Reminder for those wondering what my position is, re autism.
I'm autistic.
I'm a parent of a fab autistic son who has higher support needs and works with me and our team.
For many years I was carer for a relative in high support hospital whose distress behaviour was extreme.

Am I anti-parent? Clearly not. I'm a parent. I support the role of parents and carers in championing the voice, and experiences of their fabulous young people.
I do that through various teams. Some, training. Some, around the psychology of how to improve things. Some, NHS/

Am I mindful that autistic people need to be full partners at every stage of processes about our lives? Yes.
That means all sorts of autistic people.
Including the 15% who also have learning disabilities.
Including those from BAME communities, & in LGBT+ communities.

Do I have significant concerns about some of the more popular approaches to provision of formal care for autistic people? Yes.
Am I alone in these? No.
We need to engage with autistic people to find out the concerns, and work together to find appropriate solutions.

Are some people really alarmed to find me in a room with them? Yes.
Is this my problem? No.

What do I want?
A life for autistic people that isn't filled with fear, dread and normalisation.

How do we do this? Collaboration.
Actually letting autistic people in the room where the power-discussions happen.
Glad, as always, of the many teams with whom I work who enable various autistic people to be part of that, in equal ways.

Why do I do this?
Because I don't want any more autistic people to die early, and too often taking their own lives after collapse from a lifetime made into a living hell.

I think we can all agree we want the same thing, yes?

If we can affirm that a life worth living is the goal, we can affirm that we absolutely must work together, really listening and learning.
Learning from modern research.
Learning from lived experience.
Learning from one another.

So if you are told, 'Don't listen to those autistic people!", always always ask yourself why someone would want you to not listen. To not learn. To not collaborate.
Even if most what you hear isn't relevant to the care of your loved one, it might yield an idea, a clue.

I learn so much every day of my life from that listening and learning process. Not least thanks to the fabulous team at Sheffield Hallam who have herded us Third Years through two years of Post Grad studies in this topic so far, and now through Dissertation.

My thanks to teams at @AT_Autism for their amazing work on #Synergy training.
@NDTicentral for their fab work around the autism team they are creating.
@AFNCCF for their work around NHS Tier 4/CAMHS autism training.
& the NHS CTR teams for their willingness to learn & include.

Being clear that my views are my own views, and this is a personal page. I do not speak for those organisations here.

My thanks also to the endless amazing autistic people online, working tirelessly for change in various groups and situations. So many on here, and some of them taking big 'hits' from naysayers every day.
Look after yourselves.
Stay safe.
And my thanks to all of the allies.