Category Archives: autism

Carers face New Year struggle after cuts

January 2, 2013   autism, Carers, health
By Jamie Deasy
Cuts to the respite grant is unfair

• Carolyn Akintola and her mum Elsie pictured with Cathy White, CEO of the Clondalkin Carers’ Association, at the Maldron Hotel in Tallaght where Carolyn was presented with a Dublin Carer of the Year Award in 2010.

SOUTHSIDE carers have spoken of how they are facing an increasingly difficult struggle to look after their loved ones in the New Year as the cuts announced in the budget hit home.

In the budget on December 6, the Government announced that it was cutting the carers’ respite grant, which is intended to help carers take a break or holiday, from €1,700 a year to €1,375.

Many carers will also be affected by cuts to gas and electricity allowances that have been reduced from the current €41 to €35 per month and from €22.60 to €9.50 for the telephone payment.

Medical card holders who previously paid 50c per prescription will now pay €1.50, while the monthly threshold for purchasing prescription drugs has increased from €132 a month to €144.

Des Coffey (48), from Tymonville Park in Tallaght, cares for his 19-year-old daughter Danielle who has Down’s Syndrome, has severe learning difficulties, is severely autistic and has kidney problems.

Read More

I love my disabled child – but I’d give my life to make her normal

November 28, 2012   autism, Carers, disability, ukcuts

The mother of a severely autistic girl makes a painfully honest confession

  • Meg Henderson writes a reply to Dominic Lawson who said he would never want to ‘cure’ his daughter from Down’s syndrome
  • Daughter Louise is brain-damaged and autistic and mother says disability took an ‘intolerable toll’ on the family
  • At 34, Louise is now settled in a special village in Fife where she receives dedicated care

By Meg Henderson

PUBLISHED: 00:59, 28 November 2012 | UPDATED: 10:13, 28 November 2012

Most nights, for more years than I can remember, I have had the same dream. I’m walking along the street, arm-in-arm with my beautiful, dark-haired daughter.

Her brown eyes are sparkling with joy, she’s chatting 19 to the dozen, making me laugh and giggle along with her. But every morning I wake to the same chilling reality. My 34-year-old daughter, Louise, is disabled.

Her speech can be almost unintelligible even to us, she will never hold down a job, have a family or even live by herself. Louise is a scared, anxious little girl imprisoned in a woman’s body.

Read More

Autism Cannot Be Diagnosed By Brain Imaging Alone

November 6, 2012   autism, Carers

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 06 Nov 2012 – 0:00 PST

To diagnose autism reliably, we need to better understand what goes awry in people with the disorder

In a column appearing in the current issue of the journal Nature, McLean Hospital biostatistician Nicholas Lange, ScD, cautions against heralding the use of brain imaging scans to diagnose autism and urges greater focus on conducting large, long-term multicenter studies to identify the biological basis of the disorder.

Read More