Please support people with Autism

[alipaul2]

Hello. I am a parent of a son who has Autism and Epilepsy, age 14 and I am one of the Founders of the Campaign ACT NOW for Autism.

We have a petition running to stop benefit cuts and medical assessments on children and adults who have Autism. We need answers from the government.

Can you please show your support and sign our petition online. Sorry I can't post the link here because of guidelines and I do hope its ok with the moderators to post about us here :)

Please search for 'Act Now for Autism' and your search engine should bring it up. Also note, ANYONE who is 18 and over and a UK resident can sign the petition.

Thanks for your support!

alipaul2, I am sure that you will get a lot of support, there are lots of parents on this board with children who have Autism or other ASD.

Can I ask you why you feel that the risks are specifically for those with ASD? I would think that all of us with children with SN are worrying about the same thing. I for one am. It seems a bit unfair to me that you would be asking support for just one sub-group of a population that is at risk in its entirety. I would feel more comfortable if you were campaigning for the continued support for all children with SN, not just those who happen to have an ASD diagnosis.

My son has Asperger's, which is sometimes referred to as an invisible disability.
If the government wants individuals to prove exactly how disabled they are in order to access benefits and other forms of support, it can be harder to evidence your case if the disability doesn't show up in scans, blood tests, doesn't require medication and presents itself differently in every case, with different support needs.
This is not in any way to imply that trhose with CF, MS, epilepsy etc have it in any way easier to access support, just that possibly it's easier to provide evidence that they have the disability in the first place, and how life-affecting it is.

here, not sure if i am ment to post the link .

I have signed, i have 2 dd's on the spectrum, i worry about my eldest loosing her dla as most of the time she comes accros as being NT, not everyone see's her when she suffers from Anxiety and sleep problems (how would a GP see this?).

Also signed, thanks for the link. It's something I also worry about a lot.

Signed

Signed

Signed :)

Signed :)

Even after i was advised by my all knowing vile neighbour that autistic children should not be entitled to any dla or have a motability car if the child is picked up on transport to and from school.

Should i cancel the Dla or just run her over?

Lougle I think its becuase she is linked to an ASD charity? Lots of specific groups are running their own battles. I know that NAS have been vocal about the number of people with ASD being refused EMA and DLA so could be an offshoot?

The risks are there for all SN, I would suggest they may be higher for those with an invisible SN but there are a lot of those out there.

Will sign it; haven't been able to work since my two were diagnosed and that won't stop just becuase the benefit did! DS1 (the hardest to spot, typically) is up for renewal in June; we're lucky that he now has a statement with constant supervision and support from eating disorder specialist but even then- if it can take a PAediatrican years to diagnose, I am not sure how an unqualified assessor is supposed toa ccurately make decision?

Oh that's right, they're not, the savings through cancelled benefit have already been included in the budget prediction. Silly me!