If a learning assistant is an auxiliary aid (an aid for communication to enable access) and a wheelchair is a physical aid (to enable physical access) would we say that a disabled person should not have a wheelchair in case they got too dependant on it in the same way we do TA's

Often communication difficulties for Autistic SEND children are incredibly subtle and not overt, a facial gesture, a glance, a grimace, looking away. For these to be successfully interpreted and responded to and supported you need to work VERY closely with that person.

You need to know them very well indeed and understand their needs in great detail in order to support them properly. How pray tell is that possible to be done effectively by many people in the mix. I know it's not possible for a fact.

Should a disabled person not have several different wheelchairs in case they got too dependant on the wheelchair that they knew best. The one that they know how to control properly. What about communication aids? Shouldn't a non verbal child have lots of different ones?

What would happen if my other son got too dependant on his Clicker Communicator and the company folded or the Ipad broke. Surely if we follow the same logic then he should have lots of different systems each day to avoid his dependence on one system?

This idea of training up the team to all do the same job. I'm mean really? Drop me right out. It's a lovely idea but doesn't work in reality it's lunacy. You've got to remember that most TA's have little training to begin with & it's already a tall order for ONE to get it right.

And yet we keep cutting and pasting into reports for autistic children "X will need routine and consistency and to know what is coming next" and then we cry out about about the evils of dependence on such things in the same breath.

The truth is dependance is a dirty word isn't it. We don't like it because we've been socially conditioned to believe it's wrong and unhealthy and we project that onto these poor sods who ARE BLOODY dependant due to disability and it's wholly wicked ableist practice imho.