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

What a disgusting OP he has not used his child's autism he hasn't even mentioned it! He drove to an isolated house when his wife had mild symptoms and he did the right thing anyone of us worried about the care of our child would do the same if there was a separate house near parents and siblings available. On a parenting site the abuse these parents have faced is disgusting and the only reason is he's a Leave architect.

Demolition my DS was diagnosed at about 4. sadly yes indeed often a long drawn out process if going through NHS referrals but we ended up paying a private specialist. I expect DC probably went private also if his child has a diagnosis.

Nice of him to use it as an excuse to save his own skin though, when actually it is his child's private business.

But if their child requires care then surely getting that care from grandparents is well within the rules? There’s no need to crucify the guy when he hasn’t actually done anything wrong just because some people made up an extreme version of the rules in their heads and stuck to them religiously.

ultimately to assist running our country for the greater good.

You’re funny!

InfiniteSheldon 😂😂😂. You're joking, right? Have you read the papers? I think you may be the only person in the entire country defending this prick right now. It's not really a 'parenting site' thing...

He has family living nearby. He didn't need to drive all that distance to get care from people that are over 70.

Wah, wah he's helping to run our country.

Then he of all people should understand the lockdown rules and the importance of following them. He is not the fucking exception.

Does anyone else remember when lockdown started and MN was flooded with people asking "but can I still do this?" and the answer was always no. Everyone should be obeying the lockdown.

So angry. So many people dying alone, so many children missing school and grandparents. And he does what he wants.

Sickening.

If half the resources they were using to defend DC (all those similarly worded tweets and forum posts, BJ himself to front the briefing) had gone on thinking for two seconds about impact of sending several hundred untested elderly back from hospitals to care homes, perhaps people wouldn’t feel so angry.

Cummings simply doesn't give a shit. He had absolutely no excuse to go up to see his parents.

• His family has two close relatives who live nearby in London
• They have a nanny. Nannies were never stopped from working for one household
• He is a senior government official. If they needed extra help he could just phone up Number 10. In fact if he had a legit reason to go to Durham, Number 10 would have made it happen all above board.

Anyway both the Met and Durham police are now investigating complaints made by members of the public as the PM basically called them as a group liars.

But if their child requires care then surely getting that care from grandparents is well within the rules?

Really? Because I explicitly remember being told by Boris not to go to grandparents for childcare.

Having said that I haven't seen anywhere in the media that Cummings has even mentioned his autistic child yet, so it's a bit over-stepping the mark to say that it looks like that's the next excuse to be wheeled out. If it is, I'll be first in line to throw rocks at bloke given the past couple of months I've been trying to work full-time as a nurse, with an autistic 5 year old and toilet training 3-year old. I'm exhausted but have completely avoided my Mum for the whole lockdown (who used to help us with childcare) so really not an excuse.

So he was really worried that him and his wife would-be extremely ill, and thought ah I'll risk passing it on to my parents who are at greater risk as they are older than me. Or the selfish man thought I want to escape London and wouldn't it be nice to see my parents. Ah here's an excuse.

My child is vulnerable in a different way. There are times it has been really tough and I am scared my son's long term wellbeing has been effected.

But we followed the rules for the greater good. What a fool I was.

Clearly, I have lso been a crap parent to put my own child's needs after the greater good.

@CovidicusRex but they didn’t use childcare and have said they had no contact with his family except for them bringing food. So the childcare wasn’t needed then was it? And we were categorically told that grandparents shouldn’t be looking after children. In an emergency when there is no other option is fair enough but that was not the case here. The government think we are stupid enough to believe it’s ok, but it’s definitely not.

@InfiniteSheldon most of the reasons your post is ridiculous are on this thread but I’ll summarise:

• never mind the architect of Brexit, DC is the architect of the government’s quite simple message: “Stay At Home”. At the very least he broke his own rule.
• even if he had good reasons for doing so his behaviour is hypocritical and damaging to the govt and the country at a time when we need people to follow the rules and our leaders need to set an example. These rules are there to save lives.
• the “good reason” he apparently had doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. He has close family members living minutes from his home in London. He no doubt has paid staff and childcare. He has access to his phone and deliveroo like the rest of us. He didn’t need to be in another distant location to access (a) childcare (that he said he needed but didn’t actually use) and (b) groceries being delivered to the door.
• he made that long journey with a passenger with Covid and knowingly almost certainly infectious with the disease himself (otherwise they wouldn’t have needed to go). There is no way he could have got all the way there without at least one stop on the way for petrol and most likely food/loo breaks. He was therefore endangering the lives of others in full knowledge of what he was doing, and breaking his own rules about self-isolation when symptomatic.
• he has at worst lied and at best obscured the truth by (a) he and his wife writing articles about their illness which imply they were in London the whole time, (b) initially saying they stayed at his parents’ property the whole time before witnesses saw him on at least one day trip miles away and (c) the weird denials about police involvement when his own father seems to have called them. If it was all so legitimate why the dishonesty?
• oh and it turns out that it was his mum’s birthday when he went up the first time and his wife’s on the day trip to Barnard which gives a bit more context to his selfless sacrifice “for the greater good” as one man put it.

Never mind the fact that this man is unelected and posters seem happy to accept that he wields so much power the govt is willing to humiliate themselves defending the indefensible.

@KitKat1985 no, the rules gave an exception to not mixing households for necessary care as oppose to just general child care. Regardless, just because boris said something doesn’t make it a rule. The act allowed for this kind of thing.

@twinnywinny14 dropping off supplies and checking that they’re still alive etc. constitutes care. How do you think other vulnerable people have managed throughout this lockdown? It really is fine. It’s not done anyone any harm. People are just pissed off because they’re been locking themselves in their houses and want everyone else to do the same.

Don’t care.

One of my kids is autistic. Life has been hellish but we have followed the rules.

Fuck him. He can die in a ditch.

Well said.

The idea that autistic children would be best looked after by being taken away from their familiar routine and environment is so laughably crap as an excuse that Cummings' outsiders on social media - including on here - should be ashamed.

How stupid do they think we are.

Outriders not outsiders. Bloody autocorrect fail.

Totally agree, OP.

The 'autistic child' defence is being exploited as an excuse by Boris. (And I say this as the parent of an autistic child myself.)

The rules were unambiguous. Do not travel to a second home. Police were stopping people who attempted it.

It’s not done anyone any harm.

How do you know it hasn't done any harm?

People are just pissed off because they’re been locking themselves in their houses and want everyone else to do the same.

What a ridiculous argument. Yes, people are pissed off because he broke a law they were complying with. The same as people get pissed off when others think they can get away with drunk driving, shoplifting, or committing other crimes.

@CovidicusRex

You're making the same mistake the government has, in thinking people are just pissed off because they're bored at home.

No. People are pissed off because they have lost time with loved ones they will never get back, people have died alone, funerals have been rushed and downsized.

So no I do not buy that this government employee is just and extra special case. He is not. There are hundreds of people in his exact same circumstances I'm sure. And they're doing what they're told. What HE said to do.