National Autistic Society-outreach support staff

Am finally have staff from the NAS!
the lady works in the NAS' residential homes but also does the out reach support where she comes into other residential homes or peoples own homes and supports them.
She is very very nice,she is coming every monday until am have got her into routine,then it will be twice a week.
She also has the use of the national autistic societies' own car to take am anywhere am want,
which will be good until am get own motability car.
She is very understanding and instantly understood am,where am have known staff in the learning disability service for years and they still treat am like shit because of their selective ignorance [or selective stupidity,dont know which].

Am have been told by some staff that she is training the staff here on how to treat,work and cope with am [as all the autism specialists have left the LD service and none have replaced them yet].
Though am cannot see that working because the worst staff here did not listen to autism specialists before and they carried on being the abusive ignorant bastards that they are.

Anyway,she is very nice,she treats everyone on the autism spectrum as individuals and does not see the stereotypes,and thinks how am have been treated by LD staff over the years is disgusting.

The NAS are great!

It's official-the council are crapper than crap

Some might think this council/borough is great,some might think it's awesome.
These are humans who have not yet experienced their support and care services.

Trafford council has been running up a care bill debt for am since am lived in the institution,
and they have not been taking the money.
They have now just said [this is after it becoming a huge debt,thats what home staff and one of the council has said anyway] the reason its getting worse is because am do not go in post offices for it to get paid-for one thing,it should not matter as staff who are going are supposed to take the stuff,
and another thing,am cannot cope with post offices for both sensory reasons and the long cues.
The blame is being put on am,when they have never mentioned it.
They said they are trying to set up a 'direct debit' account now,bit late isn't it.

They really are bad.
They said this is the reason am do not have the motability car [a ford focus] yet,because they are trying to get the debt paid off.
What right have they got taking the disability benefits am get and putting it towards the debt they caused? DLA is supposed to be used for disability needs only and debt that was caused by someone else is not one of them.
They are making a poor quality of life even poorer by not getting am the car yet,am would like to see them have to stay inside day in day out and still be affected inside [cant go outside,cant stay inside,it's not nice].

Finally-new padding fitted

The new padding was fitted today.
They put on a big layer of wood onto the wall first,and then the padding was attached to it,as it can come off,and the cover can come off and be washed.
The padding is never as high as head height because it's written in guidelines that staff will restrain am lying down if am headbanging etc.

The material and padding both look great and feel great.

Here are some photos of the new padding [the blue and purple looking one is showing the
back of the padding,can see some velcro there a little bit]:

This is the old padding-

It is now very old,falling apart,plasticy and noisy if sitting near it on bed.
The padding which has been custom made,is so much better.

Another adaption they were going to make was full professional sound proofing
and triple glazing windows, but it is looking like they are moving am to
another res.home instead and getting the work done there.

And am still waiting for the motability car, the council have been trying to
force am pay a debt off that they caused [a care bill, which they let build up before
looking for payment] first.

OT visit

Finally got the first look at the new custom made padding for bedroom today,it has been in the making since early december.
The OT and designer came with it,to see how it fits,but part of it was too long so it's had to go back for a slight change.

They have to drill hooks [?] along the walls so the velco strips can be put through and then attached to the bed so am do not fall down in a meltdown and it protects from head banging as well.

The colour is great,had chose it from a book of samples the designer had,it's a purple check [?] design.

He said the cover can be taken off and washed easily,but that they had designed it around hospital/metal style bed [am not allowed the metal type because of injury from meltdowns] and need to change some of the loops so they wrap around such a wide wooden plank bed.

It looks so much better than the current protection that is used now,as it's been used for years-and is falling apart [a special mattress,and loads of pillows].
They are arranging a date for next week to come,will be out whilst all the banging and drilling is going on.

Will put a photo of it on here when it's all finished,it will be far easier on eyes than the bright red padding already.

Laptop

Not very Autism related,but am going to be off the internet for some days again [last time it was a few weeks],as am bringing back laptop to PC world tomorrow/tuesday.

Bought it last week,it's a crappy Advent laptop,feels cheap and nasty,looks cheap and nasty,it's got one dead pixel in a very obvious part of the screen,the space bar is almost knackered [it sticks], and the battery does not hold any charge at all.
Had only bought it because had been desperate to get back on internet and they were all out of every other laptop that could afford.

But PC world are delivering the original toshiba one am wanted [there had been six available on wednesday,on thursday when went down with money,they said there was none left] as there is one left in another store and the offer on it ends tomorrow.
No idea how long it's going to take to sort it all out,don't know whether will be getting the laptop this week before going to family home at weekend or not,so will be without main communicative source until at least later this week .

The acer travelmate [that got its motherboard damaged in a meltdown] is having its memory taken out and put into the new laptop [if slots are available],and the techy is buying the rest of it off am.
New laptop will have extra insurance taken out,as well as being under the homes' insurance for extra safety,so if it gets in way of a meltdown again,it can be fixed or replaced easier.

Motability car

Have found out today that am finally going to be getting very own car [from the Motability scheme] around end of April,for those who do not have in own country or do not know of this service,motability cars can be applied for if have severe need for own transport,the person also needs to be recieving high rate mobility component of DLA.

Am have been told for a long time that the mobility component covers all the taxis am need so do not need a motability car,which is rubbish because it does not cover near enough.
So the home and service managers have finally listened to staff and are sorting it out [Mark who lives here recently got one,which was wheel chair adapted for his manual chair,but it doesn't have enough space] .

It's the best news have heard in a long time,am will finally get at least some quality of life with a car and staff will not have to argue with drivers to turn off radios anymore because it won't be a taxi,am will be able to go to parks,countryside and shops for food that doesn't use up money too quick as there is only one little shop here now that am able to cope with going in,it's all stuff many people treat as easy everyday things,but am have been unable to access.
The car will be insuranced to all staff,it would be nice if it could insuranced to anyone as then Rach or Chris could drive it to.

Am have asked for a Ford Focus as it's the car am used to rent a lot through the council with another Autie to go to parks,and like the shape of it a lot,but staff have said it all depends on how much money it is.

Am getting the motability car based on all non physical/mobility disabilities [although am do have a mild CP like impairment in left leg,it's nothing in comparison and it isn't on any DLA or income support forms] ,which should be proof enough that adult Auties [and possibly Aspies,at least should be because DLA isn't supposed to be judged on label] can get motability cars without actually having a physical mobility related disability.
Am recommend applying for one if have high rate DLA and severe complex needs as a result of own disability [whether it's Autism,Aspergers,whatever]-get citizens advice or the NAS' new help service to sort it out.
It can give back some quality of life!

Sister training

Last week/this week [not sure what to call it], sister went to London with some other staff from her work [as drugs councilors for Phoenix Futures] to do training on aggression,and the specialist who was doing it [not sure what type he was as she did not say] turned out to specialize in Autism.
Sister said she spoke to him in a break about Autism and talked about am for a while,he said what am had was called 'explosive autism'.
She said they then got onto the subject of both Leo Kanner and Hans Aspergers' work,then the autism spectrum and he said both Autism and Aspergers are seperated by very little in criteria and are really the same thing.
He actually said a lot more than that in better detail but sister couldn't remember anymore,she said it was very interesting,will text her for the specialists' name next week when phone has credit on it.

Have never heard the term 'explosive autism' before,has anyone else heard of it?