View Full Version : Read something saddening on the BBC website about people with ASD
Tonight I read a BBC News article on their website about people with autism being detained in ATUs (often several miles away from their families) for over 20 years, often against their own will and also due to the chronic lack of suitable provision within their own local communities.
And strangely it's a longstanding issue that has been going on for over 2 decades now (or probably more) under both blue and red parties so not exclusively a consequence of the austerity measures of recent years, but allegedly due to chronically poor organisation and hidden agendas within the authorities, plus overly draconian and often punitive measures that basically treated the symptoms rather than the underlying causes and usually ended up doing even more damage to people with ASD, especially the heavy 'zero tolerance' policies that have commonly been advocated over the past 20-odd years which also did (and still do) more harm than good in many ways.
Quite shocking how issues concerning the lack of provision for people with ASD were often still greatly overlooked, brushed under the carpet and such people being treated like dirt even during the seemingly less troubled times of the late 90s through the mid-2000s. Seemingly a lot of hidden 'apartheid' directed at us Auties back then, let alone before and after.
It's dreadfully sad. I'm an SEN Support Worker - I work with families and young people to get their legal rights met re provision in school - and it's awful to see even now how little understanding there is. I always think of Life of Brian. "He's NOT autistic, he's a very naughty boy!" :(
It's quite shocking and heartbreaking.
Speranza - I'm glad there's people like you.
It's dreadfully sad. I'm an SEN Support Worker - I work with families and young people to get their legal rights met re provision in school - and it's awful to see even now how little understanding there is. I always think of Life of Brian. "He's NOT autistic, he's a very naughty boy!" :(
Also demonstrates how many workers in Health and Social Care have been stuck in the Dark Ages and simply refused to move with the times over the past 20-odd years, plus also seemingly had (and still have) many hidden agendas of their own.
I also find it jarring that a few seem to believe that ASD is some mythical condition that's simply been made up over the past 30-odd years or so and believe it's a consequence of poor parenting and/or an excuse for misbehaviour. Probably the very same non-believers in climate change, Covid, etc.
Perhaps I am fortunate these days, as everyone currently involved with my care seems to be doing a good job and wouldn't dream of having me sectioned willy-nilly, plus the manager at my day centre has reassured me that physical restraint and 'zero tolerance' stuff would only ever be practiced by staff on clients as an absolute last resort, and not willy-nilly.
At my old day centre in Tamworth there was at one time a power-mad, pro-zero tolerance male staff member who was quite sadist at times, and boasted about having the courts on his side, but eventually went on to become one of the local reps for Unison, and probably still exercising his extremist bully boy tactics!
On a similarly related but more positive note, people with Down's Syndrome are now finally being afforded justice and recognition, and there were hordes of them (with their parents/carers) celebrating, yes, celebrating outside Parliament in central London today.
An extremely welcome change from the more usual protests typical of that same spot!
Really cheered me up big time at the end of a very eventful and trying week otherwise dominated by tragic events in the news, as I can strongly relate to people with DS.
I saw that on the news Lencoboy. It was lovely to see.
Autism, it feels to me, has been a long-standing hidden issue. It does feel now as if it is becoming a bit more understood and accepted, with well-known people popping up to admit a diagnosis and better still, talking about it (ie the McGuinness family in last night's programme). This can only be a good thing!
I have autism myself, and have really struggled to access a service that can deal with that and my other MH issues. Doesn't actually exist in my area, so I have had to go private. It's now the subject of a complaint with my local MH provider.
My son is autistic too (was his diagnosis that spurred me to explore my own), and has been quite well-supported at times. We have had to work hard for this, though. He's high functioning (aspergers in old money), and has found his feet at secondary school.
Hopefully more knowledge will improve things, but we do need a consequent investment in services!
Local MH services are pretty rubbish with high functioning autism in my area. The only option is expensive specialised private therapy which doesn't seem right..
Glad your son is relatively stable though, apm. I'm sure he benefits from your care and empathy.
Autism, it feels to me, has been a long-standing hidden issue. It does feel now as if it is becoming a bit more understood and accepted, with well-known people popping up to admit a diagnosis and better still, talking about it (ie the McGuinness family in last night's programme). This can only be a good thing!
I have autism myself, and have really struggled to access a service that can deal with that and my other MH issues. Doesn't actually exist in my area, so I have had to go private. It's now the subject of a complaint with my local MH provider.
My son is autistic too (was his diagnosis that spurred me to explore my own), and has been quite well-supported at times. We have had to work hard for this, though. He's high functioning (aspergers in old money), and has found his feet at secondary school.
Hopefully more knowledge will improve things, but we do need a consequent investment in services!
It really saddens me that there are unfortunately still a lot of ignorant people who are in denial about the condition (e.g, autism is one of the latest in a long line of buzzwords and it's just a new excuse for inappropriate behaviours, there was never any such thing as ASD before the 21st Century, etc), plus there are also still those who are overzealous about the condition, such as physical restraints willy-nilly, screaming out 'Zero Tolerance', and getting the persons with ASD unnecessarily sectioned despite otherwise being unwarranted.
