Does anyone have any thoughts on this???

[meg&mog]

Hi Guys

 

Have a quick question for you all would like some feedback on what I am thinking...here goes

 

I have a 12 year old son who has Autism he recieves DLA middle rate care and high rate mobility

 

Yesterday my heating and got water failed (I live in a council property)

 

I rang my local council and explained the situation

the lady asked me "is there anybody in the property who is elderly or disabled"

I replied "yes my son"

she asked " what is the nature of his disability"

I replied " he has Autism"

she said " we do not class Autism as a disability so I am afraid I can not put you on a emergency appointment

some one will be out to you on Friday afternoon"

 

I told my husband who was very annoyed and

he immediately rang back and asked who the person was in the council that decided Autism was not a disability

 

he explained that the government view out son as disabled

and he would like to know why the council don't they immediately put us on a emergency appointment

an the heating was fixed last night

 

My question is

 

I am annoyed about this

do I have a right to be?

 

Should or could I complain?

If so who to?

 

Would they have to consult with a expert in all the conditions they don't feel are a disability?

And if so have I a right to ask who they asked about Autism?

 

I'm sorry to go on I can't get it off my mind my son as many other children had enough battles to fight

I'm worried that in the future the fact of whether he is disabled or not might end up being one of them

 

Please feel free to tell me your thoughts even if you agree with council I'm not on a high horse just would like some opinions

 

Thanks guys

[Nystagmite]

I would be annoyed. What is their definition of disability? For the Equalities Act, (formerly Disability Discrimination Act) you have to have a condition (your diagnosis doesn't matter) which has lasted for at least 12 months and affects day to day activities.

 

Autism meets that definition.

 

It sounds like they mean people with physical disabilities. Depending on how your son is affected, he may be affected physically too.

 

I have Autism too and yes, it is disabling.

[meg&mog]

Hi Nystagmite

 

Thanks so much for your reply

 

I totally agree with you my son isn't affected physically by his Autism but he does have a unrelated leg condition that means he has to wear special insoles in his shoes and it also makes his legs stiff and sometimes painful

 

I think I may have to write a letter just to give myself peice of mind I think it is very unfair of them to judge how a condition affects someone

 

Thanks again

[Nystagmite]

No problem.

 

I would be tempted to write a letter too. Doesn't seem right that they've decided that your son isn't disabled. It wasn't as if you mentioned a temporary medical condition either.

[marmacc]

Hi,

 

I suspect the question they meant to ask was does your sons condition mean that the lack of heating has a particular impact? for example, the heating being off has the same impact on a Deaf person as it does a person who is not Deaf, and hence it is no more urgent. If however your sons condition is exacerbated by the temperature then it should be classed as high priority.

 

I would do a bit of internet trawling to find your councils Equality Officer(s) and make sure they received the correspondence also. In some authorities they are quite strong and prominent teams of people, in others there is one persone hiding away in a back room trying not to get noticed! As a public body your council should have published information about equality and you should be able to find a name of someone to contact amongst the info.

 

thanks

[Nystagmite]

That makes sense. But why didn't they say that?

[marmacc]

Incompetence, ignorance, bad policy, bad procedure/script or lack of proper thought. Could be an individual problem, or could be a wider policy and procedure issue. That is the question the Equalities officer should address. Sounds like the frontline staff need training on basic disability awareness. Something most councils should have in hand, but probably don't. Write to them, tell them you found this strange attitude (Policy) to be a source of upset and stress.

 

I would be interested to see how it progresses. Please keep us up-to-date!

[mr_mastiff]

Perhaps one way of dealing with it would be to say that you were sure that you could smell gas when the boiler broke down. That would make it an emergency under any council rules.

[bedofweeds]

Perhaps one way of dealing with it would be to say that you were sure that you could smell gas when the boiler broke down. That would make it an emergency under any council rules.

 

But then you would be telling a fib in order to obtain an advantage over someone that is honest?

[meg&mog]

Hi

 

Thanks for all replies

 

I have put in a formal complaint over the telephone I recieved a letter today saying it was being looked into and I should hear in 10 days I also mentioned that when my husband rang back he explained that out sons autism means routine is very important to him and weds was "bath night" the lady in the phone told him to "fill the bath with a kettle" so I will persue it as far as I can because I believe they are in the wrong

 

Thanks again

[king12345]

Councils make it up as they go along.

Incompetence seems to be paramount in their core values.

Because your son is registered disabled with the relevant government agency, they shouldn't have even questioned the kind of disability.

Your son has been assessed by medical consultants and deemed to be disabled.

How on earth can a call centre employee be able to judge your son's disability?

Go all the way asking for the transcript of telephone calls and also write to your local mp requesting immediate actions to prevent this from happening again.

These people are a joke and make me angry.

Unfortunately I had to deal with them about my grandfather and they were 100% incompetent. All of them

[Nystagmite]

But why should you have to fill the bath with a kettle? That's going to take forever.

[king12345]

But why should you have to fill the bath with a kettle? That's going to take forever.

Agree, that's why you need to take this further.
Try calling again, you might get through someone with a brain for a change.

[mr_mastiff]

But then you would be telling a fib in order to obtain an advantage over someone that is honest?

 

And the council never tell fibs, Or make regulations up.

[Ros1609]

I would be annoyed by that too. I am on pre-payment for my gas and the meter broke last Winter. When I rang British Gas I only had to say my son was being monitored for autism as he shows some traits and receives DLA. I had an engineer out within the hour. The lady from the Council was probably only reading from a script but its a woefully misinformed script and needs correcting ASAP

[bedofweeds]

Hi

 

Thanks for all replies

 

I have put in a formal complaint over the telephone I recieved a letter today saying it was being looked into and I should hear in 10 days I also mentioned that when my husband rang back he explained that out sons autism means routine is very important to him and weds was "bath night" the lady in the phone told him to "fill the bath with a kettle" so I will persue it as far as I can because I believe they are in the wrong

 

Thanks again

 

Up until when I was 15, I didn't know what it was to have a bathroom, an indoor toilet or even a hot water tap. My weekly bath times consisted of a tin bath in front of a coal fire, which was filled using a kettle from the gas stove!

 

Some people have no idea of how to be inventive.

[bedofweeds]

But why should you have to fill the bath with a kettle? That's going to take forever.

 

It's one way that you can have a hot bath?

 

No it doesn't take forever - 2/3 kettles full of boiling water will easily provide a warm bath of about 4" rising to about 7" when you get in it.

[bedofweeds]

I would be annoyed by that too. I am on pre-payment for my gas and the meter broke last Winter. When I rang British Gas I only had to say my son was being monitored for autism as he shows some traits and receives DLA. I had an engineer out within the hour. The lady from the Council was probably only reading from a script but its a woefully misinformed script and needs correcting ASAP

 

I'm in the Support Group of ESA, get DLA - HRM & MRC, my wife receives the highest rate of AA (day & night care), she is 70 next year and I'm 65 next year. Even given that, I still don't classify myself as being 'disabled'.

[Ros1609]

I'm in the Support Group of ESA, get DLA - HRM & MRC, my wife receives the highest rate of AA (day & night care), she is 70 next year and I'm 65 next year. Even given that, I still don't classify myself as being 'disabled'.

 

How lovely for you however I fail to see how you not classing yourself as disabled relates to my post. My son receives DLA for a number of things, autistic traits being just one of them. The point I was trying to make to the OP was that the council involved are very misinformed and used an example

[mr_mastiff]

I'm in the Support Group of ESA, get DLA - HRM & MRC, my wife receives the highest rate of AA (day & night care), she is 70 next year and I'm 65 next year. Even given that, I still don't classify myself as being 'disabled'.

 

Bedofweeds It is an attitude of mind I do not consider my self disabled but the letters from the DWP/Council state that I am. I have been trying to think of another more descriptive word to use but what?

[bedofweeds]

How lovely for you however I fail to see how you not classing yourself as disabled relates to my post. My son receives DLA for a number of things, autistic traits being just one of them. The point I was trying to make to the OP was that the council involved are very misinformed and used an example

 

What I was trying to point out that what some see as a disability need not in fact be one despite actually being labelled as such. Receiving DLA has no meaning as to whether someone is actually disabled. Even some people actually believe that they are disabled when in fact they aren't by comparison to others. My grandson (7) has multiple conditions that together can be easily described as disabling, yet we (the family) see him as just being different. Consequently if his mum was to claim DLA on his behalf it wouldn't change how he is or how we view him. I hate people being given a label!

[bedofweeds]

Bedofweeds It is an attitude of mind I do not consider my self disabled but the letters from the DWP/Council state that I am. I have been trying to think of another more descriptive word to use but what?

 

But then you must have asked the DWP and the Council to label you as such? I know we have, but we don't view it as such.

 

 

Maybe thinking 'I'm just a little different to some' might help.

[mr_mastiff]

But then you must have asked the DWP and the Council to label you as such? I know we have, but we don't view it as such.

 

 

Maybe thinking 'I'm just a little different to some' might help.

 

I have never asked them. Many of their letters start with " Due to your disability" or "your disability as been reassessed" even my GP states I am disabled. Perhaps challenged when meeting independence needs would be a better description.

[time4change2]

I'm in the Support Group of ESA, get DLA - HRM & MRC, my wife receives the highest rate of AA (day & night care), she is 70 next year and I'm 65 next year. Even given that, I still don't classify myself as being 'disabled'.

 

if you do not classify yourself as disabled then why apply for disability benefits in the first place?

[bedofweeds]

if you do not classify yourself as disabled then why apply for disability benefits in the first place?

 

Simply because I do have difficulties as does my wife and those difficulties are what the benefits are supposed to be there for - to help fund the extra costs created by those difficulties. We both find that in attempting to have as near a normal life as possible we find it more difficult than most.

 

I didn't choose to name those benefits, and when I or my wife are described as being 'disabled' we ask the relevant bodies to describe our problems in other ways. I have a loathing of being labelled 'Disabled' - maybe it is a throwback to times when people were described instead as being a 'spastic'.