'SentirTEA', an association founded to defend the rights of autistic people and their families, has denounced that Lanzarote is experiencing a "dramatic" situation: the waiting list to receive the assessment of dependency and disability already exceeds "two years" on the island.
The association has denounced that this problem affects "all types of disability and/or dependency", such as people with "functional diversity, with mental health problems and the elderly", but that in the case of the autistic community it is especially affecting families with "children over six years old".
'SentirTEA' has stressed that "children over six years old are no longer a priority after the new scale: we have many unprotected minors on the island, children who have received a late diagnosis and who are doomed to wait two years without any type of social protection from the administrations due to the lack of resources."
"It is unacceptable that families in Lanzarote are abandoned in this way. Having disability and dependency recognized is an essential requirement to access financial aid to finance our children's therapies, in addition to being an essential requirement to access scholarships when there is no definitive diagnosis, fundamental resources to offer basic therapies for the stimulation of autistic children," the association says.
"It is unacceptable that families in Lanzarote are abandoned in this way."
They have also indicated that "this situation adds to the collapse of waiting lists to receive therapy through the Canarian health service." "The waiting lists continue to make public services inoperative because a family that wants their child to be cared for cannot wait for a psychologist to see them every two months or wait six months to access speech therapy or occupational therapy services," they say.
