Aspies For Freedom

Tuesday 1st November



People with autism have their say at the DRC



People with autism and related conditions have a stronger voice at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) this month with the introduction of a new advisory group.



The Autism and Neurodiversity Group will be made up of people with autism and ‘neuro-diverse’ conditions such as Tourette’s syndrome, dyslexia, dyspraxia and Asperger’s syndrome.



Mia Rosenblatt of the National Autistic Society said:



‘The NAS strongly welcomes the establishment of this group. We want it to lead to greater acknowledgement of the needs of people in the autistic spectrum as well as bringing about action which addresses those needs”



DRC Chair Bert Massie said:



‘We understand that people within the autistic spectrum face specific problems of discrimination. That is why the DRC has set up an advisory group to help better inform our work.  The group is run by autistic and neuro-diverse people who can suggest how we can improve our services and tell us what other work we can do to make sure things are better for people with autism.”



Jo Todd, Managing Director for Key4Learning said:



‘Those with neuro-diversity are entitled to dignity and recognition of their difference so that they can contribute their major skills."



The new group is also being supported by MP Liz Blackman who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism.



The Autism and Neurodiversity group will recommend work for the DRC to focus on and comment on how well DRC services (such as our Helpline and website) are tailored to meet the needs of people in the spectrum.



For more information please contact the DRC press office on 020 7543 7044 or email suzanne.maher@drc-gb.org



Notes to Editors



People in the autistic spectrum have distinctly restricted cognitive, behavioural and emotional capacities.  This means that they may be very good at some day to day tasks, but struggle with others. Some people with this experience have chosen the term ‘neuro-diverse’ to describe themselves.



The DRC is an independent statutory body responsible for advising Government on the effectiveness of disability discrimination legislation and in promoting good practice in the public and private sectors. We are led by 14 Commissioners, ten of whom are disabled. The DRC has offices in Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff.



Have you taken part in the Disability Debate - your opportunity to help shape the future of equality? Log onto http://www.disabilitydebate.org

I'll believe it when they say how much money they intend to spend on services and support specifically for people with ASD.

There is no historic reason to believe anything said by the Blair regime is true.

Stella

Quote from document

I would prefer that they had described our capacities as different rather than "distinctly restricted". Am I being too politically-correct? I think this paragraph has a patronising tone to it.

NTs have distinctly repetitive narrow fields of interest   often limited to few thoughts beyond money, football and sex.

Stella

Money, football and sex are what is called the NT "triad of impairments."

Stella

I have found this material incomprehensible.  If it is important to us, could it not be written in standard English?

Stella

:lol:

Is it a case that politically correct words are causing a loss of clarity in their writing?

"A real voice in government?"

So who is/are our representative(s) in Parliament?

For the record im on the DANDA committe if you want me to explain what it is in plain english please let me know.

Now getting back to the DRC. Englishlulu you have summed up my exact impression of the DRC from my own personal experiance of being excluded in university. Im also quite sympathic to your treatment by the DRC because i got a similair raw deal as well. Were it not for the fact i had my own solicitor i think i'd of pretty much been stumped by them there and then, they did bugger all to help me but when I won my case they were more then happy to take the credit for it. If you go on their website and type asperger syndrome in the search function im the first case that comes up.

This is why im naturally quite skeptical towards this DRC group.

Precisely, it will not impact at ground level.

Could we have some more information on who/what DANDA is, and what they do, thanks.

DANDA stands for Developmental Adult Neuro-Diversity Association

Basically its a group of people who have neurodiverse conditions which includes (Aspergers, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, tourette syndrome etc)
It originally was the Dyspraxia foundation, but because they had so many members who were not only Dyspraxic and had other conditions (such as aspergers for example) then it was decided to make a multi-neurodiverse organisation.

Pretty much has been the only group that has attempted to bridge all the various conditions which come under neurodiversity together.

Its main aims are to raise awareness and educate, provide support to ND people and also be a positive means by which people can get together and take action to change the treatment of ND's.

So in some respects its similair to what the AFF is after but includes all the other ND conditions as well.

Hope thats a satisfactory answer. I've now got to dash to an afternoon lecture

Thanks, are they based in one area in the country, or do they have numerous groups, like the NAS?

To give a very quick simple answer

London

No, If only It would certainly help my student bursary  :lol:

Grants, Publishing (I think) but there is some plan for some kind of Social Enterprise initiative (i.e. A business plan to earn some revenue but still remain a charity)

No, the closest it has to it is several rooms of one of the co-founders houses

Yep

Originally groups were going to be regional branches but now there is a drive to change it so groups are associated rather then directly part of it.

The main base is in London but i guess technically the follwing groups are "associated" with DANDA

NENDA in Newcastle
NDU in Yorkshire (Leeds and Sheffield) which is what I run
A dyspraxic group in Manchester run by one of our Committee members
And apparently we might have a group starting up in East Yorkshire/Hull area
Theres probably a few others but those ar the ones that come to my head

You'l have to ask those individual groups for how they organise things. Our group In yorkshire has only just started last month we had a meeting in Leeds with 20+ people in attendence and were having another one in early december.

There is a social group that meetup at a pub in the London, I can put details of that up on here if you want?

Yep, The website is going to be chucked for a new one soon so the information on there is out of date, see link

http://www.danda.org.uk/pages/about.htm

I can post my groups mission statement if you like?