“We are always told of huge sums of money, but strangely on the ground, we don’t notice anything,” denounces an association

SOS Autisme France asks the Court of Auditors on France Inter to examine the expenses of the plan announced last November by the government for better management of neurodevelopmental disorders.

“In terms of support” autism, “we haven’t made enough progress”, denounces Tuesday April 2, world awareness day, Olivia Cattan, president of the SOS Autisme France association, on France Inter. She notes, for example, “a huge wait to have a diagnosis in hospitals, one to two years”.

Last November, the government launched a plan which should release 680 million euros between 2023 and 2027 for better care of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. “We are always told of huge sums of money, but strangely on the ground, we don’t notice anything,” once again deplores Olivia Cattan. “We are in excessive communication”, but “we have no real political action at all” For “educational inclusion”, “early diagnosis” or even new places in the centers, believes the president of SOS Autisme France. She therefore asks the Court of Auditors to examine the expenditure of this plan and its real effects for autistic people and their families.

“There is the autism of the middle classes and the autism of the poor”

According to Olivia Cattan, “inclusive school is at a standstill since there are fewer and fewer school assistants who agree to do this job” which she describes as “very precarious”. “In our overcrowded classes of 30 students, we leave the teachers somewhat deprived. The schooling of autistic children is up and down since the child is sent home when he no longer has a companion most of the time, which which creates “a lot of difficulties for parents”, underlines the association manager.

“Speech therapists are reimbursed by Social Security, but not psychologists, nor psychomotor therapists, nor occupational therapists.”

Olivia Cattan, president of the SOS Autisme association

at France Inter

The president of SOS Autisme France also calls for better financial support for the care necessary for autistic people. For example, “stimulation of four hours a day” is “necessary initially when we learn the diagnosis”.

Whether for care or for schooling, “there is the autism of the middle classes and the autism of the poor”denounces Olivia Cattan. “The most precarious families cannot afford this support which is still our responsibility and which is expensive”, she specifies.