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Inaccurate representation of neurodiversity

Posted By SomeRandomParent

"Inaccurate representation of neurodiversity"

About: NHS Grampian / Aberdeen Health and Care Village

(as a parent/guardian),

When filling out a form for my son at his first trip to the Dental hospital at the health village, we were dismayed to see Autistic spectrum alongside psychiatric problems. This is not an appropriate combination - my son and I are both Autistic and experience lots of stigma and discrimination, often because of people falsely believing Autism is a mental health condition which it is not.

While it’s fine to have it along side ADHD or any other neurodiverse condition, we feel it would be more appropriate to put in a line separate from psychiatric problems as that creates false impressions and further fuels stigma (for the record I would very much like to see mental health disorders de-stigmatised as well, but that’s a whole other post).

Having Autistic spectrum there made us feel dismayed, disgruntled and disappointed. We would be delighted to see the form better reflecting the condition, and we also don’t want those with psychiatric problems being stigmatised because of wrongful belief it’s associated with Autism.  

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Responses

Response from Sandra Hay, Service Manager, Aberdeen Dental Hospital and Institute of Dentistry, NHS Grampian 4 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Sandra Hay
Service Manager, Aberdeen Dental Hospital and Institute of Dentistry,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 16/05/2019 at 17:50
Published on Care Opinion on 17/05/2019 at 13:17

SomeRandomParent,

Thank you for taking the time to comment on your experience within the dental service at Aberdeen Health and Care Village. Having reviewed the Medical History Form following your comments, we appreciate that placing psychiatric conditions alongside autistic spectrum, with the current wording, is not appropriate.

We have agreed a change to the wording and this will be amended for the next print run. It may be however that before the new form comes into circulation, you are asked to update/review the current form for your son or indeed come across the same form in other dental services within Grampian.

We appreciate your feedback and for highlighting this issue.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by SomeRandomParent (a parent/guardian)

Thank you for this response! It’s very much appreciated.

Can I please ask that you speak with some Autistic people to ensure any changes to the wording are ok with our community. The Triple A’s or the One Stop Shop Aberdeen locally are both led by Autistic people and should be able to help. Many, many thanks!

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