Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru	National Assembly for Wales
Bil Awtistiaeth (Cymru) drafft	Draft Autism (Wales) Bill
Llythyr Ymgynghori DAB18	Consultation Letter DAB18
Ymateb gan Cyngor Cymuned Llandudoch	Evidence from St Dogmaels Community Council

Please refer to questions in the Consultation Letter.

Question	Answer
01	Yes
02	Yes
03	The list does not include police & judicial system. There are examples of the police not understanding key aspects of autism e.g 1. An autistic adult having a meltdown being arrested 2. The need to have women police officers searching for a missing autistic girl. An example: The girl had been told by parents about ‘stranger danger’ with the emphasis on men. Male police officers could not understand why women officers were required. She was found deep in forestry after many hours searching by a lady farmer who understood autism 3. Sometimes autistic people undress when stressed or to gain attention – but not in any sexual way. It is not acceptable socially but is misinterpreted. Parents can be very worried that such behaviour is interpreted as ‘flashing’ and risks being prosecuted. 4. For some autistic people being touched can be compared to having horrible insects crawling over your skin. If a policeman touches such an autistic person they may lash out and then be prosecuted for assaulting police. The judicial system has imprisoned people with autism when had their skills in eg IT been redirected they may become useful members of society instead of having long prison sentences It is not clear whether social services are included in the list: If social services had more understanding of autism, adults on the spectrum would be less afraid of asking for help with parenting issues.
04	Yes
05	We agree with the 6 months
06	We agree with the 3 months
07	We agree with the 3 months
08	It was difficult to locate this information but if it is 3 months, then, Yes. However, both questions 8 & 9 fail to consider current timescales and resources. Hwyel Dda covering Ceredigion/Pembrokeshire/ Carmarthen confirm average wait times for assessment is 2 years or 108 weeks. How on earth do we go from that atrocious position today to the proposed 3 months in the bill. There is no plan assessing resources, people, facilities and FUNDING! and the strategy for addressing such. What we cannot have is the current situation of each time a new process comes in, a new waiting list is created with the newly referred individuals jumping to the front of the existing queue and those older referrals continuing their painful, non-constructive wait for a date for assessment.
09	Yes. However, both questions 8 & 9 fail to consider current timescales and resources. Hwyel Dda covering Ceredigion/Pembrokeshire/ Carmarthen confirm average wait times for assessment is 2 years or 108 weeks. How on earth do we go from that atrocious position today to the proposed 3 months in the bill. There is no plan assessing resources, people, facilities and FUNDING! and the strategy for addressing such. What we cannot have is the current situation of each time a new process comes in, a new waiting list is created with the newly referred individuals jumping to the front of the existing queue and those older referrals continuing their painful, non-constructive wait for a date for assessment. Unless you have a social worker there is no process for identifying care and support. You may be given a diagnosis and left to get on with things. There is a shortage of social workers in general, let alone social workers assisting people with autism There is a lack of appropriate support in the transition periods e.g. primary to secondary school, secondary school to college or university. A local example is that of an autistic spectrum youngster starting at university being told there will be a 3 month wait for an assessment of their needs. This is unacceptable. There are so many changes for them to try and accommodate they may just give up after 2 weeks or even less Again where is the plan to assess resources for people, facilities AND FUNDING to achieve this.
10	Yes
11	Education/teaching/training & support staff. Educational Psychologist For young people it should be a child or adolescent peychologist Physiotherapist (many people with autism have poor muscle tone, & poor coordination)
12	Difficulty of accessing services in rural & dispersed communities and where there is poor public transport provision. Also the funding in rural areas affects provision Lack of coordination between counties /Cross County border issues Play facilities in Ceredigion (2 miles away) cannot be accessed and parents are told to travel 28 miles for Pembrokeshire’s provision. This is not practical for most children on the spectrum There is a lack of appropriate support in the transition periods e.g. primary to secondary school, secondary school to college or university. A local example is that of an autistic spectrum youngster starting at university being told there will be a 3 month wait for an assessment of their needs. This is unacceptable. There are so many changes for them to try and accommodate they may just give up after 2 weeks or even less Where is the plan to assess resources for people, facilities AND FUNDING to achieve this. Problems of the current timescales and resources. Hwyel Dda covering Ceredigion/Pembrokeshire/Carmarthen confirm average wait times for assessment is 2 years or 108 weeks. How on earth do we go from that atrocious position today to the proposed 3 months in the bill. There is no plan assessing resources, people,facilities and FUNDING! and the strategy for addressing such. What we cannot have is the current situation of each time a new process comes in, a new waiting list is created with the newly referred individuals jumping to the front of the existing queue and those referrals continuing their painful, non-constructive wait for a date for assessment. Unless you have a social worker there is no process for identifying care and support. You may be given a diagnosis and left to get on with things. There is a shortage of social workers in general, let alone social workers assisting people with autism
13	Yes
14	There needs to be: 1. Assessment of whether children are getting what they are assessed as needing 2. Assessment of impact perhaps using case studies
15	In the Bill but with provision in guidance for other data to be gathered
16	a) Yes b) Yes
17	A three year cycle of ‘Plan, Do, Review’
18	b) In some Welsh medium schools, some teachers are refusing to have autism training unless/until it is provided in Welsh. This harms children if it prevents or delays teachers/learning assistants getting the best possible autism training Could it not be done using simultaneous translation? Where children have struggles with language the child should be educated in the language which best fits the home language which may be neither English or Welsh c) The judicial system has imprisoned people with autism when had their skills in eg IT been redirected they may become useful members of society instead of having long prison sentences d) Case studies are needed to evaluate impact
19	The Bill has no provision for Review of Needs after the initial assessment There needs to be provision for measurement of growth, ongoing analysis, leading to new measures & targets There is little mention of training or funding for training