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We need 5 minutes of your time - please ACT!

We have been busy making our very grave concerns about the changeover to PIP known to MPs and members of the House of Lords - tomorrow the Lords will debate further amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill, including PIP.

We ask you to take 5 minutes to forward the text below to your own MP and area Peers and ask them to raise it in the commons/Lords. (www.writetothem.com)

This week disability rights campaigners are asking the House of Lords to back an adjournment of at least 6 months between the change over from DLA to the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) In that time, plans for PIP should be reconsidered with the views of disabled people properly taken into account.

ACT NOW supports the call for an adjournment debate so the views and opinions of people with disabilities can truly be listened to. Adults with autism are currently facing the prospect of two assessments both of which are not fit for purpose and certainly not relevant for a person with an autistic spectrum condition. Neither assessment was designed to reflect the complex needs of adults with autism.

ACT NOW has much evidence that the PIP assessment, recently trialed across the UK, was not designed for adults with autism, it seem the condition wasn't considered! We agree that the new PIP assessment is almost a duplicate of the Work Capability Assessment and we are extremely concerned that adults with autism should have to face the trauma of two assessments not designed in any way to reflect their condition.

We have evidence that any specialism in autism that the Work Programme Providers have is patchy and varies greatly from area to area.

ACT NOW believes that being able to communicate effectively is a basic human right. We are therefore doubling our efforts to make sure that as many MPs and members of the House of Lords as is possible are aware of our campaign. We are reiterating our call for every adult with autism to be offered, can access and is allowed to then use the services of an independent and suitably trained advocate when they find themselves having an assessment/reassessment.

There are other issues that we firmly believe need to be raised and acted upon as a matter of urgency. There are many adults with autism who will NOT have reports from health professionals who are able to provide supportive evidence about their condition after their DLA/PIP assessment if they are asked to do so.

Many adults have seen no one since leaving Children’s Services and in some areas they have no health services for adults to access unless they are at crisis point.

Who will support these adults if it becomes necessary for them to provide reports?

There is a dearth of specifically trained professionals who have the specialism required to understand autism and then write a comprehensive report about how autism impacts on the lives of the individual with the condition.

ACT NOW believes that this issue alone is causing grave concern to many adults who are living alone, isolated and unsupported in our communities. The wellbeing of these adults must not be overlooked. They have been neglected, ignored and ineligible for far too long already.

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ACT NOW Phase Four

Cutting Edge

ACT NOW is very concerned about the reduction in support for families living with autism and other disabilities when we change over to Universal Credit. This new system has the ability to severely impact on the income of families living with autism.

At the moment anyone who has a disabled child is entitled to the disability element of child tax credit. This support will change under Universal Credit and will be provided through a disability addition as part of the benefit entitlement of a household.

Families with a child not getting high rate care component DLA will see the current rate of £54 per week drop to £27 per week, this adds up to £1400 per year but as the rate is paid per child a family with two or more disabled children will lose far greater amounts of financial support.

We are deeply concerned about the reduction of £27 per week for those whose children get middle or low rate care component of DLA because the vast majority of autistic children get those rates. A huge proportion of parent carers will face this cut whilst already struggling financially.

Families of autistic children often face far greater costs than many; paying for therapies and interventions that are not freely available to our children, buying special food because of sensory issues and restricted diets, special clothing due to sensory issues as well as damage often caused by their meltdowns. There are all reasons why this cut will have a negative impact, it's like we are being told our children aren't quite disabled enough. Autism for many is a hidden disability, especially children and many families are close to breaking point.

"Families living with autism are under so much stress given the views held by many about autism and how it manifests. Most live with no support and are now living in real terror of how some aspects of Welfare Reform will affect them." Jon Cruddas MP (ACT NOW Patron)

Jon is going to table a question in the House of Commons for ACT NOW regarding the impact of this cut on families living with autism. ACT NOW will also raise this issue in a report that is currently being drafted for members of the House of Lords.

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ACT NOW is Marching ON!

ACT NOW supporters kindly gave us photo's of themselves or their children

to help us promote awareness - everyone featured is affected by autism.

We are very grateful to all, sadly we couldn't include all the photo's.

ACT NOW is 'Marching on'

We're all in this together,

Standing up for Autism.

Will you stand up with us?

Keep up with us?

Join us?

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens

can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead.

The Show Must Go On!

ACT NOW Autism Campaigners Together are a core group of people passionate about the future and wellbeing of children and adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the UK and who all live with autism 24/7.

ACT NOW are fighting the cuts to benefits, services and provision affecting the autism community.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
Please write to your MP asking them to support our National Call for advocates/communicators for adults with autism. You can download our example letter here

It is our intention to write a further report specifying and quantifying the cuts and where they have taken place and how they are impacting on our lives. We need to make this a comprehensive report and we need your help to be able to do this. We must prove that some of the most vulnerable members of our society are not being protected by this Government as they have said that they will be.

We would like to have as many Local Authorities, County, Metropolitan and Unitary Councils covered as we possibly can. The more information we can share with each other the more we will know just how much the cuts are going to impact on our lives. We are already aware that some LAs and Health Authorities have announced cuts. If we can add up all of the cuts that are taking place we could be in for a very BIG shock. It is likely that some families will have their lives affected by cuts across three areas made by their LAs including County, Metropolitan and Unitary Councils, PCTs and Health Authorities.

ACT NOW Core Group are:-

Carole Rutherford - Campaign Manager
Teresa Catto-Smith - Administrator & Scotland Co-ordinator
Anna Kennedy - PR Manager
Mavourneen Moore - Information Officer

ACT NOW

ACT NOW (Autism Campaigners Together) are a core group of people passionate about the future and wellbeing of children and adults with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the UK. ACT NOW are fighting the cuts to benefits, welfare and services.

We need 5 minutes of your time - please ACT!