Seanad debates
Wednesday, 11 June 2003
Autism Services: Statements.
Nobody could have sat on the committee which I attended, as did Senator Henry, without being impressed by Kathy Sinnott. It is very different for us to discuss it in the abstract and to talk about statistics and the magnificent job which the Government and the universities have done in providing more therapists, more undergraduates, more degrees, more qualifications. It does not read like that on the ground. One only has to talk to people who have autistic children. They do not say things are getting better. They say that, if anything, things are getting worse, that there is a complete lack of acknowledgement by the authorities of the real problems which parents and children have to face – but particularly parents, because they realise what is going on. They may have politicians and all sorts of organisations and Departments coming back to them, but the situation for them on the ground is not a great deal better than it was.
No comments