Visit to the Labour Party Conference meeting David Hanson MP (Delyn)

Written on 24th Sep 2014 by Alex Lowery

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I was really excited and nervous about attending the Labour Party Conference. It is not every day you get a chance to meet an MP, this was exciting yet at the same time I was worried that I would struggle to ask questions. I was worried that they would ask me questions and I wouldn’t know the answers. It was with these thought that I made my preparations for the visit.

 

I was to meet three MP’s David Hanson who is the Shadow Minister for immigration, Andrew Sawford who is the Shadow Minister for Local Government and Tristram Hunt who is the Shadow Secretary for Education. Clare Bull who works for Ambitious About Autism arranged three meetings throughout the day. She asked me to come up with some questions for each MP. I felt unsure of what to ask but my mum said I should speak about my own personal experience. I worked out the questions and had to learn them off by heart because I find it hard to read out questions. I was struggling with this until we made them into PowerPoint slides. This made memorizing much easier for me and we made them into little laminated cards that were placed on a key ring.

The first meeting was with David Hanson who is my MP. I often find it difficult to know what a situation is going to be like until I am in it. I was expecting to go into a large room full of people where people would be asking MP’s questions. I thought I would be asking questions to MP’s as well with Claire. However it turned out that Claire and I sat at a table in the hotel Foyer and would meet one MP at a time. I felt under more pressure because I was the only person asking questions and I find personal conversations harder than public speaking. However I don’t like to listen to a lot of Political Talk before and after I ask my questions and it did feel an honor to be sitting and talking to my MP. David Hanson was really  friendly and put me at my ease.

I was asked to give a brief explanation of what autism was, I did this and David Hanson seemed really interested in autism and he kept asking me questions. He asked me what the early signs of autism are, what age it is normally diagnosed and did I know what caused it. I knew the answers to all of the questions apart from what happens after diagnosis which I wasn’t sure how to answer. Clare gave an answer to this question.

 

I was given an opportunity to ask my questions. Here are my questions :-

1.  When I finished my education last year I wanted to go into business doing speeches about autism. I found that there was very little support for people with autism. My family have given me a lot of help and I am now a professional public speaker, but I feel that others in my position will not be able to succeed without more support. Can you tell me what the Labour government can do to make this situation better?

Answer from David Hanson MP

He was not exactly sure at this point how to answer this question at this point but if I e-mail him he will give me better answers. I can’t remember everything that was said but I will send the e-mail and share the answers on this [page when I get the.

2. I feel that there are a lot of things that get in the way of someone with autism finding and keeping a job. According to the NAS only 15% of individuals with autism are in full time employment. Since my early teens, getting a job (along with living independently) was something I wanted more than anything else. I feel that more needs to be done and that is why I plan to put on an autism into employment conference in North Wales. I have already got some funding. Would the Labour government be supportive of finding ways for those with autism to get and keep a job?

Answer from David Hanson MP

David Hanson said he would be keen to support this venture, thought it was a great idea and would attend the conference. He also said he would be willing to provide a free or reasonable cost venue. He thought of some ways to help individuals with autism get employment.

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