Autism NI/Autism Ulster and its PAL
The Parent Autism Lobby (PAL) was launched in July 2009 by the charity Autism NI/Autism Ulster. (see page 3 here: www.autismni.org/news/ebulletinJulyAugust09.pdf. )
I am not sure why AutismNI/Autism Ulster felt the need to create a separate lobby group of its own existing members to separately represent parents. It could be that parents are not being heard within the charity. The Charity claims to have 18 branches across Northern Ireland, branches made up of parents. There are only 1.8 million people in Northern Ireland, so that is one branch per 100,000 people. The rate of autism in Northern Ireland is as yet unknown, but let's say it's 1 in 100. So each branch could serve a potential 1000 members. That's a lot of people, and a lot of voices. Why the need for PAL? Isn't AutismNI/AutismUlster providing a platform for all those voices?
The PAL group was formed at the same time as the launch of the new Northern Ireland Regional Autistic Spectrum Disorder Network (RASDN) in June 2009 www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-dhssps/news-dhssps-june-2009/news-dhssps-29062009-health-minister-launches.htm ) read more »



