Parents of children with autism face a postcode lottery which amounts to a "national scandal", author Nick Hornby has said. - 5 April 2009 - The author of About a Boy (http://www.usd.edu/cd/autism/Nick.pdf) said he faced a "total lack of information and advice" when his son Danny was first diagnosed with autism, and little had changed.
One in 10 parents of children with autism have moved house to access better services and many others are left feeling isolated, confused and judged, a survey by TreeHouse, the autism education charity, found.
Mr Hornby, whose son attends a TreeHouse school in north London, said: "When my son was diagnosed with autism there was a total lack of information and advice on what we should do next.
"It seems that little has changed - and that is a national scandal."
The average age of diagnosis varies from under three years to as old as seven years depending on the local authority, information released under a Freedom of Information request by the charity found.
Ian Wylie, chief executive of TreeHouse, said: "These findings reveal a shocking lack of consistency in how local authorities support children with autism and their families, most clearly borne out in the dramatically different ages at which a diagnosis is made."
MY COMMENT - more awareness, support, acceptance.. just to be!! !
"Today I think the word, autism, means confusion. I wish it meant support." I so agree with you, autism awareness should help instigate change, but until everyone starts working together and I agree listening to differing view points and needs, otherwise at times we seem to fight among ourselves just to be heard,personally I feel partly the reason for this is real change can not happen without ASD individuals being involved in every process, there are still in my opinion far too many people wanting us to change, conform rather than understanding, allowing and accepting us for who we are.
As the diagnostic criteria changes it may change the way we describe, think about, measure the autism spectrum disorders, so more than ever we all need to work together. ASD individuals are real people and it's about time the life and sanity of vulnerable people have long overdue support, allowed and recognized "We do have emotions, everyone does some of us just more misread than others!"- and I feel ignorance can no longer be an excuse!
There seems to be lots of support net works, all sorts of support, but the hardest is finding services first not at a huge cost, secondly where we can trust others, not yet more fad treatments... and then what kind of support do you want, really need... not easy, ASD individuals and parents of ASD children really could do with a support person to let us know what support is available, still looking, but really would be nice to be able to get on and live, and/or be a parent...
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Face Book "Alyson Fiona Bradley "
05 Apr 2009, 8:59 pm
