My ds is 19 and I'm currently trying to get documentation together so I can apply for ESA for him.
But I'm having problems with the bank. I'm a joint account holder on ds's children's account. The bank won't upgrade his account to an adult one unless I bring him into the branch with 2 forms of ID. He has no ID. He's severely autistic, with OCD, no verbal communication at all and very violent tendencies and a visit to a bank would be impossible because of this. He's in residential care and needs 2:1 support 24 hours a day. I went into the bank to explain all this and was met with 'you must bring him in', 'he must have ID' and the only way to get past this is to apply for power of attorney, which I can't afford to do. So he's stuck with a child's account, with my name on it and if I was to die that account would be frozen so he'd not be able to get access to any money in it.
I've tried to find a way to email the bank to see if they might be able to be more helpful but I can't find an email for them. I tried their facebook page but it won't let me leave a comment.
I'm really disappointed that they don't seem to recognise communication disorders as a disability.