Without intervention today, the cost of care for adults with autism will be significantly greater and the burden will no longer lie with the parents, but on our entire society.
Sometimes people will hear you and be able to change their behavior, but often their behavior has more to do with their own need for approval than with your need for support. No matter what their response, you need to be firm and hold your ground. At the end of the day, your health is your responsibility.
Everyone needs more support than they are getting.
I feel like if I'm sick, I need flowers. I'm very open about saying what I need from a partner, and he needs to meet those demands.
The British people think that if someone is disabled, then they should get all the care and support that we can offer.
People end up on the street for many different reasons - leaving care or hospital, problems with debt, unemployment, mental health, family breakup - and so the help they need is varied, too.
I was always interested in becoming a midwife. Then, at my own birth, I didn't get the support I'd hoped for, and that changed everything. That's why I became a doula. There's such a need.
My wife and I have a schizophrenic son. We didn't want to accept this for 30 years, so we put him under great pressure when we shouldn't have. He just wanted to be looked after, and we didn't respect that. We tried to make him independent.
How do you support someone with cancer? How do you ask for the help you need?
