Blue badge for ASD?

[MyThreeChickens]

Hi, my 4 year old son has ASD. I went to a SEN conference recently and was describing how difficult it is going out with him as he often refuses to walk, and has no safety awareness so runs off into the road etc. Buggies are useless as he manages to tip himself over, and screams himself silly so that he eventually passes out. I do often use reins just as it makes it easier to 'drag' him with, to a degree. As he is getting bigger and heavier i am finding it harder to cope with him physically. Someone at the conferences suggested i apply for a blue badge, but im not sure? I thought that as he can physically walk and there is no physical disability with his legs then theres no way he would get one. I just had a quick look online to see if it was worth applying and at the end it said you may be eligible but might require a mobility assessment. How would that work? Would they come out on a car trip with me to see what its like? Or simply assess if he can walk across a room, which he can? I dont want to waste anyones time applying for it to be a pointless exercise. If anyone has any experience in this situation id appreciate your input, thanks.

My son got a blue badge at three as he gets the high rate mobility part of dla. He might have dyspraxia too but he physical is able bodied. But he just doesn't / can't walk by roads. In safe parks when there is no chance of escaping he might walk for a fair distance. All that went into my dla application. But it's the rolling about in the road and slapping cars, strangers etc that they take into account.

To be honest walk isn't correct - he runs on reins. My 12 year uses him like a sledge husky in the park

High rate mobility DLA is the gateway that allows an automatic blue badge. The online application process does make it more difficult than previously when your GP would supply a statement.

My daughter has had a blue badge from age 5, she has severe learning difficulties but can walk, although often refuses and has no road safety awareness. On the last renewal when she was 16 it was declined. I had to supply additional Physio and OT reports to get it.

The online blue badge application only seems to cover ability to walk and so bear that in mind if you don't get high rate mobility.

I applied for higher rate mobility last spring but was turned down. I explained how most of the time he refused to walk anywhere, how he was a danger to himself and to others, etc but they said because he was under 5 he couldnt get it, so i just thought that was the end of it. just thought i would look into it even just walking down the street is a nightmare with him, he just goes all wobbly and falls over, crashes into things, or tries to run off. Is it worth applying dirctly to blue badge issuers or not?

If he is five soon, it is probably easier to try and get the higher rate DLA mobility and then apply.

I had careers support help me with my form. I was shocked when he got hrm but no ones else in his care was suprised.

But he's in a asd nursary and had feet funding from his second birthday. Maybe that helped?

I know a couple that get it that shouldnt and itd all wrong.

Yes Shazza. Information you spray liberally all over every board. Quite how that has a place on a SN support board I don't know?

You can get high rate mobility under 5 for asd, but they need to meet the smi rules (severe mental impairment). You need to be on high rate care and they need to have a diagnosis of asd or other evidence of a neurological condition or severe learning disability. They need to require constant 1 to 1 supervision and they usually require an ehcp as evidence or / and a specialist education provision. You can read the criteria on the contact a family website, they have a whole section on claiming high rate mobility for asd / learning disabilities. Might be useful if you want to try again.

(Sorry just thought I would comment about that, obviously you can apply for a blue badge without hrm as you know).

AfAIK you can only get HRM for ASD if it is accompanied by severe intellectual impairment/severe learning disability.

As Fairylea said.

Ds only gets middle rate care. But it must be his special nursary place that got him the HRM.
But he's got a genetic issue. I guess it becomes less of a fuzzy area at that point. But at the end of the day although his legs work reasonably well ( bar the possibly dyspraxia thing) his brain isn't telling him to walk. He was diagnosed at three and under a neurologist at 15 months.

I presume he is at the worse end if the spectrum hence the hrm. He isn't destined to to live a Independant life type functioning and certainly not mainstream " he's just a naughty little boy there's nothing wrong with him" type kid

Although I'm sure my LA will possibly try that at some point.