'Access' needs to mean more than just wheelchair access

[donkeyderby]

As I am sure some of you know, when you have a child with severe learning disabilities, or severe autism, so many activities and places can be inaccessible, despite the presence of ramps, disabled loos and hearing loops etc.

I am struck by the difficulties my friends and fellow parent-carers have keeping their severely autistic children safe anywhere. We have recently been on a holiday in a centre especially adapted for disabled people. For wheelchair users, it was great - more hoists than you could shake a stick at - but it was a nightmare for some of the parents whose children are runners with no sense of danger - exits everywhere, straight onto a road and no way of locking the doors from the inside, unsafe light fittings, kitchens with no gates, no stair gates anywhere. I really felt for them because they couldn't relax for a single minute.

It's the same with parks, most holiday homes/caravan parks, leisure centres, cinemas and almost anywhere really, unless it is specifically designed for severely autistic people (where are these places?) or they have constant 1:1's round the clock. Why, for instance, are there more and more wheelchair accessible caravans, but apparently no fences allowed round caravans in most parks?

I would like the concept of 'access' to be officially extended to include this group of children and adults and for every area to have a centre that is truly accessible for them, i.e., completely safe with key pads on the doors, safe fittings, strong furniture etc.

Do the NAS do any work on this? Does anyone know of organisations who work on autism-friendly designs/features in buildings?

Finding out what's at the top of the stairs? Periscope? I've always wanted one for our office, since I find stairs a bit of a challenge some days and suspect that some of my staff may be partying up there

I'm not suggesting limiting support to those with severe needs. I have just found autism specialist schemes to often be inaccessible to ds1 - whilst a ld scheme is more often accessible to all. A locked door for example doesn't prevent anyone with autism accessing it, but locked doors are more common in the learning disability field than the autism one.

Oh I know you dont want that Mrs T- tried to convey my acknowledgement fo that in the post

A wider definition of LD would be nice tbh- ds3 hasnt got officialLD but a locked door is a must: itrs bollcoks SSD crap

My locall hospital that we just had stay in lol accessiable ok am looking from wheelchair point of use but I had lift ds all week he could nit get in garden as very big step playroom to small for wheelchair so it's not rosy in wheelchair world either.let alone ds could not get under any tables with chair to play either ,no one with any makaton or any understanding of it great job of isolation

I've been away so just got back to this thread.

Cinema - ours is called Autism-friendly, but makes a point to say that anyone with a different disability is just as welcome.

2shoes and roundthebend - this thread wasn't meant to alienate those dealing with physical disability. I just want access to include the - large number of - children that are in danger of being injured/killed because they escape from everywhere. Not unreasonable. I wouldn't ever suggest that it's all sorted for you because I know it isn't at all. However, things have got a bit better for wheelchair users and access (speaking as the parent of a child who uses a wheelchair but not full-time) and I can't accept that some modifications shouldn't be made in specific areas for those with other access issues. Examples would be the aforementioned cinema clubs, specialist sessions and centres for children/adults who have not or do not have the capacity to learn about safety. I would not limit these sort of things to those with severe needs, but in my experience, those are the young people who continue to need safety adaptations right into adulthood and who can access almost nothing in mainstream life. Being eligible for a SW does not necessarily solve any of this so while people may fit their criteria, they do not offer much in return IMO.

2shoes: the door should probably be locked for safety from people coming in who shouldn't, which could put all our kids at risk. The 1:1's probably stop the kids from escaping.