Hello,
I'm a freelance journalist writing an article about people with conditions such as autism being given Asbos - how inappropriate this is and how it helps to promote misunderstanding and intolerance within communities.
If anyone has any firsthand experience of this issue or knows someone who is willing to talk to me, please could you email me on sricarmichael@hotmail.com. I would be happy to make interviews anonymous.
I realise you may be quite apprehensive about talking to journalists, especially given the trend within the media to attribute the behaviour of autistic children to bad parenting. But I assure you my sympathies lie with the parents who too often do not receive sufficient support and understanding from schools and social services. My mother - Helen Carmichael - is an educational psychologist and runs the behaviour management team for Norfolk schools and my sister is SEN teacher, about to train to be an ed psych, who has worked extensively with autistic children - so I have some understanding of autism and am fully aware that slapping an asbo on someone whose behaviour is not intentional is not the best solution. My aim is to expose the use of asbos on people with autism/ADHD as a mistake - not in any way promote it.
I guess many parents whose autistic children have been given Asbos may feel they have been through enough and won't want any more publicity. But, as I said, I can make any interviews completely anonymous. My article will be far more powerful and be more likely to grab people's attention if it includes people's personal stories.
Many thanks,
Sri Carmichael
