Reality check

9th February 2007, 12:00am
In a story reminiscent of the 1960s judge who asked “Who are The Beatles?”, Iain Nisbet from the Govan Law Centre told a workshop on educational transcription recently about a court case in which he had been involved, where an autistic child was in dispute with his local authority. “What exactly is autism?” the judge enquired.

A surprised Nisbet quickly gathered his thoughts and explained: “It’s a triad of impairments: there will be an impairment of imagination, of communication skills and of social skills.”

“Sounds like a typical solicitor,” the bench retorted.