Dominic Cummings using his child's autism as an excuse

[Almahart]

So it looks as if the next excuse to be wheeled out is that Dominic Cumming's child is autistic.

My child is autistic. I know many families with autistic children.

This is what I have heard of happening for these families during Coronavirus:

• no school (yes I know schools should be taking vulnerable children. But many are not)
• no respite
• no transport to school even if they are open
• regular activities cancelled
• the fear that provision provided by local authorities through Education Health and Care Plans and suspended under the Coronavirus Act will slowly disappear

I know of many single parents alone with their child who are seriously struggling and who did not break the rules during lockdown.

To use autism as an excuse is beyond low. It is revolting and has made me even angrier than I was before

"As for the person saying her child lives in care and u havent seen him for months bring him home!! How cruel to let a child live in care when u can watch them if u say how hard and unmanageable it is then u dont dispute dominic for taking his child to gos parents for some support."

He has a 4 year old not an older child ( probably teenager) with very complex needs who is living in a specialist environment because that is necessary to meet their needs.

Your "cruel" comment is incredibly ignorant. Some children need a lot more support than "watching".

MeganBacon He hasn't stated it - that isn't the way Cummings operates. He has seeded the rumour via social media that this might be the medical reason which Bozo alluded to.

The rules were relaxed for those with disabilities but it doesn't alter the key rule where symptoms of CV were present - isolate along with your household.

I genuinely don’t understand how stupid these people think we are. Surely a diagnosis of autism by its very definition means anyone with that diagnosis feels safest and is least likely to be kicking off if in their usual routine. So the most sensible thing a parent of an autistic child could do is shove them in a car to be cared for somewhere else by someone else. Not. So as well as being a liar and manipulator, he is also an utterly useless parent.

It appears that Cummings supporters are saying it on Twitter, @Megan

He’s qualified. He was hired fairly. He does his job to a good standard

Are you America, are you mixing him up with Trump? The statement applies exactly as much as it would do to TheDonald

Who has said tbe child is on the spectrum? Where is this next piece of bullshit coming from?

Yeah - it's not at all clear where the autism reference came from.

A few people trying to source it - but no luck so far. See tweets below...

twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/1264838102817873922

C8H
I found the interview with Cummings' parents quite revealing. His mother effectively saying he should get a free pass because his uncle died

Yes, newspapers quoted her as saying his decision to travel North coincided with his uncle's death and she wished people would be 'cognisant of that fact'.

Cummings's uncle John Laws died on the 5th of April. In London.

Cummings and family were in Durham by them. And had been for a week.

So why did he load his child and Covid-afflicted wife into the car on March 27/28th and drive 260 miles to Durham?

For childcare, which they then didn't need - as Cummings 'collapsed' and 'had spasms' with Covid at the end of March as he 'lay doggo' and was looked after by the very child they'd needed to protect, according to his wife's article in the Spectator?

For help with shopping, which they could have got from nearby family or from the neighbourhood scheme operating in their actual street?

To be with family to mourn the death of his uncle, which - errrr - hadn't happened at that point?

He and his wife and the various family members haven't really got their stories very straight, have they?

He and his wife and the various family members haven't really got their stories very straight, have they?

Definitely not. It's a case of what else can we use to make their actions more acceptable, without actually thinking about timelines / facts.

Who has said tbe child is on the spectrum? Where is this next piece of bullshit coming from?

Obviously I don't know if it's true, odd that it has been corrected though if not, but something in the way BJ spoke yesterday immediately jumped out to me that this was the case. I don't remember the exact words but I thought this yesterday afternoon.

He’s qualified. He was hired fairly. He does his job to a good standard.

Thanks for the chuckle.

The reason DC went to Durham is not as relevant as the lying and ducking that has gone on since.

Also, maybe there was a reason he needed to check on his parents? I don't know.

He has a sister who lives close to his parents. Why would he need to check on them? Presumably he can use the phone.

Anyway, it would be actively insane to go and check on your vulnerable parents when you yourself live with someone who is infectious.

The autism thing started by someone bullshitting that "it was said on LBC" - funnily enough the account is now deleted.

See:

twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/1264838102817873922

Healthy and happy

Completely unnecessary.

He hasn't stated it - that isn't the way Cummings operates. He has seeded the rumour via social media that this might be the medical reason which Bozo alluded to.
So basically, we don't know that his son has autism, we don't know that even if he did, he would use it as an excuse, we don't know that he seeded it (given the response on these threads, it is far more likely I would guess to have been seeded by his opponents than his supporters. Basically there is a ton of outrage on mumsnet about things that no-one knows are true. Does no-one feel played?

As for the person saying her child lives in care and u havent seen him for months bring him home!! How cruel to let a child live in care when u can watch them if u say how hard and unmanageable it is then u dont dispute dominic for taking his child to gos parents for some support

How dare you? Do you know what’s involved in a child going into residential care due to disabilities? The agony of making such a decision and the extreme circumstances a parent must survive for years before this is even an option? If PP’s DD could be at home, that’s where she would be. You are beyond ignorant.

Yes I think a lot people feel played Megan. Played that DC went 260 miles for childcare/food deliveries and not for a jolly to his mum's birthday and a leisurely walk around Barnard Castle.

Does no-one feel played?

Yes I do actually, by Mary Wakefield and her bullshit Spectator article, and by Johnson and his bullshit daily briefing yesterday.

I also think Mary Wakefield played us with a fictional article about their experience of Lockdown in London.

Well said, SinkGirl

Totally agree.

How does a 4 year old care for a sick dad with a highly contagious illness and why would they need to when mum was there and grandparents close by ?

Somebody else has pointed this out on social media in his defence - he hasn’t personally mentioned anything about autism

How does a 4 year old care for a sick dad with a highly contagious illness and why would they need to when mum was there and grandparents close by ?

Tended to him and fed him Ribena, according to the Wakefield article. But a careful omission of any mention of where they were. Heavy implication that they were at home, given that they apparently ‘emerged’ into ‘London lockdown’.

The best bit in her article was when she sought to preach to dual COVID parents and single parents as to how to get through it. Without saying what her real method was. If true. I'm if the camp that wonders whether one or both of them was never Ill. People like gove got easy access to testing. Why not Cummings? Because he didn't need it lol. And then there is the interesting comment in the Wakefield argument words to the effect of "isn't it funny how no two patients have similar symptoms so you can't chime in with friends experiences". Meaning a few preparatory stories were spun and she described unlikely symptoms to friends then didn't want to be called out on that retrospectively.

As a parent of asd kids i would like to thank the poster for the reference about the exception to lockdown litigation in early April, learnt too late for my own use. But I suspect that will fit nicely into the Cummings narrative if we get to the point that he is discredited in calling witnesses and police liars.