Absence of care

Our family is one of the “lockdown casualties” (Letters, Jan/Feb). Our elder son (now 16) has severe autism, requiring constant supervision and a stable and predictable routine. Instead, we were abandoned without his special school and various other services for several months from March 2020, with catastrophic and lasting results. We have suffered a huge increase in signs of distress such as violent meltdowns, obsessive behaviour, perennial spitting, and refusal to eat almost anything except chocolate.

After two years of pain, the respite care on which we depend has been halved due to a national shortage of care staff. Councils and government must work together to rapidly fix this crisis and give families like ours some chance to repair the damage they have caused.

Name supplied, Exeter

divine and eternally applicable, but partly human and deeply historical.” Unfortunately for him, so are his own.

Zaheer Kazmi, Queen’s University Belfast