Her's and Paul's behaviour over the weekend was nothing short of shocking. To put that poor child through that rigmarole all with a camera in his face just to prove some sort of strange point. Why not take him out for shorter periods of time to build it up? Take him to familiar places where there is routine and he knows what to expect. Shopping trips are sensory overload for most Autistic people. As for the chair, as a parent of a child with complex needs myself, I get it. It's frustrating to have to pay out extra expenses. But just because you are able to get something for free doesn't mean that you should. I was able to buy a chair for my son for a few hundred pounds - it's better than some I've seen his peers avail of freely from the NHS. Why did I buy it? Because a) I'm fortunate to be in a position to be able to, b) DLA helps to cover additional expenses (or at least thats what it's supposed to be for and c) why would I put my child through pain and torture to wait when I'm able to provide for him myself. Get rid of some of your tacky "designer" outifts Toni and you could too. Also the direct payments/respite saga, she's clearly been caught either being non complient or can't be arsed with the paperwork. If you are paying someone for help or respite via direct payments there are strict rules, paying holidays etc is a requirement. Myself and my husband were told that we were able to avail of this depite both being high earners - I was told clearly it is not income based, it is based on the needs of the child. We declined in part due to the extra hassle it would take to organise the admin side of it and also becasue we both work full time and I want to use our spare time to do things as a family - that meet the needs of our son. I am exhausted. I am certainly out more money than the average family on equaly wage but I love my son and he will always be my priority. Not a mere prop to excuse lazy or poor behaviour like Toni. This isn't trolling, this is merely observation coupled with my own experience.