Mar 7, 2019, Kilkenny Now: Kathleen Funchion: ‘Why are autistic children being treated differently in Kilkenny?’ https://kilkennynow.ie/kathleen-funchion-every-child-deserves-an-equal-right-to-education-so-why-are-autistic-children-being-treated-differently-in-kilkenny/ Sinn Fein official asks. Why is there an acute shortage of ASD classes for secondary students in Kilkenny?... Concerned parents have approached me over recent months over their fear that there will be no secondary school places in Kilkenny for their child when the time for them to enrol arrives. This concern is not an arbitrary fear, it is based on parents’ experiences approaching secondary schools in our constituency and being told there is little hope for their child’s admission to a school that provides an ASD class or that the waiting list is full…. …Every school in our constituency needs to acknowledge that diagnostic rates are increasing among our population and we must deliver for that changing demographic…. We are fortunate to be living in a time in Ireland where these diagnoses are happening more readily and gone are the days of simply ignoring a child who appears to be ‘different’….
