Welfare Reform And People With Autism

[weaveintothewin2]

please read and vote for my personal campaign about protecting people with autism and asd's from the welfare reform and getting kicked off the benefits which are a life line to us.

 

It's on the new coalition governments Your Freedom Website where you can send ideas to the government for there consideration..

 

I have autism it took a lot of brain processing and stress to write this document and get the grammar correct as well. I don't think it's 100% grammatically correct but i think it is readable enough.

 

http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/restoring-ci...autism-and-asds

[ScienceGeek]

It keeps coming up with the error, sorry your page doesn't exist

[Mumble]

I'm sorry but I won't be signing this petition, as I fundamentally disagree with your demands. It makes me feel very uncomfortable when one individual on the ASD spectrum feels that they can speak for the wants, needs and desires of every other ASD individual: you can't, and you certainly don't speak for me.

 

To take your demands as an example:

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to write a CV for employment”

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to attend a Job Interview”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a carer with them in employment.”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a travel buddy to and from work”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a scribe in work”

Why should these apply to autism and not every other disability/difference? Segregating autism in this way is, in my opinion, potentially detrimental to the individual's development. Everyone is different and whilst some of these areas may support some individuals it's unlikely that blanketly giving them to all ASD individuals will be supportive as it will never allow them to achieve them independently. It may even serve to cover up what they can actually do. Far better that, where appropriate, support is given to develop these skills so they can be applied independently in future.

 

Why should all autistic people never have to write a CV? It's a vital employment skill and a useful record of what an individual has done. Why not provide access to support where necessary to write a CV, rather than just taking away the need? Ditto with interviews, yes they are stressful, but you need to go through the process to learn. Simultaneously, employers can learn about Autism through sensible reasonable adjustments but will be likely to develop a poorer understanding if they're told Mr X can't do X, Y and Z.

 

Are you envisaging three people to provide the carer, travel buddy and scribe roles? Well that should help reduce the unemployment figures if every autistic person employed is going to actually mean four in employment!

 

Law isn't what is needed here. What is needed is a pro-active response to individual needs and appropriate services in place as required to support independence.

 

We don't know what will happen with benefits yet other than that they are to be reviewed by medical assessment. Until these happen, we won't know where the flaws in the system are. Fighting about something that might not happen is a waste of time and presents us in a negative light.

 

[keith1]

We're going to lose our benefits and just have to accept it.

[trekster]

We're going to lose our benefits and just have to accept it.

 

What makes you think that?

 

Bus passes for pensioners were stopped, scrapping DLA was temporarily stopped.

[trekster]

im not able to access your website but i would like to be able so i can look at it in more detail.

i think what the original poster is asking for is choice but it's just been interpreted wrongly.

Lets take each of these 'demands' in turn

 

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to write a CV for employment”

 

That could be due to patchy employment history or difficulties with composing the document itself.

It is now illegal to ask for a date of birth on a CV or application form. For some reason this hasn't

followed through to include asking the persons age, or age of leaving school anything that would

determine their age without meeting the person.

 

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to attend a Job Interview”

 

There is now an alternative way of determining a candidates suitablity for employment.

 

A "work trial" where the candidate can during an interview hand over a card that requests a work

trial with the local job centre contact details on it.

 

Another possible avenue is to ask for work experience or find some experience using a volunteer agency.

Im trying to build links and bridges with the NAS so i can become a paid worker someday.

 

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a carer with them in employment.”

 

Job coaching is one alternative with a contact that's adapted to help the individual (a bit like what mumble was saying).

A mentor or life coach to see once a week or month could be a better more realistic alternative.

 

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a travel buddy to and from work”

 

Some companies will make their workplace more accessible by paying for public transport or taxis.

If the travel buddy was a volunteer i could see this working.

 

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a scribe in work”

 

I've used laptops and PDAs (palmtops) with keyboard accessories, voice recording is another alternative.

 

i couldn't write a website, im a mod of a yahoo politics chat group (PM me for details) and i can see your intentions were well meant.

you seem to be asking for more respect and choice in the workplace, both of which i agree with.

 

i found a weblink that could interest you,

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Job...vices/DG_173631

Travel-to-interview scheme, Job Grant and In Work Credit

 

 

[weaveintothewin2]

i'll try and post this again and get that link working.

 

 

please read and vote for my personal campaign about protecting people with autism and asd's and there carers from the welfare reform and getting kicked off the benefits which are a life line to us.

 

It's on the new coalition governments Your Freedom Website where you can send ideas to the government for there consideration..

 

I have autism it took a lot of brain processing and stress to write this document and get the grammar correct as well. I don't think it's 100% grammatically correct but i think it is readable enough.

 

Welfare Reform And People With Autism

 

if not try going through my account profile on your freedom theres a link there aswell.

 

My profile on Your Freedom

 

Hope it work for everyone this time

[zenemu]

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to write a CV for employment”

“We will make it law that autistic people do not have to attend a Job Interview”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a carer with them in employment.”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a travel buddy to and from work”

“We will make it law that autistic people can have a scribe in work”

 

I'm sorry, but those are rediculous and for many somewhat patronizing demands. The first two are unrealistic to say the least and as for the rest, if you need a carer, a travel buddy and a scribe, go through access to work, it is what they are there for.

[KezT]

I'm sorry, but those are rediculous and for many somewhat patronizing demands. The first two are unrealistic to say the least and as for the rest, if you need a carer, a travel buddy and a scribe, go through access to work, it is what they are there for.

 

Plus, this website s specificlly for laws you want the gov't to REMOVE from the statue books, not new ones to enact!

[baddad]

Hi weaveintothewin2-

 

I've got to say that I agree with many of the comments already made - that the amount of support being requested is impractical in many workplaces and that many of the factors you've raised are very specific needs rather than needs that are universal or general among the wider autistic community.

I noticed too that you seem to have lost focus somewhat on the point you wanted to address i.e. access to benefits and protection of them for those autistic people that rely on them. Most of the points you raise are to do with support in the work environment rather than directly related to benefit entitlement and protection.

Perhaps you could draft something that highlighted the problems autistic people already face in accessing benefits (like the 'bias' toward physical disabilities in DLA forms and the kind of lateral thinking needed to reinterpret those physical challenges for people who face neurological barriers) and couple that with some ideas for how things could be improved and by expressing your concerns/hopes that the cut-backs should not make things even harder for legitimate claimants?

 

Given what Kez says above, it sounds also as if you might need to find another site to lobby on. I know we've had many petitions on the forum in the past with links to a specific 'Number 10' site (in my youth, that would have been an ad campaign for cheap fags! But then there were no websites or internet then, so maybe not! ). If you type 'petition' in the search engine you'll probably be able to track one - and the necessary link - down.

 

Hope that helps

 

L&P

 

BD