Autism case - Disabled people can’t be ignored

THE plight of a severely autistic 14-year-old boy may yet damage Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s last-ditch efforts to convince people with disabilities that they should embrace the Government’s much-criticised Disability Bill.

Who could not sympathise with Annette and Colm O’Carolan in their lonely battle to compel the State to provide their son Lewis with an education?

Because no autism-specific facility exists in Ireland, he has received no education for over two years and they want to send him to one in Wales.