'Enough is enough!' - meeting to organise protest march on autism services

Frustrated families of young children with autism are considering protesting the significant delays in vital assessments, as well as the lack of services currently available in the region (scroll to the end to see some mother's comments from a story on this issue last week).

In acknowledgment of World Autism Day and to coincide with 'Enough is Enough!' marches elsewhere in the country, a public meeting to gauge support for the demonstration will take place later this week, at the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Thursday, March 23 from 10.30am.
Already, the group has attracted almost 4,000 signatures for a petition calling on Minister for Health Simon Harris and Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Helen McEntee calling for 'urgent action' for children and adults with special needs in Ireland.
'Enough really is enough. For a very long time our children have been let down by the HSE services or lack of in this country,' says Orla Curran, mother of a young boy attending the local Child Development Team (CDT) who has suffered significant delays in accessing services.
When Ms Curran spoke to The Anglo-Celt last September, Shaun, then aged 8, had been referred to the local CDT in July 2014 but, like many other cases across counties Cavan and Monaghan, subsequently received little or no treatment except for sporadic visits by a Speech and Language (S&L) therapist to his school.
Shaun was also not due to receive either physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy (OT) until the first quarter of this year at the earliest. To date there has been no contact and Ms Curran tells the Celt 'there has been no change' and she is now considering seeking private therapeutic intervention for her son.
If the protest does go ahead, the proposed route would be to start at Main Street, moving through the town and eventually demonstrating outside the HSE building in Cavan Town.
'The message of our March is to show the Government that we as parents have had enough. We'll be asking parents willing to get involved to hold up posters and placards and put the length of time their child has been on a waiting list on them,' says Ms Curran. According to recent detail, the numbers of children aged up to six years of age presenting to Enable Ireland has more than doubled since 2008, indicating a greater demand for the services and need for the additional resources for the local area.
Meanwhile, there are more than 70 children awaiting ASD diagnosis locally, and 420 children across Cavan-Monaghan on a list waiting to received psychological assessment.
'Our children sit on waiting lists that never end and have no access to any intervention, therapy, support or assessments. It is not acceptable and something needs to change! It is time to be heard and let this government know it's not acceptable any more. Our children's future are at risk if this continues,' Ms Curran adds.
For more information visit the 'Enough is Enough March' Cavan Facebook page or sign the 'Enough is Enough!' petition at Change.Org

 

Check out some mother's reactions to a story on our website last week: