Ms M?ire Br?d N? Chonghaile:

I am the general manager of the Galway Autism Partnership, GAP. I am joined by Mr. Richard Taylor, chairperson of our board.

We are a volunteer organisation that was established in 2011 by a group of parents. We aim to give the autistic community of Galway a voice and to make a positive difference to individuals and families. Our vision is of a community that is accepting, understanding and inclusive of autistic people and their families and ensures their right to equal opportunity and participation. Our mission is to work to improve quality of life for autistic people and their families by providing advocacy, peer support, information, social activities, and training and education. Our values are empowerment, equality, excellence, inclusion, respect and partnership. Our members include our families, individuals, volunteers and board members and we are based in Laurel Park in Galway. While that is close to the city, we are a charity that supports city and county.

Some 50% of our members are referred through healthcare providers and organisations like Enable Ireland, the Brothers of Charity, the HSE and child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Every day, we get phone calls from parents who, much like the couple behind me who spoke, are lost, directionless, frustrated and unsure about what to do. These are the stories that we hear every day.

A survey was sent to our stakeholders in 2022. When asked what one thing GAP could do to support families and make a difference, the main responses we got were: to promote inclusive activities for autistic people; where people were included, to break the stigma, as activities and engagement are separate for autistic people; to empower the community; to connect autistic people; to focus on families and family supports; and to plug the gap in service provision. That last is the main request made by our families, who are constantly in battle, on waiting lists and being met with closed doors.

The main issues facing families and individuals are the lack of access to timely and appropriate services and supports and the lack of a clear pathway to supports and assessments. Recently, I spoke to a special needs assistant, SNA, who told me about an occupational therapist who came into a classroom with a programme for a child. The therapist simply delivered the programme but did not actually show how to use or implement it, saying that that was not the therapist's role. I also spoke to a teacher who told me that there was a child in her class who had been waiting a long time for a speech and language therapist to come to the school. When the speech and language therapist made it to the school, the child was absent that day due to sickness. The speech and language therapist went ahead and had the meeting with the child's teacher and SNA and then claimed to have a full picture of the child despite not having met the child. These two examples are not the fault of the occupational therapist or the speech and language therapist. This is just the way things are. These are just the pressures under which people are working.

Inclusion and being a part of the community are issues experienced by people who come through GAP's doors. Parents also relay challenges in education to us daily: individual schools' capacities; places available in schools; and a lack of understanding of the schools' legal obligations.

As to how we as a charity plug the gap in services, we do simple things that make a significant difference, for example, hosting coffee mornings or coffee evenings at our premises at GAP House. Recently, we added a well-being workshop for parents, which takes place every Monday morning. It is a great way for parents to meet and communicate with others who are at different points on the journey. We have also added a Wednesday "make time for yourself" afternoon. Where possible, we offer talks and direction. For example, a speech and language therapist is tonight hosting a 90-minute session on Zoom, free of charge. Forty parents have signed up and asked for the link to that Zoom meeting, which speaks to the lack of access to services like speech and language therapists. We offer support through our provision of a weekly parent care support group, which is led by a child and adolescent psychotherapist from our therapy team. She is one of the only autism play therapists in the country. She supports our families in trying to navigate this broken system. She works with parents who are dealing with school refusals and anxiety at home and she puts supports in place for these families. It makes a difference. If I was asked what GAP does that would make a difference if it were implemented across the country, I would point to something like this – putting a therapist in place who uses programmes like the ones she uses. It makes a difference to our members.

We hold a meeting at the beginning of every week where there are anywhere between eight and 12 requests for phone consultations and follow-up meetings with a member of our therapy team, be it on Zoom or at GAP House. What the child and adolescent psychotherapist does is based on neuroscience and is proven to work and make a difference. Some of the feedback from the families tells us that it is a game changer. They see a major difference in their children's behaviour and how they engage, for example, better participation and engagement with school. This is one of the most effective things we do in meeting the request made in the survey for us to close the gap in services.

On a week-to-week basis, we run as many camps, clubs and activities as we can from low to high support, including art animation, drumming music generation, and high-support teen hangouts. These create opportunities for families who do not always have the opportunity to do so to engage in regular camps as much as possible. We also hold an adult hangout on Friday nights, which we added to our schedule last October.

This provides an opportunity for the adults to come and share their lived experience. Friendships are forged, groups come together and talk, and they arrange to do things outside the house like going to Galway United matches or bowling. They socialise and there is an opportunity for people to meet and support each other. We have got some positive feedback from our members that we are a good support, we are welcoming and friendly, we are a service in Galway that is very much needed, we are kind, understanding, proactive and helpful, and we support, are enthusiastic and focused.