Sir, – My son, Séamus, has a diagnosis of autism with moderate to severe learning disability and is non-verbal. As he reached 18 this year his schooling ceased in June. I had envisaged there would be a five-day adult service for him in September as has been the case for all school-leavers with disabilities over the years. However, there is insufficient funding in place to provide a service for him and the 76 other school-leavers with disabilities in the West.
Funding for disability services has been severely cut over the past five years and it appears immoral to me that the State would choose to cut services to the most vulnerable in society (many of whom literally do not have a voice) while refusing to consider other options to achieve budgetary savings. I don’t accept my son should be denied an adult day service because of economic mismanagement: the choice before the State is not an economic one, but rather a moral one.
My son does not have the same range of options as “regular” school leavers (a choice of colleges and courses, the option to emigrate, etc). Being non-verbal, he has learned to communicate using the Picture Exchange Communication System and LÁMH sign language. Before this he found it extremely difficult to communicate his needs and engaged in very distressing, challenging, and often self-injurious, behaviour. It is essential that he receives a full- time adult day service in September to include all the therapies and supports as recommended by the professionals in his “assessment of needs”.
He needs these supports to ensure his skills are maintained and to allow him to develop his undoubted potential and thereby secure and hopefully improve his quality of life. If he does not, he will regress, which will lead to a return to challenging behaviour – an agonising and depressing thought. What’s more, the funding spent on my son over the years will have been a total waste, leading to even higher costs for the State in the long term.
Parents are disillusioned. Our children do not suddenly stop learning when they reach 18! We call on our elected representatives in Galway, as well as those in Opposition, to formally demand that the Government fund the necessary resources for school leavers with disabilities, which was historically in place through demographic funding. – Yours, etc,
MARY NEYLON
(Parent, school-leaver with
disability),
MacBride Avenue, Galway.