The National Autistic Society (NAS) cannot be an advocate for those with autism as well as a service provider.
That’s the view of Mark Neary, of campaign group Rightful Lives.
Neary made the comments after education watchdog Ofsted criticised an NAS school for failing to meet standards. The report can be seen here.
The NAS’s Anderson School in Essex, which Ofsted has criticised. Image from Google Maps
Failure over safeguarding
Leaders at the Anderson School, in Chigwell, Essex, failed to ensure effective pupil safeguarding.
Also, among other criticisms, behaviour records at the school for 11 to 19-year-olds “show a very high number of incidents occur each term”.
The findings came from an emergency inspection in October. This followed “a recent surge” in safeguarding complaints from parents.
‘Huge conflict of interest’
Counsellor Neary, 60, whose group runs an online human rights exhibition on learning disabilities and autism, said there’s a “huge conflict of interest” in the NAS’s dual roles.
He questioned how it can hold the Government to account while taking its money for running schools and homes.
Neary, whose 29-year-old son Steven has autism and a learning disability, said: “How can you lobby government if you’re reliant on government to provide your funding, let’s say in terms of housing benefit?”
The campaigner, from Cowley, London, said charities can perform both functions if they “put their hands up if things go wrong”.
But Neary insisted “the opposite seems to happen”.
National Autistic Society has ‘reached out’
Kirstie Fulthorpe is the National Autistic Society’s director of schools. She said the organisation has “reached out” to parents, carers and students to explain how it will improve Anderson School.
Fulthorpe also said the NAS has campaigned successfully on issues such as recording diagnosis waiting times and ensuring the national autism strategy includes children.
She said the charity’s campaigns are informed by its experience of “supporting autistic children and adults directly for more than 50 years”.
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Published: 19 December 2019
