Dublin mum to take fight for autistic son to European Parliament
Dublin City Councillor Alison Field is taking her advocacy for her autistic son's needs all the way to the European Parliament.
Cllr Field's 12-year-old son, James, is severely autistic and totally non-verbal. She is calling on the government to meet its legal obligations to children and address often years-long waiting lists for their assessment of needs. Along with affected parents, Cllr Field will travel to Brussels on Wednesday (May 6) as guests of Dublin MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin to make their voices heard.
Cllr Field will present their petition supported by five other families to the Petitions Committee accompanied by Labour spokesperson on Education Eoghan Kenny TD. Under the Disability Act 2005, every child in Ireland is entitled to an assessment of needs within six months of application. But, today more than 16,000 children are waiting, with an average wait time of nearly 25 months. Some families have been told to wait up to six years.
Cllr Field will appear before the committee arguing that the government’s failure is a breach of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and ask that Ireland be directed to access EU technical assistance and funding, and that their progress is monitored.
“My son James who has severe autism and is totally nonverbal has been failed by our state on so many levels. James was deprived of essential early intervention help while he was left waiting on a list for almost two years for an assessment of needs and diagnosis,” Cllr Field said.
“I have been banging this drum for many years now, as have so many parents and advocates. But our government is not listening. They do not seem to realise that they have a duty of care to all children including the children with the highest support needs.
“I am hoping that the European Petition Committee will advise our government and make our government act responsibly in ensuring no child is left behind. That no child is left waiting years for an assessment of needs and an appropriate school place.”
Ahead of her visit to Brussels, Cllr Field, along with her husband Dave, spoke to Dublin Live about their frustration and hurt, saying it’s difficult to maintain the belief that the government cares about children with additional needs considering how often they are let down. With a massive lack of special school places, Cllr Field revealed that 16 school applications for James have already been rejected.
“An application is not a straightforward process. It’s a long form with assessments, reports and birth certificates,” she said. “In one day, we got four refusals in the post.”
Dave said another major issue is there is no uniformity to school place applications, meaning they are forced to begin the process over and over only to receive one rejection after another. “You would hope that a form could be simply typing in details and attaching the documents, but they all have their own specifics,” Dave said, adding that many must be physically sent via registered post.
The reasons for refusal vary and can include a lack of capacity to being unable to meet James’s specific requirements. Dave explained this is an issue that affects the whole family, as their teenage daughter is balancing both studying for her Leaving Cert and worrying about her brother.
“There’s huge pressure each time a letter comes through the door,” Dave said. “We’re worried that, come September, if he doesn’t get a place, he might regress and go backwards.”
The Field family feel lucky that James has been well looked after at St. Laurence O'Toole's primary school in North Wall, and Cllr Field said she even considered asking the principal if he could remain for one extra year. While this is a mainstream school that doesn’t fully meet all of James’s specific requirements, Cllr Field said it has been very good for him.
“He is in the ASD class with six children, there’s two SNAs and the teacher. He absolutely loves the school and I wish he could stay there the rest of his life,” Cllr Field said.
However, Cllr Field believes that to delay his progression to secondary would just be pushing the problem out for another year. “He needs to move and they need to get younger children into the school, we don’t want to be taking up a place there.”
The fight to secure a school place for James has been “a constant battle” and Cllr Field said it’s frustrating to be pushing so hard for places that often don’t even fully meet his needs. “The school where he is has done great wonders, but he still required a special school then, so it wasn’t the appropriate place for him.”
Cllr Field highlighted just how few places are available, stating she recently received a rejection that told her there are zero school places available for the year and that James was eighth on the waiting list. “That was bizarre,” she said.
Having advocated for stronger autism support for years, Cllr Field believes it is now necessary to bypass the Irish government and go to Brussels to plead her case at the European Union level. She said the fact that parents sleeping outside the Dáil last year over a lack of school places didn’t resolve indicates the government isn't taking protests seriously enough.
“ They let that girl Cara sleep outside for three days . It’s an absolute shame to let a child do that,” she said.
“I do think to myself, the government doesn't seem to care about our children. I really hope they do, but the system has gotten out of control. They didn’t deal with it for years.”
Cllr Field hopes that going to Brussels will encourage some kind of intervention that demands the government take action and solve this crisis for parents and children. “I think that they’re in over their heads and don’t know how to deal with all of this,” she said.
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme