The National Autistic Society, Diamond Centre, in Irthlingborough

Northants Telegraph

The National Autistic Society is closing its Northamptonshire day centre -  The Diamond Centre in Irthlingborough. Parents have been given seven weeks' notice.

Transcript

00:00 Our son is Elliot Jones, who's 25. He's been at the Autistic Centre of Northambra for 7 years and he's really progressed.

00:08 On the 15th of September we were given a written notification that the centre was to close.

00:15 This notification was from the Autistic Society.

00:18 From that date we've heard very, very little from them and we've heard zilch from the County Council,

00:25 whether it's North Northamptonshire or West Northamptonshire, despite dozens and dozens of phone calls and stuff.

00:31 We feel like we're banging our head against a brick wall.

00:34 These people in the Autistic Centre need continuity. It is part of the Autistic Syndrome.

00:41 They must have it and just to be given a termination date of 7 weeks, which is now 4,

00:49 that's not enough even to find them a place, let alone transition them, which can take months.

00:54 Every parent wants the best for their kids and how is it a so-called Autistic Society are prepared to ditch

01:02 the most 25 vulnerable people in this part of the county to balance their books?

01:09 My brother is Martin Seaman. He's 35 years old. He's been going to the National Autistic Society now for the last 17 years

01:17 and for it closing as quick as it is, it's just ridiculous.

01:22 Really, really, really angry, sad, anxious. Every emotion you can probably think of, it's all into one.

01:32 If you're losing sleep over it, you're losing, do you know what I mean?

01:37 Mental health.

01:38 Mental health, yeah. Depression people are getting from this.

01:41 It's just so bad for the 7 weeks notice when they've known a lot longer than 7 weeks.

01:47 I'm Lynn Goodwin. I'm Calum's mom. I know Calum's only been going there for a year,

01:52 but for the last 20 years I've been fighting for him, finding a place that's really, you know, cater his needs,

02:00 give him that quality of life, being happy. The most important thing about me is seeing my son happy

02:08 and that center, they do it. My son got a severe autism, non-verbal.

02:13 He's got sensory processing disorder, challenging, and he needs 4 people, 4 people to pacify him

02:20 when he's having an eye leave alone. And I have to deal, I found out this news before the letter came in

02:26 and I was like not having sleep, I was stressing out. I'm joining them in to fight this

02:32 because I'm not even considering the option to move my son because I will not go through the transition again

02:40 because that transition, I get this, I get all this injuries from my son and he can't help it because that is his condition.

02:48 He is not very good in changes. He is not very good with new people.

02:53 It takes him about 3 to 6 months to get used to a new place, to new people, to the new routine

03:00 and this is really, really, I think words can't even express how I feel because like, you know,

03:08 I haven't slept last night because I'm thinking like where is my son going to go?

03:13 How is my son? I feel that what they're doing is they're taking our children out from society

03:21 for us to hide them inside our house where they're no longer going to have that quality of life.

03:27 They can't have that fullest potential to achieve, you know, because that center is giving that opportunity for them to be, you know,

03:35 like I, that's the only social life my son has. He has got no friends.

03:40 And you know he's safe.

03:41 Yeah, and he's safe. And that respite that I get when he goes there, that's people think that that's my me time.

03:48 No, I have to clean my house. I need to make sure that all he breaks, I have to fix it.

03:53 I have to call the counsellor and say, can you fix this? Can you fix the shower? Can you fix the wall?

03:57 You know what I mean? So now if they take that away from my son,

04:02 really my son is the one who's going to suffer because I know he's going to hurt himself so much.

04:09 Me, I don't worry about it. I'm used to it. But for my son, I cannot let him go through that.

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