• To get a specialised social services and NHS support teams adults with autism and asperger syndrome
    For those with neurological-developmental disorders, including mild autism and autism without a disability, there are no specialised community services for adults with such disabilities. Social workers and doctors are dealing with those with more mild to moderate learning and neurological-developmental, including asperger syndrome and autism without a learning disability, but have no specialist resources, therapy, or idea on how to support these specific group of adults. I want all local social services and NHS teams through England and in all counties to give adults with autism and asperger syndrome an allocated social worker or doctor that is specifically specialised in long-term developmental disorders. But many people with this disabilities are ignored, given the wrong support, or are forgotton. So the all the government, social services, and MP's needs to implement specialised community teams for adults with long-term and mild to moderate developmental disorders, with specialised social workers, psychiatrists, and advocacy teams. At the moment, alot of high-functioning autistic adults get classed as having more emotional or mental problems, if they do not have a learning disability label on top of their autistic diagnosis - but many autistic adults are not mentally ill, they have a neurological developmental disorder. So the government needs to stop throwing autistic adults into the mental health sector teams and start opening up specialised teams through out the UK that only deal with autism related disorders, including asperger syndrome.. Some areas do have adult clinics for asperger syndrome and mild autism sufferers, but many areas don't - Derbyshire, as I know, do not offer specialised social services workers or NHS staff to adults with asperger syndrome. You can get diagnosed with asperger syndrome now, in Derbyshire, for example...but there are not specialised teams available, so some of us with asperger syndrome get allocated into the mental health system which is unfair, and this means we don't get the proper treatment.. So all local authorities needs to now step up and make it law that all counties must have specialised community teams through the UK and not just in certain parts of the country. So many adults with autism and asperger syndrome, especially those that cannot access learning disability teams, are being left out and not receiving adequate long-term support from their local nhs and social services team. Many autistic and asperger syndrome syndrome adults need more long-term and specialised support, in order to gain the community support that they deserve. This will mean that adults with asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism could access proper treatment and social care. If we could have proper social care teams and NHS clinics that offer specialised support tailored around all areas of the UK, then we could get the right to lead a normal and healthy life. This will improve the quality of families, adults affected with asperger syndrome and autism, and any money can be put into getting adults with aspergers/autism into a good cause.
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    Created by Sarah Child Picture
  • Make ATOS visit more PIP claimants in their homes in Hartlepool.
    It's important as twice myself and my fiancé have had to scrip and scrap to have enough money just to get to and from the ATOS assessment centre in Hartlepool when I claimed ESA and we have to do the same again for my PIP assessment this Thursday as I cannot walk to the assessment centre as it's too far away from where me n my fiancé live and also because I have mobility problems with my left leg.
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    Created by Toni-Jane Harris
  • West Berkshire Mencap's Disabled Children's Short Break Funding Cuts
    Families of disabled children who attend After School Club, Youth Club, Holiday Play Schemes, Residential Holidays, Saturday Clubs and Overnight Breaks at West Berkshire Mencap do so out of sheer necessity. West Berkshire Mencap support the most complex and vulnerable of children who quite literally have no other respite options. These short breaks enable families to cope with day to day life and in most cases, enable them to spend quality time with their other children who are often overlooked due to the time. Parents must invest to meet the care requirements and demands of their disabled child. Parents also use these services to enable them to access social activities, maintain friendships and relationships, access further training or to have down time to recuperate so they can continue to care for their child at home.
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    Created by Paul Pointer
  • Do not close our only lifeline. Please keep Tower House day centre open.
    Tower House is not just a day centre for us. This is where we've all grown very close friendships with each other and this will break up our friendship and harm our mental well being. There are no other services in the area like this for service users with so many complex needs. Some of us don't see any one in the week, so without our centre we would be totally isolated. Some of us are wheelchair bound and are being looked after by our partners or family. So coming to Tower House is a respite for our loved ones and a chance for us to be in a social environment. Some of us elderly, disabled from birth or disabled due to illness or injury. Please save our centre as this is a lifeline for us and we have nowhere else to go.
