Maureen Murray
Contributing author
Mother of Francis and Charlie

My name is Maureen Murray and two of my sons are autistic. Francis has Asperger's Syndrome and he is also bipolar and diabetic. Charlie, the younger of my two sons, goes under the umbrella of autistic spectrum disorder. He also has OCD and is a paranoid schizophrenic. 

This is all about their involvement with Sense Scotland.

Twenty five years ago wasn’t only the beginning of Sense Scotland but also the year that my son Charlie (my darling!) was born…Little did I realise then the co-incidence of that date. By that time my husband and I were having concerns about one of our other sons Francis, who was displaying “anti-social” traits and went through so many tests and was the subject of several visits by social workers, Child Psychologists, etc.

Eventually he was admitted to the Children’s Unit at Liff Hospital, Dundee for a “six week” assessment; he was there for one and a half years. In time he was moved to Stratheden Hospital in Cupar, as there was no facility suitable for his age in Dundee – oh how I wish that Sense Scotland had been around then. In time Francis was diagnosed as having Aspergers syndrome and knowing nothing about autism I read everything I could lay my hands on about this condition. It was then that I realised that Charlie too was showing signs of autism, not a happy time for our family.

Charlie was attending a Child and Family Centre before moving to a nursery attached to the school he would eventually attend. At both these establishments he was described as being “odd”. Anyway, to cut a very long story short we were eventually put in touch with Sense Scotland – “Oh Happy Days!” – where we met such a lovely bunch of individuals who not only cared for the people they looked after but were obviously deeply involved in all aspects of their welfare, making sure that they enjoyed life to the full while giving them the protection they needed.

Francis, the elder of my two autistic sons is in a house of his own, he gets help from Sense Scotland workers. He has a full and happy (as much as Francis can be happy) life, the kind that my husband and I could never hope to achieve for him. He is very well looked after and has always something to do. He has also been helped to achieve as much independence that he is capable of dealing with in his life. When he first moved into this house he was around at our home (he stays just one minute’s walk from us) every day, usually about 7am, but now he visits perhaps once every week, usually to watch something on television. He is very well settled there.

Charlie still stays at home with us but goes to respite care in a house run by Sense Scotland, usually two or three nights every month. He has a week’s holiday there booked for September. In the past Charlie would try out something, school, playgroup etc. and after a little while he would say that he didn’t want to go back, but this has never happened with his respite; he looks forward to it and though he never really talks much about his stays, it is obvious that he loves his visits and is very happy about going there. I could go on and on about how much Sense Scotland has meant, and still means, to our family but I can only say THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE, CARE AND ATTENTION that you all have given my sons, a sentiment which I am sure is reiterated by many.

Now this is a postscript that I asked Francis to write himself. And Francis added:

“I am very charismatic and shine like the brightest star!!! I am also very intelligent. I attended Ochil Towers, Auchterarder where I learnt a small amount of Danish and German.
I think a lot about showbiz and super-stardom and I know a tremendous amount about acting and music. I cut a music CD at Touchbase when I visited. I am also a diabetic and Bipolar. I have a powerful personality”. Which he does.