I missed the last tube on Saturday and found myself bussing it back to South London.
On the way I encountered a strange advert, in the form of a letter written to Gordon Brown to say that they could save the PM £508m a year.
It was signed by Polly Tommey.
I'm a curious soul, so finding myself with some free time today I googled the woman in question.
I discovered that the poster campaign had made it into a clutch of local papers.
Polly thinks that she can save the government all this money by getting more autistic people into work.
Her poster campaign is certainly effective, because it caught my attention and I spend my life ignoring or getting annyoed at adverts and this one genuinely made me curious.
I wish her well.
So long as she isn't wishing to railroad people into jobs that essentially they are unable to do.
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4 comments:
and how do you know that they will 'essentially be unable to do them'? Perhaps you should reflect on whether you are stereotyping this (extremely diverse) group of people...
More likely I'm stereotyping a certain attitude to approaching people who currently get a form of disability benefits.
I would love everyone to get work, but oddly it'd be nice to see them get work that suits them and that they want.
Some one very close to me has been diagnosed with autism and this post is not least a reaction fueled by watching how they deal with things.
Perhaps less stereotyping than a view formed partly by having one instance to go by.
Are you autistic? Do you know someone who is? And do you have any advice?
Thank you Sarah, for titling your piece The Mystery of Polly Tommey. It is somewhat.
Mrs Tommey appeared only a few year ago, and promoted herself as if she's been around more than the National Autistic Society, which is 47 years old. Generally she relates herself as if she is the only person in England who is campaigning for awareness and support for the Autistic, and the only one knows what she is doing too.
The Nas has a job agency called Prospects which has been putting people with Autism into jobs for a very very long time. From the Nas website:
The NAS's employment agency, Prospects, is the only specialist agency supporting people who have an ASD into mainstream jobs.
It has a very successful record of helping people find and retain work, for example, 67% of the clients they supported between 1995-2003 found work. Furthermore, 70% of the pilot schemes beneficiaries from 1995-97 were still in employment in 2003.
Prospects works to secure the right jobs for the right people and to ensure that ongoing specialist support is in place so that jobs have a high chance of success.
Mrs Tommey does not seem to have heard of them. Mind you, Prospects is not run by Mums of Autistic children, so that is not surprising really.
As for her involvement with the Autism Bill in Parliament, read this:
http://actionforautism.co.uk/2010/03/05/polly-tommey-and-the-adult-autism-strategy/
Polly is basically a middle class rich woman whose husband runs a clinic that 'treats' Autistic people, for a fee: http://www.theautismclinic.com/
Her primary goal is to build these 'Autistic Utopias', which consist of adapted farms which will permanently house a small number of priviledged children, or adults? Who knows:
http://www.theautismtrust.com/
Great film, eh? Only £10 million needed. Pity about that half a million that went on the billboards. Also a pity about all the other Autistics who won't get into the 'farm'.
Question is really, can she keep this up for 47 years?
Also, she believes that vaccines and mercury call Autism. Ahem...
Thanks for the info. Paul.
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