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    Created by Roberta Spink Picture
  • Brighton Disabled Children's service to be axed !!
    This is such an important service, providing respite and a safe and controlled environment for our young disabled children. Especially so for children with severe autism. These children do not have friends to hang out with, they don't have hobbies or clubs they can go to. Many of these children cannot go to the cinema or bowling, it is too distressing for them. The outreach team provide the most wonderful, caring staff to take these children out. They become their 'friends' their lifeline to anything outside of home and school life. The staff learn the needs of these children and cater to them. They take them out. Sometimes it may just be for a drive. My severely autistic son Merlin loves to look at tall buildings and structures. He loves to go for a drive to look at tall things at night. This makes him so happy. I don't drive. He loves to go to the outreach flat and cook. He loves to make play dough. He loves to watch old videos of old kids programmes. The outreach flat provides all this. He always asks me if he can go out with outreach every night. it is his home from home. His outreach workers Emma and Andrew are his 'best friends' They understand him completely. He has built up a relationship with them that no one else comes close too. His autism effects every aspect of his life. This service is his life without it he has nothing to look forward to. We cannot lose it.
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    Created by Aimee Fiddimore
  • Better TV Subtitling
    I am very deaf and rely on subtitling to make sense of what I am seeing. Generally speaking my complaint is aimed at recorded programmes in which subtitles are sometimes so far out of synchronicity, or simply absent for such long periods, that action on screen is over long before the words appear. Many channels appear not to use subtitling at all. I usually cannot watch them.
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    Created by John Cummins
  • re-assign funding to child and adolescent mental health
    The pressures faced by children and teenagers now are more harsh than ever. The pressure to succeed in a failing school system, the pressure to get the best GCSE and ALEVELS, family pressures, and children who have an intrinsic mental health concern, all these pressures have increased, and the support services that would enable a child to access support have not only stayed static, but in many cases have reduced in size. Last year 800 children aged 11 and under needed treatment in a and e for injuries caused by self harm, each week there is news of another teen suicide, or an autistic child that cannot receive access to a vital service, this needs to change, and fast, before a whole generation is lost. This vital service can no longer be a Cinderella service.
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    Created by Leanne Harris
  • Save Winterbourne Therapeutic Community
    Mental health in the UK is in crisis. As it's seen as an invisible problem, cuts are being made across the country in the hopes that the public won't notice or care. But most people will experience, or will have a family member or friend experience, mental health problems - this is in fact an issue that touches us all. We need to fight for our vital services. We need to fight for Winterbourne Therapeutic Community. The Winterbourne therapeutic community (TC), a large part of the Berkshire Complex Needs Service, is due to end in November 2015. The TC has been operating for almost 50 years and is highly-respected among therapists who work with TCs. This is a therapeutic model that works by bringing people together, all of whom suffer with longstanding emotional problems, and turn them into a community. Members’ experiences include abuse, neglect, trauma, deprivation and loss, particularly early in life, which leads to an inability to take care of themselves and form healthy, sustained relationships with other people. The fact that members are able to form a community is a huge testament to the hard work of both the members and the therapists. Winterbourne TC offers its members therapy of 18 hours a week for 18 months. Every member joins knowing that TC offers no quick fix, but is extremely successful when hard work and commitment is applied. In today’s world of cuts and demands for immediate results, it’s no wonder that therapeutic communities are unpopular and at risk across the UK, despite their efficacy and cost-effectiveness in the long-term (http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/…/a1CG0000000GTAxMAO). TC can only operate with full openness, which is why it’s particularly disturbing that there has been a lack of this when communicating about the future of TC. Members, both current and former, were only informed about the imminent closure of TC this month, September, meaning we’ve had very little time to organise and get a campaign plan going. Ex-members were invited to a workshop regarding ongoing psychological services provided by Berkshire Healthcare NHS trust at the beginning of September. As there was no context, and it was held from 3.30pm til 5.00pm, people who were working didn’t attend, whereas they would have made special arrangements to have attended had the workshop’s purpose been clear. The official reason for the closure of Winterbourne TC, given by Cathy Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, is