ASD can i claim if i cancel holiday

DorsetGirl_2

If you have booked through a travel agent, can you enquire with them about changing your booking?

itsanne

dannyboy1974 wrote: »

We booked our holiday May last year and since then my son has been 99% diagnosed with ASD. Waiting for doctor to confirm diagnosis. My question is that my wife and are really nervous about going abroad with our son as autistic children have no concept of danger No children the age your son will be when you go have a real sense of danger.and if we have a high room etc etc he could seriously hurt himself Not if you are taking the same precautions as you should for any small child. That applies to your daughter too.also he has never flown and he could have a major meltdown. You mean a tantrum? Again, not unlike other children the same age

The travel agent has advised us that we may be able to cancel our holiday and claim from our Halifax Ultimate Reward account travel insurance due to his illness. Your son is not ill. Has anybody had any experience with this as when I phoned they kinda said yes and kinda said maybe. Bit confused.

Dannyboy, please stop panicking.

I'd be very surprised if your travel insurance will cover cancellation for this. Considering the age your son will be at the time of the holiday, he won't really require much different in way of supervision than any other child the same age.

That means you needn't worry about taking him on the holiday. By the time you go, you'll know the best distractions for him to take for the journey - just like every other parent.

If your son does have ASD (it's not yet confirmed and it's surprisingly early for a diagnosis), there will be times which are harder and times which are easier than others. As far as traveling is concerned, while he is small it is relatively easy. Hopefully it will continue to be easy, but it would be an awful shame to not even try. That would be allowing his (possible) condition to affect all your lives more than may turn out to be necessary.

Good luck. Go on the holiday and enjoy it.

kattybtm

Hi Danny,

My son has Asd too he is 11 now and when he was the age if your son he was a real handful so I can imagine why you are worrying about the difficulties of being away on holiday out of your normal environment.

No-one can tell you what is best for your family, but I can tell you what we chose to do. We always went on holiday from the time my son was a baby and he loved it! Yes it is difficult, but it would be difficult with any 2 year old. Don't worry about your son not understanding dangers, because as the good parent you are I'm sure you aren't going to leave him unattended on a balcony or by a pool, so it won't be a problem. After what has no doubt been a difficult time going through the last two years and the diagnosis process - I'm sure a holiday is exactly what you all need!

In my experience with my son, taking him to different places has helped to stop him getting too stuck in routines and at the age he is now, he is a pleasure to take anywhere, and he loves a holiday!

best of luck with whatever you decide

rustyboy21

OP


With regards to the flight. A number of Airports now are doing pre travel visits for Autistic children.


They take them through the whole airport scene, from arriving , through check in, security , all the way through to the gate. They have specially planned programmes.


Have a word with your departure Airport. It really takes a lot of the stress out of the situation, for child and Parents.
http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/british-airport-creates-guide-about.html


http://www.asparents.org.uk/media/2323/Manchester%20Airport%20Awareness.pdf


May be of some use to other parents too

bestpud

It is probably going to be harder as he gets older and this will affect your daughter over the course of her childhood, so try not to bring it on prematurely.

What's actually freaking you out?

The balcony issue is one every parent has with children that young - you will have to be vigilant with your daughter too. Ditto swimming pools. Other parents will have a wealth of advice for coping with this.

Are you afraid of being judged by others if he doesn't settle during the journey? Again, there will be people who can offer tips and reassurance.

If you can get to the bottom of your fears then it may be easier to find specific advice and/or support from others.

bestpud

Just read your DLrP posts.

Are you hoping to get a refund on the booked holiday so you can spend it on a trip to DLrP instead?

If that's the case you can't be too worried about managing his behaviour.

You can always do Disney the following year?

greenface

I always used to let my kids walk along the tops of high balconies when they were little as they didnt have any special needs.Hes the same kiddie he was before an early diagnosis of ASD and as any 3yo will need watching like a hawk. Now as he maybe ASD and your now noticing changes because your looking for them , he is now on the radar for getting the right support from the right people and behavioural issues will and can be helped through . Dont go changing too much too fast and a good hollybobs will do your young fambo good. (says the dad of a 23yo ASD son)

meer53

If you're worried about taking him on holiday, why do you think DLP will be a better option ? It's no less dangerous than anywhere else. It's hectic, busy, crowded, depending on when you go it can be freezing, overwhelming for a lot of adults, let alone children.

Surely a beach type holiday in self catering would be much better ? Somewhere calm and relaxing, not somewhere crowded and possibly frightening for your son.

dannyboy1974

Thanks for all your responses. The reason we thought of DLP is that my brother in law and his family have been before and we could all go together and have some more support!!!

We are still keeping our options open and have been told by the Insurance Company that if my sons doctor confirms it wouldn't be medically right for him to travel then we could claim on our policy.

We have already changed the booking to great cost as we were staying in a resort which would be very noisy (ie kids based accommodation) and also travel to the hotel would have been 1.5-2 hours so now we are only 30 mins away and have booked a taxi to take us to the resort. We don't want to cancel but fear has gripped us and we deal with him daily and we worry.

dannyboy1974

bestpud wrote: »

Just read your DLrP posts.

Are you hoping to get a refund on the booked holiday so you can spend it on a trip to DLrP instead?

If that's the case you can't be too worried about managing his behaviour.

You can always do Disney the following year?

No as I have said my brother in law and his family have been before and they know what to expect and we would have some support!!!!!!!!