Disabled Students' Allowance

[Disabled Students' Allowance]

I would bring up any concerns that you have with the assessment. You should get a draft copy of the needs assessment report before it is finalised. It has to work for you really so if there are things that you think are a concern that haven't been addressed I would bring it up. Oops just looked at the date, hope that you managed to sort everything out.

[Claiming DLA for Adults]

Mine is now Indefinite Higher Rate Care and Higher Rate Mobility. With the physical disabilities as well as ASD I should be on Enhanced for both in PIP

[Small Head Circumference and ASD]

I have a very small head. I'm 28 but a lot of my hats are for 8-10 years old. Adult hats are far too big for my head!

[Aspie/Autie usage]

I fear I may be in the minority but I cannot stand the usage of aspie/autie. It feels rather childish to me. I find it really difficult to see past the usage of it, which is really annoying because a lot of the ASD related forums that I go on the majority of people on there use them. I think it makes light of the diagnosis. I respect that people can identify however they like but would rather that people not refer to me as such

[how everyone xmas shopping going?]

Not too badly this year. I've done the majority of mine already! Just a few little bits to pick up. I've wrapped presents for dad, step-mum, brother and sister as I'm going over there in a couple of weeks so needed to have it done before I go there.

[Disappointed with the NAS?]

My experiences of the NAS have been rather mixed. I was a member of their social groups in Bristol and the way that they pulled out when the funding was no longer available was disastrous, they gave us very little notice that it was going to happen and we are still trying to recover from the fallout (18 months later). Not to say that the groups were perfect because the way that they facilitated the groups wasn't brilliant either. They didn't treat their volunteers very well either and have had a lot of complaints from support workers and volunteers alike about the way that they run things.

 

The outreach service provides my support 8hrs a week and it has it's good and bad sides. They have been chronically understaffed for a long time now, yet I don't see that they are making much effort to improve that situation. As soon as they gain a new member of staff, one leaves! It doesn't help that the pay level is so low that a lot of people are put off doing the job. So they never actually get more staff in. Their communication at times has been shoddy to say the least (support turning up late with no warning, last minute cancellations, incorrect information regarding rota times and so on). They have also been rather good at times as well, trying to accommodate all the things I need to go to so that I have support for the important things. They are slowly improving on the communication side of things and I give feedback regularly. They have definitely improved in the 3 years that I have been using them. My alternatives to NAS support would be Brandon Trust (Learning Disabilities) or Second Step (Mental Health), neither of them I've heard particularly good things about locally.

 

So yeah mixed experience with them really.

[travel sickness or motion sickness]

Travel sickness can be related to the poor balance often experienced by an autistic population.

Travel sickness bands sea-bands can be helpful i find but after a while they dig into my wrists.

[Do you get needy - constant reassurance]

I can relate to this. I used to be this way when I was in my teens and early twenties, it's only been the last few years that I haven't needed constant reassurance.

[Think may be entitled to income based ESA]

Although the 16hrs is the maximum you can do there is also a maximum amount of money you can earn too and that amount is not very much.

[Think may be entitled to income based ESA]

You can claim ESA or JSA and live at home with parents. I think it's only HB you can't claim while living with parents as it will already be covered if your parents are getting housing benefit themselves. Yes you are right about working tax credits, you can only claim it if you are working a minimum of 16hrs for disabled people. I would definitely contact the job centre as there are some complicated rules when it comes to permitted work, has to be below a certain amount of hours and money. Unfortunately as seems to be the case if autistic people do get ESA they are more likely to be put in the WRAG unless they have other disabilities that put them in the Support Group.

[Food Banks]

One of my support workers volunteers at a food bank in Yate in her spare time.

[NAS community outreach]

I'm not sure. I think they have a page on the NAS website.

[Diagnosed Last Week, Hi!]

Hi there. I'm Jack and am studying psychology at UWE so I know most of the staff on the psychology part. The support service has been of great help to me since I have been there. If you have any questions just PM and I'll answer

[Any advice?]

Thanks Sally. I will pass on your message to my cousin as I don't know the answers to your questions.

[how common in having both dyspraxia and dyscalculia ???]

Here you go here's the overlap of the neurodiversity - http://www.danda.org.uk/pages/neuro-diversity.php

[how common in having both dyspraxia and dyscalculia ???]

I'll have to track down the chart that shows the overlaps between dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dyslexia, ADHD and ASD. I think it was on the DANDA website.

[Paralympic Opening Ceremony]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/18934366 begs to differ. If you press CTRL+ F and type in intellectual disability there are several sports that have classes for intellectual disability.

[How many days is acceptable???]

4-5 times a week seems excessive. If you really do have to go every day try to work different muscle groups so that your muscles have time to repair inbetween.

[How many days is acceptable???]

Three days a week seems acceptable. You need to leave a day between sessions to let your body and muscles to recover. If you go too often you are more likely to injure yourself.

[Paralympic Opening Ceremony]

That is untrue there are categories of people with mental disabilities so it isn't just visual impairment and physical disabilities.

[EDS/HMS]

I also have EDS-HM/HMS and ASD My signature says the whole lot

[Paralympic Opening Ceremony]

They have to move the olympians out of the olympic village and move in the paralympians. Bearing in mind these are disabled people a lot of them needing adaptations it will take time to do the changeover. The paralympics is separate and have their own governing bodies. Some people argue that they should be integrated into the main olympics but that misses the point of the event. The whole world is focussed on the disabled athletes and their achievements, if it were integrated into the main olympics I don't think that people would focus as much on these athletes.

[Any advice?]

My cousin has 7 kids, the eldest is 15, severely autistic and has ADHD. They have had their social worker for him taken away and they get no respite at the moment. As you can imagine things are very tough for her and the other kids. I was just wondering if there were any resources you could signpost her to. She is based in Kent on the Isle of Sheppey. She really is struggling to cope with him as he is quite a big lad, a lot bigger than her and he has a very big temper that is uncontrollable. The summer holidays haven't helped as they live in a small village with not much to do and they are all crammed into a small three bed house. I said I would ask around for her.

[Employment support allowance]

I had my ESA renewal in December and have been put into the support group. The 365 days rule for the WRAG group only apply to those on contributions based ESA not Income based, but on income based if you have a partner that earns more than £7.5k or works more than 25hrs you lose all entitlement to ESA. My ESA is up for renewal again in 2014, I wonder what happens when it changes to universal credit?

[ASD and gender identity]

I started transitioning from female to male back in 2004 and have been on hormones since 2006. I didn't get diagnosed with Asperger's until 2008. Going to a lot of FTM conferences and events I have come across a higher amount of people on the spectrum than you would normally expect. I watched a video on the NAS youtube channel which was rather interesting -

I have emailed the professor who did that talk and am awaiting a response from her. The findings are rather interesting as I was thinking about studying the same thing for my third year psychology project so it is good to see that someone is already studying this.