that the site has recently been deemed “unsuitable for use” (http://www.getreading.co.uk/…/patients-outrage-over-closure…), without further detail. There had been signs for some time that the TC was under threat for financial reasons: for a long period of time prospective members have been hard to find, despite the fact that previously TC was in such high demand that there was a waiting list. Additionally, this year the number of therapists in each ‘small group’ has decreased from 2 to 1. Small groups consist of up to 6 members of the community, where psychotherapy and discussion can take place in a more sustained, detailed way. Therapists are an integral part of the small groups, so this cut has been sorely felt. Winterbourne TC is incredibly special. It operates through a “living-learning” experience, which includes tasks like providing a meal for all members and therapists, teaching members how to get on with the ordinary business of living. For the incredibly hard process of leaving, a leavers’ group helps members think about life after TC, professionally and in terms of their own welfare. It also provides 24/7 support – outside of community hours, members telephone each other for support. Physical support, when telephone support just isn’t enough, can also be arranged, where members of a community come together to offer support and love during what can feel like the very darkest hours of all. This community has kept people alive. It has taught many people how to live, not just exist. This petition calls for this invaluable service to be kept open - it has been a literal lifeline to so many people. A member's story - Samuel: I would wake up every day and within seconds I’d be crushed by the disappointment that I was still here. Every hour I was conscious my time would be consumed either by unhealthy coping mechanisms or fantasies of suicide. I attempted suicide multiple times before the age of 22. Had I not been referred to Winterbourne Therapeutic Community in early 2014, I likely would be dead or dying by now. I am 24 years old. In September 2015, I completed my treatment in the Therapeutic Community and barely recognise the person I was when I started. During my time there I developed confidence, self awareness and a desire to live. I learned the skills required to leave my parents’ house and live independently. I made friends and made plans for a better life and made peace with my past and my decisions and my pain.
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    Created by Sylvie Garcia
  • Increase the disabled persons carers allowance
    When the budget is announced carers are a forgotten race and don't get a mention. Carers save the government billions of pounds. A care firm I recently contacted charge £16 per hour to care for an elderly person in there own home - multiply that by 60 hours per week. I personally care for 3 family members I get £64 a week care allowance for over 60 hours. I was recently told that this money is classed as income. and taken into account. Im asking that every carer in the country to join me ,s o we can live with some dignity , we don't get shift pay ,time and a half and double time at weekends, we cant take the same holidays, we work when were ill.
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    Created by Jon Shenton
  • Create a Minister for Mental Health
    Currently mental health issues are looked after by a junior Minister who is in charge of care in general. Mental Health issues need to be dealt with separately and the government needs to make sure that people get appropriate care.
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    Created by Anne Marie Brody
  • Plymouth against DSA cuts
    Disabled Students Allowance makes University a more accessible experience and is a vital support mechanism for disabled students. These cuts will mean students will go through university without necessary support, and this could lead to higher dropout rates and lower educational attainment for these students. No additional funds have been announced to bridge the gap and the Government are out of touch in their belief that institutions will accept the new responsibilities placed upon them, leaving students unable to get the support they need in order to study. Many Plymouth University students are from widening participation backgrounds and it worries me the impact that these cuts are going to have here in Plymouth, let alone nationally. It is important that these students are able to access higher education and achieve their potential. However, these cuts will put their education in jeopardy. The UK prides itself on equal opportunities and yet these equal opportunities are being endangered in the name of austerity. The work done by previous governments to ensure access to education will have gone to waste, and students with disabilities will be at a serious disadvantage. Can we really pride ourselves on being a fair and forward thinking nation if those in need are not being given the support they require?
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    Created by Jessica Small
  • Refugees Welcome in West Norfolk & Kings Lynn
    Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety. Yet our prime minister said ‘we won't take any more refugees’. He thinks that most of us don't care. But 38 Degrees members do care. We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome
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    Created by Rosie Woolgar