They don't care if I live or die

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I have moderate difficulty with most aspects of daily living, and would require support to live independently (I tried living semi-independently for a while and it resulted in losing too much weight). I don't function well in employment, but am able to work intermittently. There has been much misunderstanding in the workplace. To access the career for which I'm qualified would involve having someone accompany me to conferences when necessary, and also assistance with speech in certain circumstances. The social isolation also needs to be adddressed. To get a thorough idea of support needs, an assessment of need would be my first requirement. The clinic they keep refusing to fund has expertise in HFA/AS and does a thorough assessment of need, provides short-term support for some needs, and provides advice on the future services required.

The above would be the broad requirements to enable me to live independently. The autism bill contained a definition of independent living that summed it up very nicely, and I'm going to put it somewhere in my reply to the authorities:

“independent living” means persons with autism enjoying the same choice, freedom, dignity, control and substantive opportunities as persons who are not disabled.



Thanks. I will investigate that.



DLA is another avenue to pursue. I looked it up, but cannot find anywhere that specifies whether they can provide assistance for me to live independently unless I already am and am struggling with it.



It's also a good idea to inform the local MP of the current refusal of funding.



Not currently; will investigate that. A couple of years ago, there were enough problems for me to be referred to secondary mental health services, but they were really poor. They provided only short-term contact with the service, completely missed the autism, provided inappropriate therapy, and did not conduct a care plan approach assessment, which I later learned they were required to do. Their idea of case management involved telling me to go back to my GP if my situation deteriorated. Because, currently, my mental health problems are at a minimum, it would be very difficult to access mental health support. Last year, when my symptoms increased, I tried to access mental health services again, but was only given primary level care (which, like secondary services, are not tailored to the needs of autistics.)



Yes, that's something I intend to try. The local social services do provide domiciliary care, but give the impression it's difficult to acquire. And there's the issue that someone might already have to be struggling with living independently (to receive it) that I'm unsure about. They might provide a contingency plan for such if they deem a person eligible for a care plan.

Yes. And while things such as low IQ or anxiety can occur in the same autistic individual, they cannot seem to separate them from the autism like they do with other conditions.

The authorities are basing their refusal of autism services for me on the fact that I have anxiety. They cannot accept that unsupported autism alone can cause my difficulties, in spite of all the evidence.

I found out by chance that, according to their code of conduct, they are supposed to provide a full and well-researched explanation when responding to complaints. However, I went through their reply thoroughly and they don't do this at all or address the numerous points I brought up about my case. They simply cite the reason for the second refusal as being the same as for the initial refusal, add a few false statements, and don't provide valid counter-arguments.