Legacy10 - Are you giving this way?

These politicians certainly are...The three major London Mayoral candidates, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick, are supporting the Legacy10 campaign by committing to leave at least 10% of their estates to charity in their wills.

Legacy10 campaigns to ask individuals across the UK to pledge 10% of their estate to charity. Founder Roland Rudd invited the candidates to show their support for the campaign, which has seen many people from sport, business, and the arts take the pledge.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "I am pleased to give my support to the Legacy10 campaign. I think this is a fantastic idea, rightly promoting leaving a legacy for charitable purposes in order to ensure that this becomes the norm, rather than the exception to the rule."

Labour candidate Ken Livingstone said: "Londoners have a proud history of charitable giving, and so I am very happy to personally support the Legacy10 initiative."

Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick said: "I am proud to support the Legacy10 campaign. So many London charities and arts institutions stand to benefit from the forthcoming inheritance tax changes, and I hope everyone in this great city signs up to this exciting initiative."

And not just in London, we hope...

Last month the three major political parties' leaders all signed up to the Legacy10 campaign.

According to the 2011 Legacy Market Snapshot by Legacy Foresight, currently only 7% of the UK population leave a gift to charity in their will, yet 74% of them donate to a charity in their lifetime.

You can do this too... Pledging part of your final estate will help charities like Scottish Autism plan for future service provision. Have a look at their website and discover how you could help us

www.legacy10.com


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New help for adults with autism

Here in Scotland, the government have just announced that more money will be made available to help those who care for adults with autism. This will take the form of training for carers which had previously only been made available to professionals. Positive Pathways, provided by the Richmond Fellowship Scotland, hopes to train carers of adults on the autism spectrum using funding provided by a Government grant of £84,000.

This is very welcome news and a sound investment as well. Diagnoses of adult autism have increased dramatically over the past ten years and this has created an increased demand for services. Training for carers will be a significant addition to existing services.

Very often, adults diagnosed with autism have struggled all their lives with an undiagnosed condition which has impacted upon every part of their lives. They have usually developed strategies to mask or deflect attention away from their difficulties. This extra money will hopefully lead to a better understanding of just what it is like to be autistic, and of the everyday challenges faced by those affected.

Better diagnostic services have identified many more people affected by autism who will have often suffered in silence since childhood, or else been treated by psychiatrists for depression and anxiety with long term medication when what they actually needed was a specialist service which could offer help and support such as those offered by ARC in Glasgow, and Scottish Autism. Let's hope that this extra money will take us further down the road to that goal.


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