The latter seemed to happen a far bit back in the 2000s, especially as a consequence of the 'zero tolerance' debacle, in which the manager of my day centre admitted to me back in the summer when I was having a bad patch that she thinks the whole ZT thing is a waste of time as it treats the symptoms rather than attempting to address the underlying causes of affected individuals' issues. Plus it's a perfect opportunity for power-mad staff members to exercise their own agendas.
But at least things are thankfully now starting to change, though better late than never!
Whilst not specifically ASD-related, I'm still, like many, feeling shocked and saddened by that poor little kid Arthur Hughes who was brutalised to death by his sadist parents in Shirley, West Midlands last year during the first lockdown.
Obviously physical child abuse in general is a longstanding problem in our society and was already so long before the start of this pandemic, prior to which it seemed to be a greatly overlooked 'elephant in the room' issue, especially where the 'never did me any harm' brigades are concerned, even those who did actually suffer extreme brutality as children by their parents, teachers, etc.
And while there's many who suffered such ordeals as children but managed to get over it and move on with their lives as normal, law-abiding folks, they're obviously lucky in that sense, plus many who are genuinely less affected by such past ordeals don't usually tend to boast about it never harming them and treating it as a badge of honour. In fact that particular cohort is probably the most likely to shun violent and sadist treatment of anyone and accept that for the most part the world has moved on since their childhood days.
Poor little Arthur's parents were probably from chronically dysfunctional families themselves who were also probably subjected to such sadist brutality as children by their own parents, and the parents' parents by their own respective parents, a cycle spanning back several generations.
This isn't gospel in this specific situation, but it's a typical scenario that's often cited.
Beautifully summarised, Lenco, and very true.
Beautifully summarised, Lenco, and very true.
Thank you BI.
I never forget child battering being a big issue in the news/media back in the mid-80s-early 90s era, and I've already felt said issue to be long overdue with regards to becoming a big media focus once again, even long before the pandemic.
I also reckon that the Arthur Hughes tragedy is just the tip of the iceberg, like I said the other day, going back long before the start of the Covid pandemic.
But for better or worse, the media and society in general seems to make a far bigger issue of kids attacking their parents and teachers, though I'm not in any way trivialising it, as two wrongs definitely don't make a right, and there have been tragic incidents of such nature (e.g, Ann Maguire).
In fact, violent and abusive kids are more often than not a result of violent and abusive upbringings, and I believe that people should think more carefully and try to get to the bottom of why certain kids are 'feral' and out of control, before resorting to typical simpleton knee-jerk responses like calling for school caning and the death penalty to be brought back, etc.
I also reckon that the Arthur Hughes tragedy is just the tip of the iceberg, like I said the other day, going back long before the start of the Covid pandemic.
But for better or worse, the media and society in general seems to make a far bigger issue of kids attacking their parents and teachers, though I'm not in any way trivialising it, as two wrongs definitely don't make a right, and there have been tragic incidents of such nature (e.g, Ann Maguire).
In fact, violent and abusive kids are more often than not a result of violent and abusive upbringings, and I believe that people should think more carefully and try to get to the bottom of why certain kids are 'feral' and out of control, before resorting to typical simpleton knee-jerk responses like calling for school caning and the death penalty to be brought back, etc.
And also on one of those other forums I frequent, one member (who is obviously an avid anti-lockdowner) said that this tragedy wouldn't have happened had we not been in lockdown.
Perhaps he/she is correct in the sense that the restrictions in place at the time no doubt exacerbated the situation as poor little Arthur was unable to escape elsewhere to a place of safety, but Arthur's family were already known to have problems and already on the radar of the local SS of whom sadly failed to take Arthur's plight seriously enough at the time, so I don't think it's entirely fair to wholly blame the pandemic and the lockdowns, as reported cases of both child abuse and domestic abuse in general were already on the increase since about 2017-18, though obviously exacerbated further by the pandemic restrictions since March 2020, plus of course there were no real viable alternatives to lockdowns and other related restrictions at the time, especially as it was some 8-9 months before Covid-specific vaccines officially became available.
Though this time round, with the Omicron variant now poised to take over from Delta over the coming weeks, or even days, I personally don't think a fourth national lockdown is currently warranted in response, especially as zero Omicron-specific deaths have been reported so far, plus it's only (at worst) believed to have had a negligible impact on hospitalisations so far, at least in SA.
On a more positive note, this tragic event has provoked a wave of community spirit in the affected area, and I have just seen such scenes on the BBC News on TV, the community rallying round in positive ways with vigils and the like, rather than outpourings of mass angst and animosity.
But at least the evil toerags that are little Arthur's dad and stepmother are now quite rightly facing the music for their hideous misdemeanours; doing porridge!
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Dodgy stuff alert!
Lenco, are you using the report button?
Lenco, are you using the report button?
Admin have cottoned on and sorted it now BI.
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