Notice of Open meeting and AGM

Would like to be at this meeting but am unavailable. I would like the Labour Party to:

1) ensure that all autistic children can access an education

2) for those children that cannot cope with mainstream school, and need an education other than at school, to ensure there is funding to provide individualised support, without having to fight for it. This includes a TA or learning support assistant to help access the community. Currently there is a battle between education and social services with no one wanting to foot the bill. It is impossible to get a properly funded personal budget yet this is cheaper in the long run than the issues caused by lack of support leading to expensive specialist placements

3) to recognise the pathological demand avoidance profile and provide support for children with pathological demand avoidance (PDA) and their families. Failure to do so results in autistic pda individuals ending up in expensive out of area placements and at risk of abuse or poor quality care. Parents cannot access respite and are burnt out and this also increases the risk of being placed in care which is more expensive

4) to streamline the diagnosis process, and create a holistic approach where multiple assessments are conducted at once rather than the fragmented current system where you may wait 4 years or more for an autism diagnosis and then wait in another list for years for an adhd assessment when it is common to have both. Currently the lives of children are being devastated by the lack of joined up comprehensive support and educational provision for autistic children which leads to late diagnosis and a failed education, which impacts future prospects. These are children’s lives and futures we are talking about.

5) A better understanding and support for autistic individuals with co occurring anxiety and mental health issues we current provision is inadequate and patchy

6) better advocacy services for autistic people and their families. This may have to be long term until the system is fixed as currently short term advocacy doesn’t scratch the service

7) a better awareness that neurodivergence is not limited to autism, and includes other differences such as adhd and developmental trauma such as CPTSD

8) an awareness that having to fight for services for your child is traumatic and leave parents with symptoms consistent with ptsd – (there is research on this). Services should support and should actively prevent the traumatisation of those they are meant to support

I am happy to discuss these ideas further at another time