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

It’s the fact he is a public figure who help draft up the policy and came up with the slogan of stay home that millions of families have stuck to the letter of and then broke it went to see his family.

Sorry it’s out of order.

People have missed funerals and not been able to say bye to loved ones. There have been many threads on here of people struggle with autistic children who aren’t in school. And people who have been desperate to see grandchildren and family members.

It’s never good to destroy trust in government and this is what’s happening here.

By travelling such a long distance while he and/or his wife were ill, I'd argue they put their child in danger by having him in a enclosed space filled with virus for several hours.

Never mind the poor saps they may have exposed to the virus at toilet stops.

A poster up thread has stated no official statement has been made, so can you tell us where you have got your facts to make this statement OP?
Other people speculating that his child may have autism doesn’t make it true.

I think I would have asked GPs to care for DC in the event that we were both too unwell to care for them, rather than use unknown "community support". My parents would be devastated if I did anything else.

However, they clearly weren't too unwell, GPs should have come to them rather than travel infected, they've lied and changed the story a number of times now, the Spectsor article was deliberately misleading so they obviously knew what they did was wrong, they have family nearby in London, AND THERE ARE OTHER TRIPS that just happen to coincide with family birthdays .

Everyone is so upset about the parenting thing, let's not let them off the hook for the other trips. It may be possible to justify the one when they were ill, if you spin it hard enough, but the others?

I'm beginning to wonder if Wakefield and Cummings were ever ill at all.

Wow the majority on here are just as disgusting as the vile journalists positively foaming at the mouth to get DC in any way shape or form possible! I have an autistic child and I absolutely would drive across the country to be with family that the child is used to and comfortable with in the event that both parents became incapacitated with illness.

Someone is trying to push emotional buttons here...It's not going to wash with parents of disabled children who have zero support at the best of times never mind when someone in the house has suspected Coronavirus!

How would you drive if you were incapacitated?

Do you have a link, OP? I couldn't find anything online other than a few mentions by third parties.

If true, it is disgusting. I have a severely autistic child, lone parents, furlough refused, school place refused (DD has an EHCP) and therefore WFH whilst home schooling a child with complex needs. I have no help or support and I am absolutely drowning. This is the reality for most families with children with SN. We have been left totally behind, on our own and without any support.

It really makes you wonder what is going on if in the face of a serious pandemic, all the journalists can talk about is something that happened weeks ago.

It's not though, is it. It's about something that's going on right now, and has been for some years, which is the domination and manipulation of the UK's political agenda by someone who is (a) unelected, (b) a ruthless ideologue, (c) almost singlehandedly dismantling the structures of government and rebuilding them in ways that enable him to manipulate and monetise affairs of state, with you and me and all our private data as the currency, and (d) now apparently untouchable and above the law. This is an incredibly important story.

@wewillmeetagain - you'd rather drive your child across country to a completely different environment than keep the nanny your child was accustomed to, or ask for help from local family or support groups which would allow you to keep your child in his own house?

@HarrietM87

@Marnie76

Oh no - you misunderstand me

I wasn’t speaking about the rule breaker Cummings

I was addressing @okiedokieme to say that what she was doing wasn’t rule breaking!!

DC is supposed to be the genius mastermind behind everything and yet he can't come up with a sensible plan for his own small nuclear family

Or to potentially isolate his child if he wasn’t already infected?

He stuck his child in a car for 4-5 hours with a person who was already displaying symptoms. How is that protecting him from infection? Surely the guidance says the infected person should stay in their room with the door closed to protect other family members?

And if there is any truth in his wife's account then the son was allowed to play nurse when Cummings fell ill and bring Ribena to his bedside and take his temperature. Totally protecting him there...

If you are running the country, you need to show leadership.

When did "running the country" count as an excuse for not obeying your own laws? Imagine what would have happened in the WW2 if someone high up in government had refused to observe the blackout.

Answering your question, there are two very plausible reasons for him going up north. The first is, as everybody has pointed out, to palm off childcare on a woman (wasn't needed in the end as his wife wasn't that ill). The second was that it was his mother's 71st.

As for the alleged later trip to Barnard's Castle (which the govt have not denied when questioned) that was his wife's birthday.

DC created an expedient solution to his childcare problem.

If everyone who had a childcare problem decided they too would seek their own expedient solution, irrespective of whether it was within the CV guidelines and legislation in force, then the country would not have achieved the results it has in controlling CV spread.

So 10 / 10 to the country for our contribution
and 0 / 10 to DC for his pitiful lack of following his own rules.

All these people driving round incapacitated ... Goodness me, the M1 must be like riding the dodgems

Maybe they have a massive garden

@SorrelBlackbeak yes absolutely. How do you know his parents are not a big influence in his child's life? How do you know they don't look after the child regularly and the child responds very positively to them? It's not always about surroundings and any parent of a child with SN knows that. My grandparents were absolutely fantastic with my ASD child and I would have driven across the country in a heartbeat so he could be with them if I thought I could because seriously ill. In the event they didn't need to but that's life! The majority on here hate him purely because he's a Tory and a brexiteer which is akin to being Satan in some people's eyes, the press hates him because he doesn't tolerate their bullshit so have blown this up way bigger than need be! In fact I think this whole pandemic has shone a light on what a nasty bunch of vermin the media really are!

It has never at any point been acceptable for people who have Coronavirus to leave home. This wasn't just someone bending rules, this was someone knowingly infected with Coronavirus travelling to another part of the country. There are agencies in place to help people, they have family and friends in London and they would have had access to help through Downing Street.

By her own account in the article she wrote for the Spectator Mary Wakefield wasn't that ill. Little Cedd was nursing daddy and feeding him Ribena. She implied, although it wasn't explicitly stated, that they spent their quarantine in London.

They went because they wanted to. They don't think that the rules for ordinary people apply to them. And clearly they don't, because our PM said that Cummings hadn't broken any rules and had behaved with integrity.

I was furious at the weekend and emailed my MP. If I lived in Durham and knew anyone with Coronavirus I'd be incandescent with rage.

It's indefensible and it stinks.

What I don't get is that they went there for childcare but did they actually use any childcare?

@ploopmoop apparently they had no contact with family other than food deliveries to the doorstep- so no childcare was required as they looked after the child themselves

I have 2 childrem with autism and all their routine has changed over night . My son has severe asthma as well so haven't been anywhere for weeks and weeks . He isn't in the shielding group as his medication changed a little this year. So we have struggled a lot to get food in help make a new routine manage medication and anxiety. We have had to plan wnat we would do if someone one got I'll with a very at risk child in our small house with no support. Bath routines and managing the separation into another room. The guidace said we could NOT go and take my children to grandparents or anywhere else and wouldn't have .. the stress has been unbelievable and yet.. there are other rules for them.. beyond disgusted

Isn't Cummings himself Autistic? He has zero social skills, no empathy, but incredibly intelligent

I think you should educate yourself about what ASD is before sprouting this BS about. What you describe is NOT autism

@twinnywinny14 thanks that was my understanding but it makes the story even more BS. Don't they have Deliveroo in London?