System Says Nooooo

At the moment there are massive cut backs to support for loads of people including that of a community that I feel needs it the most the vulnerable of society. How does this affect people in everyday life.

I can only share my story and how it has affected us as the system says No

I have 3 children all with autism, global delay development, hyper-mobility, gene 16 duplication which affects the way they learn and take things in. Anyway when ever we have applied for things like respite etc its always been

You don’t meet the criteria

So when Zak at only 19 months was diagnosed with autism we were told he would gets lots of support from various services. All was going well then all of sudden things started to change. First of all it was his standing frame and highchair, both of which he was measured for. However, when it went to the panel it was felt they didn’t have enough money to provide these for him. OK this is not a massive problem we can get round this.

Then Respite was given to us a couple of hours a month . The first day we received respite we were told that it was in fact stopped due to cuts. Then it got reinstated but now the carer is on the sick, just going round in circles with that. Now the latest cuts are Occupational therapy. Zak since September last year has been receiving Occupational therapy sessions to help improve his low muscle tone, co-ordiantion, pincher grip and generally trying to help him . We have now been told he is too young to receive this as from now on his OT sessions have stopped. Also affected are his speech and language because he has finished his block of sessions he has to re assessed to see where to go now. He is 2 years old and can only say about 10 words and that’s all parrot fashion .

I know in the great scheme of things this not a major thing but for us this is massive. He has come on so well with all this intervention and I personally feel that now the system has said No he is going to plateau. Of course we will do all we can to help him. So why does the system not think about how it affects families like mine and many more like us when it says No. Its not just a question of you cutting back, you are in fact cutting our life lines and messing with peoples future.