child with no understanding in their class with no support when they have 29 other kids to looks after

Everyone says nobody fakes autism, I hate to break it to you but I know for a fact that's not true.
I know someone who told her child what to say before the assessments, she gave her a script for the doctors, I overheard her doing it, confronted her and she fell out with me.
The assessors decided her DD wasn't autistic, she caused a holy show (as usual) stamped her feet, ranted and raved and got the decision overturned. Her DD received the diagnosis. The first thing she did was apply for DLA. The forms must have been full of lies.
I spent a lot of time with her DD, I witnessed this abuse first hand at close proximity. She's not autistic, she's traumatised by her mother.

This can't be a one off. It has made me very dubious of the assessment process. Those who shout the loudest get what they want, the genuine people in the trenches are too tired to fight.

what @RunningThroughMyHead said.

@Laughingoverspiltmilk so tell me what does the adult diagnosis process involve if it's not a string of questions and activities and "how do you feel about....?", "on a scale of one to ten...." etc etc

The GP can refer to a paediatrician for a general developmental assessment, so can an OT or a speech therapist or a health visitor. From this the paediatrician will decide to discharge, monitor, or transfer to the SOCA (social commuinication assessment) pathway.