who trains these people???

[Two_Sheds]

Was it a test?
to see if your son really was autistic and therefore couldn't answer the questions?

[Two_Sheds]

They are not properly trained and some people can be so rude... I once knew a woman, they had sent her a letter and she didnt receive it. A week later, she went to withdraw her benefit and it wasnt there..........she phoned them and they had stopped it until she contacted them. Even tho she had not received the letter, she then had to PROVE she was still living sst her home b4 they would pay her...........ridiculous

Trouble is, you can't train people to have common sense.
I moved house, and I told the housing dept in plenty of time. My rent cheque didn't come, so I queried it.
"we have sent it, give it a few days"
Still no cheque, so I queried it again. "we stopped your claim because you didn't cash the cheque"
But ... I didn't cash it, because I didn't receive it. Perhaps you sent it to the wrong house?
(yes, they had, and so the cheque had been returned to them, but they hadn't made a note of that on my file, so my claim was just stopped. I then had no money for 3 months while they started my claim from scratch. Muppets. No apology either. They could have just phoned me before stopping my claim, to save all the messing about)

[slabbit]

had a phone-call this morning at 9 o'clock must have been the first on the list
conversation went this way..
Mr john fullname.. this is Ms fullname from DLA
I listened to the phone conversation you had with my colleague yesterday..
will you please accept my deepest apologies...
ME..thank you very much, I wasn,toffended i just couldn't believe how misinformed/uneducated or untrained your colleague is about autism..
Ms DLA yes i am sorry..
Me...there are plenty of educational films out there for training purposes, anyhow what did you want yesterday?
Ms DLA oh it was just a check up.. short pause.. thank you and can i just say sorry again..
Me...apologies accepted thank you puts phone down...

Its nice to talk to someone who cares (or was it to stop me from formally complaining) but anyhow a very pleasant lady..at least they do use taped conversations....I can just hear her talking to her colleagues I think we need to get a film about autism? and the muppet from yesterday shouting up i,ve seen RAINMAN..

I know RAINMAN was inspired by true Savant but not all autistic people are Savants Mr muppet......still have to chuckle though....

[bluemoon]

My OH got a call from the bank.

caller 'Can I speak to Mr Bluemoon'
me 'Sorry, he's at work'.
caller 'Could you ask him to call this number?'
me 'Sure, can I give him a message?'
caller 'No, that would violate the data protection act'.
me 'So can I at least tell him who called?'
caller 'No, that would violate the data protection act'.
me 'Look I know it's the bank, I recognise the number so you've already violated it.'
caller 'I can leave messages asking him to call'.
me 'So why isn't a message to call a violation of the DPA?
caller 'Because I haven't told you anything'.
me 'You've told me it's the bank. Suppose it was an account I knew nothing about?'
caller 'That would be Mr Bluemoon's problem'.
me 'But it is a violation of said act?'.
caller 'That would be Mr Bluemoon's problem'
me 'Well we have been married more than 30 years, I think I know about our finances enough to deal with anything'.
caller 'But you just said it might be a secret account'.
me 'So therefore you're already in violation of the data protection act. If I say he's not home then you should just thank me and hang-up, not leave messages with phone numbers. You can't have it both ways'.
caller 'Will you pass the message?'
me 'No, I might be in danger of violating the Data Protection Act.'

In the end I did pass the message and, after all the James Bond secrecy, all they wanted to do was offer to send him some information about changing his account to one they think might be more suitable. It's reached the point where I dread answering the phone. I get calls for my daughter too. Being female I could accept them, pretending to be her, and the 'security' questions would be pointless, even in my dotage I can remember her date of birth and my own maiden name.

That someone who works for a disability organisation has never heard of Autism though, is just unbelievable. And that someone who can't speak for themselves has their 'rights' protected to such an extent that it could begin to cause them difficulties is just plain stupid.

PS Our posts crossed, slabbit. Glad to hear you've at least had an apology.