Gabriel and Ben

Ben: Because we run our own club night, don’t we? We run Pig Pen which is a club night where you choose all the acts off the internet with your communication device and the great thing is, recently, we had a meeting with this organisation called Attitude is Everything. They said that you’re the first club promoter that they’ve come across with your challenges and on the autism spectrum. Is it alright if I go ahead and explain?

Gabriel: Yes.

 
Ben: Okay, so basically you need more support, don’t you Gabriel? You need more personal assistance support?

 
Gabriel: Yes.

Ben: And more personal care support, which is like totally cool, it’s only what you should have.

Gabriel: Yes.

Ben: There’s this thing, basically, after three years of bureaucratic nightmare and fight on your step-mum Mary’s behalf, you’ve received direct payments from Hackney. That gives you 50 hours a week personal assistance support, but on top of that you still-, you know, it’s only something like-, they fell short of your support needs by 65%. So, on top of that we still need to find someone that’s going to support you and do that other 65% of what you need. There’s this thing called the ILF, the Independent Living Fund, but because you’re on Incapacity Benefit, Gabriel, you’re only ever so slightly above the threshold for what they will support. So, the only way that you can have access to the Independent Living Fund is to change your benefit system and to prove to the ESA people that you are capable of working. That people just have to, maybe, think outside the box so that you can then get the support that you need for all aspects of your life. We’ve also asked them, on the phone a couple of times, if they had specific support for people on the autism spectrum.

Gabriel: No.

Ben: Which is what they said. Yes, exactly.