I know what it is like to rely on autism social service agencies. For the law to say one thing and for them not to really fulfill the law but for them to claim they do. Meanwhile needing help with something that is important to health and welfare.
Government contractors for autism social services can at times be very dishonest and lack empathy and getting help with that can be very difficult. They will claim they are in your best interest but when they are bad just completely make-up facts about a situation and not-try and it can seem like they have poor ethics. Like a medical need and a need for replacement medical equipment.
Social services can act like a client is making things up for attention (attention-seeking behavior), that the client is being unreasonable and then the medical tests come back and indeed things were not well. Then in response to reality start finding ways of scapegoating like the consumer never said this or that and they did not know after months of being told in different ways. This while the client consumer is confounded as to why they are so confused and why they as the consumer are at fault for the communication problems.
In part that is why the Autism Advocacy Network exists. When client consumers do not have a way to speak out and government contractors have no real consistent way of having accountability. It’s also for when the consumer is forced into unprofessional situations with contractors who have monopoly contracts with their state, and there is no real viable alternative. Our rights are important and when government social service contractors do not have good oversight, ethics and accountability we need to be the oversight. We should be empowered to tell the news media and government agencies together.
-Autistic Self-Advocate