AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)
NHS Highland has come under fire for showing "total ignorance" towards autistic people in a report which resulted in it withdrawing thousands of pounds from a vital support service.
A document outlining "negative impacts" and "opportunities" as a result of the closure of the Highland One Stop Shop (HOSS) was created by the health board ahead of a decision to withdraw funding for the drop-in support centre in Inverness.
HOSS faced closure last year due to a funding shortfall of more than £50,000 and while NHS Highland initially offered a grant of £23,000, this was withdrawn when Autism Initiatives, the organisation which runs HOSS, said it needed more.
Only a last-minute donation from a mystery benefactor and a grant of £25,000 from the Scottish Government saved the service for another year and efforts continue to secure further funding.
Supporters of the centre have now seen the report – an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) – prepared by NHS Highland to help it decide whether or not to withdraw the funding.
While it does acknowledge potential negative impacts of the centre’s closure – such as a loss of opportunity for autistic people to meet their peers and access benefits – "positives" include a suggestion that lessening service users’ "dependence" on paid workers would "increase resilience and mental wellbeing."
Leading autism expert Dr Sue Fletcher-Watson, of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, said: "I was really appalled by the document, it shows a total ignorance towards autism."
On the issue of increasing resilience, she said: "For anyone that knows anything about autism, that is like saying if you stop sending carers in to people with dementia then they might remember to take their medication.
"You don’t increase resilience by taking away support – it just won’t work."
It is estimated that around 2000 people in the Highlands are autistic, of which 500 are registered with HOSS.
Kabie Brook, chairwoman of Autism Rights Group Highland (ARGH), made repeated requests to NHS Highland to view the EQIA, only succeeding in getting sight of it after the direct intervention of Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing.
"From a very early age autistic people are told that we don’t fit in, that we are wrong, that we aren’t trying hard enough," she said.
"Sadly I feel that this is echoed in the impact assessment and I am concerned that some autistic people may internalise this.
"Autistic people shouldn’t feel inadequate and we deserve access to NHS Highland services just like everyone else."
In the Highlands, waiting lists for autism diagnosis continue to grow.
In 2015 the Inverness Courier highlighted how a chronic staff shortage had led to a waiting list of 80 people.
This has almost doubled to 144 adults, many waiting years to be diagnosed and access available support.
A spokesman for NHS Highland said it is willing to meet with representatives of ARGH to discuss the impact assessment in greater detail and "look at how we can work together to better understand the needs of autistic people".
Source: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/NHS-Highland-blasted-for-autism-ignorance-18052018.htm
NHS Highland has come under fire for showing "total ignorance" towards autistic people in a report which resulted in it withdrawing thousands of pounds from a vital support service.
A document outlining "negative impacts" and "opportunities" as a result of the closure of the Highland One Stop Shop (HOSS) was created by the health board ahead of a decision to withdraw funding for the drop-in support centre in Inverness.
HOSS faced closure last year due to a funding shortfall of more than £50,000 and while NHS Highland initially offered a grant of £23,000, this was withdrawn when Autism Initiatives, the organisation which runs HOSS, said it needed more.
Only a last-minute donation from a mystery benefactor and a grant of £25,000 from the Scottish Government saved the service for another year and efforts continue to secure further funding.
Supporters of the centre have now seen the report – an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) – prepared by NHS Highland to help it decide whether or not to withdraw the funding.
While it does acknowledge potential negative impacts of the centre’s closure – such as a loss of opportunity for autistic people to meet their peers and access benefits – "positives" include a suggestion that lessening service users’ "dependence" on paid workers would "increase resilience and mental wellbeing."
Leading autism expert Dr Sue Fletcher-Watson, of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, said: "I was really appalled by the document, it shows a total ignorance towards autism."
On the issue of increasing resilience, she said: "For anyone that knows anything about autism, that is like saying if you stop sending carers in to people with dementia then they might remember to take their medication.
"You don’t increase resilience by taking away support – it just won’t work."
It is estimated that around 2000 people in the Highlands are autistic, of which 500 are registered with HOSS.
Kabie Brook, chairwoman of Autism Rights Group Highland (ARGH), made repeated requests to NHS Highland to view the EQIA, only succeeding in getting sight of it after the direct intervention of Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing.
"From a very early age autistic people are told that we don’t fit in, that we are wrong, that we aren’t trying hard enough," she said.
"Sadly I feel that this is echoed in the impact assessment and I am concerned that some autistic people may internalise this.
"Autistic people shouldn’t feel inadequate and we deserve access to NHS Highland services just like everyone else."
In the Highlands, waiting lists for autism diagnosis continue to grow.
In 2015 the Inverness Courier highlighted how a chronic staff shortage had led to a waiting list of 80 people.
This has almost doubled to 144 adults, many waiting years to be diagnosed and access available support.
A spokesman for NHS Highland said it is willing to meet with representatives of ARGH to discuss the impact assessment in greater detail and "look at how we can work together to better understand the needs of autistic people".
Source: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/NHS-Highland-blasted-for-autism-ignorance-18052018.htm
