FAO:

NHS SUSSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD

LOCAL MP: DR BECCY COOPER

WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

NHS Sussex has issued letters informing families that autistic children and children without a primary physical disability are no longer eligible for major specialist strollers and wheelchairs.

Families have been advised instead to use reins and "plan journeys carefully".

This is not a reasonable adjustment.
It is not safeguarding.
It is risk displacement.

Autistic children - particularly those with high support needs -are at significantly increased risk of:

- Sudden elopement into traffic
- Running into open water
- Going missing
- Severe dysregulation leading to self-injury
- Inability to respond to verbal safety commands in crisis

These risks are widely documented. They are not behavioural choices. They are disability-related impairments.

Specialist strollers and wheelchairs, for many children, function as safety equipment. Removing them does not remove risk - it removes protection.

My son, Apollo, relies on his specialist stroller to travel safely to and from school, attend medical appointments, and access the community. It is also his regulation space when he becomes overwhelmed.

When his chair recently broke down, I contacted the service for replacement - only to be told that autistic children are no longer eligible under the revised criteria.

Apollo’s needs have not changed.
The risk has not changed.
Only the policy has changed.

This blanket exclusion appears to:

- Discriminate on the basis of diagnosis rather than functional need
- Fail to consider individual safeguarding risk
- Potentially breach duties under the Equality Act 2010
- Potentially conflict with safeguarding obligations under the Children Act 1989

Public bodies have a legal duty to anticipate disadvantage and make reasonable adjustments. Removing established safety equipment from a clearly vulnerable group is the opposite of a reasonable adjustment.

Advising parents to use reins in place of clinically prescribed specialist equipment demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of high-support autistic children and exposes families to unacceptable risk.

This is not about behaviour management.
This is about preventing foreseeable harm.

We are calling on NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board to:

- Immediately suspend the revised eligibility criteria.
- Reinstate access for autistic children where there is documented safety and functional need.
- Conduct and publish a full Equality Impact Assessment of this decision.
- Confirm what safeguarding risk assessment was undertaken prior to implementing this policy change.
- Engage transparently with affected families and clinicians.

Families should not have to wait for a serious incident before action is taken.

We are asking NHS Sussex to correct this decision now - before a preventable tragedy forces accountability.

Autistic children deserve equal protection under the law.