So we have a 3 year old son with autism and read that we may be able to get help with an extension through a disabled facilities grant. We contact the council (Middlesbrough) and get passed around being erroneously told that such grants are only for physically disabled children! Eventually an Occupational Therapist comes out to visit us. As soon as she walks through the front door she tells us we will NOT get an extension or a grant. We smile politely in an attempt to keep her on-side. Our son was having a meltdown when she arrived and she looked at him with contempt making various comments about how difficult 'they' were. She goes through the motions of an assessment and asks us aggressively 'who told you that autustic children were eligible as I've had another one trying to get a grant and I want to know if there is someone advising you'! She asks all about our other kids and is HORRIFIED when I tell her I co-sleep with my baby and feed her throughout the night. She asks whether we know about other grants such as the Family Fund which we tell her we have already applied to for driving lessons and he tells us we will NOT get them as they don't give grants for them anymore (we have just received confirmation that we have been successful!). The assessment continues in the same vein and she says we won't get a grant but she can give us a step to help out son get in an out of the bath!! When we discuss any issues we have with our son she dismisses them saying her grandsons can be naughty too! She tells us she had attended a talk given by a gentleman with aspergers so she is practically an autism expert! When I point out that our son is nonverbal with classic autism so very different she says that the gentleman she heard speak was a mouthpiece for ALL autistic people! Eventually she leaves (miraculously not in a body bag!).
We speak to her today and she informs us again that we will NOT get a grant and that she has referred us as a social care issue because I breastfeed during the night I must be sleep deprived and therefore can't look after the children properly!!!!! Her daughter doesn't breastfeed her granddaughter during the night so I shouldn't be either!!! So in trying to get a little help we have been left feeling we are terrible parents. I promise you there are NO other issues i have not mentioned, we are in NO way incapable of looking after our children. This OT is mad! We are going to make a formal complaint but I just wanted to vent!
Does anyone have any experience of getting a DFG for an extension for a child with autism?