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Irwin Gill Profile picture
Irwin Gill
@IrwinGill
Dubliner and double Dada. Paediatrician: Disability & Rehabilitation. Much less grumpy IRL. ❤: family, travel, wildlife, music,films, books,food,fairness.
Jan 18, 2021 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
A thread on the Assessment of Need: the statutory process by which children whose parents have concerns about potential disability can be assessed.

The process has recently been changed by the HSE in a manner that is frankly appalling.

Explanation: (1/n) Parents might apply for AoN for a child due to concerns about development- in my clinic, the commonest reason is queried autism.

Previously, the AoN involved a team (usually physio, OT, SLT, psychology) assessing a child to get insight into the nature of their difficulties (2/n)
Jan 15, 2021 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
THREAD: I hope this mistake can be used as an opportunity to learn why this kind of language is bad.

The Minister isn't the only person to say things like this- I've even heard parents of kids with autism refer to other children as "normal" & have had to rearrange my face. (1/n) The hard thing for those of us working in/ living with disability is that this is a mistake we'd NEVER make.

For others (who don't live and breathe disability), saying "normal children" is probably a slip of the tongue- not a betrayal of them secretly being awful people. (2/n)