Action for Children or action against autistic children?
Action For Children is a charity with a long history of advocating for the rights of the child. Formerly known as NCH and before that the National Children’s Home, It began as a children’s home set up by a methodist minister, Thomas Stephenson, in 1869. Its continuing connection with the Methodist Church is embodied in its Articles of Association.
Action for Children is inspired by and works closely with the Methodist Church to improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable children and young people and continues the work of the former unincorporated charity, NCH (previously National Children’s Home). Action for Children’s stated purpose is “to help the children who need it the most” and is rooted firmly in the tradition of John Wesley who said that we should go not only to those who need us but to those who need us most.
Its purpose is
To help the most vulnerable children and young people break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential.
A recent press release on knife crime sums up its approach to disaffected youth.
We need to remember that they are more often victims rather than perpetrators of this type of crime. We must stop demonising and start involving them in this debate, especially the most vulnerable youngsters who are often the ones most affected but whose voices often go unheard.
So why does its latest TV ad about Aspergers Syndrome get it so wrong?This is Dan’s Story. The sound quality is not great, so apologies for any errors in transcription.
I used to lash out if something pushed my buttons or I wasn’t able to do something. Things that wound me up were if they’d insulted me I would physically hurt that young person. My parents sought out help with my autism because it was becoming a pain in the bum. I went to an Action for Children school. I started feeling a bit more friendlier with other people. Thanks to the carers I was able to correct a lot of errors in my behaviour and become a better person. Well I feel a lot more confident thanks to them. I feel at peace with myself.
In the short video that accompanies this commentary autistic Dan is a monster rampaging through city streets that are covered in grafitti, a wild beast. But as he becomes entwined with the logo of Action for Children the real Dan, a vulnerable child, emerges into a green field with trees and is able to trample the beast into the ground.
There is also a cartoon sequence on the website which invites us to “meet Dan.” This repeats the monster imagery with the little boy alone and scared inside who gradually emerges thanks to the kindness of those around him.
All this is in stark contrast to the message coming from the NAS Think Differently and I Exist campaigns. Their message is that autism need not be so bad if we can raise awareness and understanding and provide the right supports. Autistic people deserve to live in a world where people do not push their buttons or insult them. They should not be afraid, as Dan was at the onset of adolescence, that he would not be able to survive without his parents.
I have very real objections to Action for Children’s treatment of autism in this ad campaign.
In all their other work they quite rightly see troubled children as victims of poverty, abuse, neglect and discrimination. They provide services for young adults because one of their slogans is “For as long as it takes.” They do not sign a person off at 18 or 21 if the damage has not been repaired.
But with autistic children they seem to think that it is the autism that is solely responsible for the child’s behaviour and ignore the injustice and abuse that compound the natural difficulties that an autistic child might face even in the best of worlds. All the problems are located within the child and they are all ascribed to the autism monster.
The angry child and the frightened child are the same person. The anger and the fear are united in the experience of the autistic child. The anger is born of fear and the cure for anger is to take away the fear. But in Dan’s story we are shown a frightened boy inside an autism monster and the cure is to take away the monster of autism and trample it into the ground.
Disturbing as this campaign is, I am even more disturbed by thought that, if this is how Action for Children think about autism, what is the impact of this way of thinking on the way they respond to autistic children in their care?
