Personal Assistants (PA for short) are a type of support worker.
PA’s are not carers and do not help with “personal care needs” which is physical support with things such as using the toilet or bathing.
PA’s are a type of support worker who assist you with a variety of needs, such as (but not limited to):
- Planning and managing travel
- Domestic tasks
- Shopping
- Managing medication
- Taking part in the community
This means they will come and work with you to achieve your goals, they will not do it all for you but they will be there with you.
If you feel you need support from a PA you will need to talk to your local social services about getting a “care and support assessment”.~
Details on how to contact your local social services can be found here
This assessment is completed by a social worker, where they will ask you questions about day-to-day activities to determine if you need support.
If they believe you do need support they will calculate a budget based on your personal needs.
If you feel you need support in accessing social services and getting your needs across effectively you can contact our Advocacy Team who can support you with this.
Please note that PA’s are either self-funded or funded through social services, we cannot offer PA’s for free.
We have a small amount of PA’s who currently work for us, these people are either Autistic themselves or have personal/professional experience with Autistic people who do not have learning disabilities.
We fund accredited training for our PA’s in subjects such as Autism Studies, first aid, support and guidance, and other subjects where appropriate.
Our PA’s are also fully supported through regular team meetings and internal training.
This is to ensure that they are being looked after as our staff but also to make sure they are supporting you in the best possible way
We are a Charity that is founded and run by Autistic people who do not have intellectual disabilities.
We fully understand and have first-hand experience of services claiming to understand and be able to support Autistic people, only to find they don’t need our needs.
Our PA’s are able to offer a structured and collaborative approach to your support needs. They truly understand Autism Spectrum Conditions and how
varied people on the Spectrum can be. They are ready to work with you in a none patronising manner to ensure your support needs are appropriately met.
If you choose us as your provider for support we can offer:
- Assurance
that your PA is appropriately trained and insured
- Guarantee
that you are involved in all stages of your support planning
- Communication
methods to suit you (phone, email, skype .etc)
- Choice
of who your PA is, and if our current staff are not meeting your needs, we
will support you in interviewing and hiring someone who will (check out
our opportunities page, as their may be a few vacancies up designed by our
current clients)
If you wish for us to be your support provider, you will need to speak to your social worker or whoever has completed your care assessment.
The same applies if you are having care elsewhere and wish to change providers.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss any of this further.
You can have a look at our terms of service document here.
This is a document given to people who are going to use our service, with details about how we operate.
You can look at our Care Act (2014) Advocacy statement here
This is a document regarding accessing our Advocacy Service around your Care Needs Assessment