Autism - Deprivation of Liberty order

Stranger_Than_Fiction

DX2 wrote: »

Are the NAS not involved with the bloke that's getting extradiated to America for hacking.

Yes, I believe they made an exception in Gary McKinnon's case as it is such a high profile international story and they wanted to use it to highlight how misunderstood Asperger's is.

I'll ask Steven's dad to come and give more info regarding Steven.

markneary

I am Steven's father and the OP has the story straight - improbable though it may seem. I was ill after Christmas and arranged for him to go to his regular respite unit for three days. I was told the following day that he had been moved to a "Positive Behaviour Unit" and was pesuaded to let him stay there for two weeks "to get myself back on my feet". A Week later, I was told he was being kept there for an indefinate period to work on his challenging behaviour. He hasnt been allowed to return home since.

He is in a terrible double bind. In the four months prior to him going away, we had 14 incidents of "challenging behaviour" at home. If you understand about autism and what an "autistic meltdown" is like, then the figure of 14 isn't too bad. In the seven months Steven has been at the "Positive Behaviour Unit", they have recorded 306 "incidents". Lots of experts in the autism field have contacted me to confirm that greater levels of aggression = greater levels of anxiety but social services are refusing to acknowledge this. The OP mentions the story about the vicar's glasses. On that afternoon, Steven was left unsupervised and left the premises on his own. I've never been able to find out exactly how long he was on his own. To this day, the Authority havent acknowledged they failed in their duty of care that afternoon. I'm not into blame at all but it seems that to cover up their own failure, Steven is to some extent, carrying the can. The vicars glasses incident happened on 16th April. On 17th April, I met with the manager to discuss and agree the next phase of Steven's transition home programme. On 19th April, Steven was served an emergency Deprivation of Liberty Order, which is still in place. The order wasnt mentioned during the meeting on 17th April and on the 18th April, Steven went swimming without incident and came for a home visit without incident. I've never received an answer as to why the order was served, and why was it served at that particular time.

The latest bombshell is that they want to move Steven to an out of borough specialist unit to work on his "extreme challenging behaviour". This will cause untold damage as he will lose his normal support workers, his friends and all the places he goes to that are so important in helping him feel secure.

There is a money angle to this case. It is becoming increasingly clear to me and Steven's supporters that the Local Authority are trying to shift the cost of Steven's support package on to the PCT and the only way they can do that is by exagerating the challenging behaviour because that will score him more points and move him into PCT funding category.

If you have the time, please drop by on the Facebook group and see the fantastic support this campaign has generated.

Many thanks
Mark

DX2

Mark I wish you and your family all the luck in the world, I don't do facebook but I will sign your petition and if it's okay I will email several others who either work with ASD kids/adults and other parents.

Keep stong for Steven.

markneary

That would be fantastic DX2 - thanks for your support

covlass

Mark my thoughts are with you and Steven

After just reading your face book page and your above post my blood is now boiling and any one with knowledge of Autism can see that the greater levels of anxiety are a result of what is going on and the repercussions of this are increased melt downs and greater levels of aggression. Do these people really think that the answer is to move steven and keep him apart from his family his home !!!!! They are taking away what Steven knows his comfort zone his routines the one place he needs to be is home. A little more 'listening to parents' a lot more understanding and support for the family.. I will also forward the details to parents I know, family & friends

Prinzessilein

Mark, I just want to add my support. I have signed the petition.

I have ASD myself and what Steven is going through is one of my worst nightmares. Why can't the authorities see that for someone with ASD, their behaviour is a lot less challenging when they are in an environment where they feel safe and secure?

I hope that you have Steven back home where he belongs very soon.

biscit

Do I understand the situation right?

The LA seem to think that it is a cruel and nasty world out there and that Steven may come into contact with some less than understanding moron, who because they don't tolerate unusual behaviour lashes out at Steven- and that would be Steven's fault for being different?

Stranger_Than_Fiction

biscit wrote: »

Do I understand the situation right?

The LA seem to think that it is a cruel and nasty world out there and that Steven may come into contact with some less than understanding moron, who because they don't tolerate unusual behaviour lashes out at Steven- and that would be Steven's fault for being different?

I think that might be part of it but, more strangely than that, they are trying to 'future proof' the situation so that nothing ever happens. What sort of plan this might be and how they could ever implement it has not been explained.

When Steven leaves home, he always has 2 people with him, either his dad and a carer or 2 carers. They are the people who are there to help steer him through the world he struggles to understand and guide him away from any potentially difficult situations, whatever they might be.

Steven has friends and people he really enjoys seeing so it's not that he doesn't want to interact with the world. He has a great routine of swimming and going to the gym as well as using a computer, enjoying music and his special tv programmes. He's just like other young men except he has Autism.

markneary

The petition has hit 2000 signatures in just over 5 weeks. Thanks to everyone for their invaluable support.

kai666

Stranger_Than_Fiction wrote: »

When Steven leaves home, he always has 2 people with him, either his dad and a carer or 2 carers. They are the people who are there to help steer him through the world he struggles to understand and guide him away from any potentially difficult situations, whatever they might be.

I guess he can be quite challenging if he has 2 people with him whenever he goes out