Committee member Profile: Alex murphy
The day my four-year-old son received a diagnosis of ASD, my husband and I walked away from the Child Development Clinic at Addenbrookes holding a brown envelope we’d been given and a warning that here on in everything would be a struggle. Inside the envelope were a few badly photocopied leaflets and fliers from various services. And that was it. I suppose I thought that a diagnosis would open doors to therapies, training and advice – the sort of thing I would expect from a hospital department focused on child development. In reality, there has been very little on offer, and what little there is can be very well hidden or oversubscribed, or both. There is no map to follow, no one tells you what will happen next for your child. It is because of this experience that I wanted to help with the formation of the Cambridge NAS branch. Five years ago, I would have really appreciated being able to contact a local group for advice and support, and I think, above all else, this is the prime function of the Cambridge NAS branch.
I am a researcher at the University of Cambridge. I spend most of my working day in the lab carrying out experiments, and also do some teaching. When I’m at home I run around after my three kids. My eldest son with ASD is in a mainstream class with 25 hours per week of TA support, and he copes pretty well with this. His successful integration into mainstream only began when he moved to a school-based unit after a very poor foundation year at his local primary school. The school-based unit was excellent (a small class with an outstanding teacher and good TA support). It built up my son’s understanding and confidence to a level where he could join a large class of his peers. The Local Authority, who wanted to shut it down to “reallocate” resources, did not share our high regard of the unit and its achievements. This move to close the unit provoked a strong defensive response, not only from the parents of current children, but also from many parents of past students. I was very impressed by the solidarity of parents who wanted to see something good maintained for the future children and parents with similar needs. I was also very disappointed with the attitude of the local authority. So this illustrates another reason why I want to support the Cambridge NAS, as it can represent the needs of the autism community to service providers.
