Credit Crunch: UK Autism Campaign Urges Help For The Poor

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 23 Apr 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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The Autism Awareness Campaign UK has urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling to reach out to the vulnerable and help families with autism during these times of crisis. The credit crunch will hurt the poor, the most vulnerable sections of society and this will include parents, carers and people with autism and Asperger's Syndrome. They have no one to turn to for help.

Ivan Corea, head of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK said: parents and carers have re-mortgaged their homes, taken expensive loans and borrowed money from friends and family in order to help their children - many have paid for expensive therapies in the absense of public services in education, health, specialist speech therapy and respite care. The credit crunch will hit them hard. The Chancellor Alastair Darling must come up with contingency plans in order to help families with autism. He must help the poor,' he said.

Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder affecting over 500,000 people with autism, over 90,000 children are on the spectrum. According to UK researchers 1 in 100 children have autism.

Banks and building societies are refusing to pass on the mortgage rate cuts despite a £50 billion pound bale out from the Bank of England. The Autism Awareness Campaign has posed the question - who will bale out people with disabilities including families with autism? Banks too need to show the wider public how they plan to help the vulnerable if the credit crunch worsens and families with autism are faced with the terrible prospect of repossessions and sink under the burden of paying for heavy loans. It's the taxpayer who has to face the risk of the bale out to banks and building societies - despite this some building societies have actually raised the mortgage rates - this has been denounced by so many organisations and MPs in the House of Commons in London.

Autism campaigners are urging members of parliament of all parties to 'speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves' and reach out to the poor who are in desperate need.

A new charity, the UK AUTISM FOUNDATION is being launched in order to help the poor in the UK and also in Africa and Asia. Autism Campaigners have also called on United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to take action over autism and help the poor in the Third World who are being hit hard by the rise in food prices and the rise in the cost of rice.

Autism Awareness Campaign UK