A CARLOW mother of a child who has Asperger’s Syndrome has spoken out about the difficulties she faces after being refused a care allowance by the government.
The woman, who doesn’t wish to be named so that she can protect her child, said her six-year-old boy needed “24-hour care” and that he couldn’t be left alone at all. The child has Asperger’s Syndrome, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and ADHD. He can be aggressive, has little or no social skills and can’t play with other children, according to his mother.
The boy attends a special autism unit in a local school because his behaviour is too disruptive for mainstream education. He also has to sleep in his mother’s bed and causes disruption at home among his three other siblings.
His mother is a lone parent and the family is struggling to cope with him, she said.
“He doesn’t like the outside world; he lives in his own head,” she explained.
She applied four months ago to the Department of Social Protection for a domiciliary care allowance but was refused because the department’s medical assessors said that “he didn’t need 24-hour care”.
“But I am living with this 24 hours a day – it’s non-stop,” she said. “My little boy needs this. It’s very hard to deal with the situation but he can’t help the way he is.”
Now she wants to highlight the issue because “other people are going through the same thing. There are numerous other people in Carlow who are fighting the same thing.”
In reply to queries from The Nationalist, the Department of Social Protection issued a statement. It said that “no specific medical condition or disability rules a child in or out of receipt of the allowance; it is the degree of extra care and attention required that determines whether the allowance is payable or not. Each case is judged on its merits.”
It continued that “all applicants are provided with a formal decision letter, which outlines the reason for the decision and the options open to them should they wish to have the decision reviewed or wish to appeal.
“If an applicant is unhappy with the decision, they can ask for the decision to be reviewed and/or appeal the decision to the Social Welfare appeals office,” the statement concluded.
