• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

How do you get a civil lawyer that is fine with legal aid?

Lemon Zing

Well-Known Member
By the way, my name is Peter, as you may remember. I just call myself Paul Lee, because I called myself that name in a video series I made with a friend.

I have decided that, after years of BS and heartache over this matter, I am going to sue my ex support workers, or at least bring them to court to challenge this rubbish that is plastered all over my criminal record. We will just call the women, J and S.

I was talking to the police a while ago, and somebody recommended I do that.

I have had so much hassle to go through because of this matter. They started off as being helpful people, then just turned on me over something very petty. It is too long a story to really delve into, but they basically did not want to work with me again, because people were spreading stories way back in the day, just to slander me. I know this Number 6 service user in Edinburgh did it besides other support workers, and one of these ladies was asked out by me on a date at some point, but I would have gladly offered an apology over that, and forgotten about it. There is a lot of conflicting events, and it is too much hassle to really explain what happened when and why, but that is the general basis of it all. In fact, most of the support workers (male and female) were idiots. One guy even emailed me with a fake name years ago, and did that for a while. He admitted it was him.

Anyway, after the girls were removed at separate times between August of 2013 and February of 2014, I suppose, the people that did up my rota at the supported accommodation I was in, well, they kept on saying they were still my workers, when it was false. In fact, one of them is a Spanish lady who was my key worker, and she went about with this guy who has a fitness business, and we met once at a club. She started acting way different and nasty towards me either by herself or in front of other people, all because she knew I had a crush on her. She actually confronted me about it once after I called her 'petal' in a random text message in late 2013, and our shifts after that day normally consisted of her bossing me around. For example, I went up a hill with her on Boxing Day that year just for something to do, which is of course 26 December, and she raged at me for taken off my glasses. The night before that, she moved her bar stool in the kitchen of the staff flat over to the sink when I was watching a movie on a laptop at a table, then looked at me strange, and said she had to stretch her legs. What the heck?

Just when I thought things were getting a bit better a few months later, they removed her like they did months before that with the previous woman, and then the higher-ups kept grinning and saying they were just busy when I approached these "Seniors" about it. Even other support workers would say to me after I went to jail in the end when they saw me around town, that they should have just told me if I was not getting them back.

The first woman they removed ("J") was still doing sleepovers at the staff flat, and the higher-ups did not object to me seeing her during that time, as other people were there. Yet when I went through to the staff flat between 8 and 11 PM to talk to her about music or her cats and stuff, these female neighbours of mine were always there using the computers. They kept laughing and looking at me or interrupting me, and this was annoying. My mother suspects they were asked to be there. But they could still have shifts with her outside of this time, and I could not, and I am also certain that when one of them was on respite, they purposefully switched the sleepover duties with someone else, as the neighbours were also away. That night, I recall buying stuff to do baking with her, so I was left feeling very let down.

They kept saying this for ages, and both times, I blew up and eventually emailed them online. Then these Seniors tried to say that was why they were removed, but that is not true, because they had likely requested to be removed. That was even brought up in court before. The Seniors had the nerve to say to my mother once, that "they could have handled things better" than they did. Um, ya think?

At some point, the staff got me arrested in March of 2014. Like, I was on my bed one evening back in 2014 having a nap, and the police got the spare keys, walked in, and arrested me to stop me meeting one of them at a Costa, but they used the fact I sent a racist email that afternoon to make themselves look good. The next day, the staff acted all dumb and claimed they never knew about this arrest, but the police did not just magically get the keys from nowhere.

I got arrested dozens of times between 2014 and 2018, and was remanded and sentenced to custody in three different jails in Scotland and even attacked a couple of times in cells by people, because they stuck me in jail or arrested me, after they made up nonsense about me being a sex offender. And not only that, a lot of the charges are mostly over the fact that I kept messaging them on Facebook and all that, just trying to smooth things out or beg them to explain why I got betrayed, but it was a breach of these stupid Non-Harassment Orders. They also had a social worker supervising me for what was probably more than 2 years. So now I live as a hermit, because social services are only 10 minutes up the road from me, and they have made excuses not to find me other support workers. Because they kind of have to fob me off, as saying how they really feel would get them done for neglect.

Basically, I did send the women 'dirty' emails years ago, but that was just because they made me so angry and depressed. At roughly that same time period as well, I was reunited with my ex who I had not seen in nearly 7 years, and she used me for my money, and to buy her things like an iPod and a games console, then treated me like trash along with her family. They clearly knew I had no social life either, so these women should have been more understanding. And that ex of mine has no heart.

Anyway, I had to go to court in Livingston just outside of Edinburgh last summer, and they sentenced me to 70 days in prison for contacting my ex key worker, and her ex-boyfriend, but I never even knew they had split up. So this was my first jail sentence, and I was refused an early release with the tag option. In the past, they remanded me on 4 different occasions, and like I said, they made up garbage about me being a pervert, that even a sheriff in court had to correct as being untrue.

But, anyway, that is enough ranting. I basically now want to take them to court. My previous lawyer was totally useless. I need somebody else that knows what they are doing. How do I go about that? My mother said it will be pointless to chase after this, as I have no proof, and the boss of that company also got me to sign away my tenancy by putting my name on a blank piece of paper in her office, which was not even an official form. But that was back in 2015.

Too long, did not read: I think support workers are an absolute waste of time, and are corrupt. But I think this situation is morally wrong.

Disclaimer: I do not expect everybody to believe me, or take my side here, but this is all true.
 
Last edited:
It's a lot to take in, maybe mum is right, I dunno, call legal aid see what they have to say, you do need proof.
 
You ramble a lot. You deny responsibility even while admitting to "dirty" and "racist" emails and apparently admitting you violated a no-contact order because it was "stupid." You have been arrested repeatedly over the past few years.

No good lawyer would take this case, which leaves you with crummy ones. I agree with your mother, this proposed civil suit is not going to take you anywhere. You will find sympathy with neither a judge nor a jury. (Not sure the legal situation in your country.)

I advise you to give it up, stop looking for other people to blame for your problems, and keep out of trouble.
 
There's 2 sides to every story Peter and clearly you want yours heard. Legal aid will be nigh on impossible to get in a case like this. It's difficult enough to get over here for criminal cases and tribunals these days. It's also mainly used in defence cases.

You've had some bad luck with your support workers and you acknowledge your reactions to it have played a part. Most support workers are dedicated people working for poor wages in difficult conditions. There are some bad apples that spoil the crop as with every job, but they are not all "an absolute waste of time and corrupt"

Good luck with your quest, but I fear you may be just setting yourself up for more stress and disappointment.
 
OK. I'll look into things. It seems like this is going to be a right pain, and it is going to screw me up for getting jobs.
 
They clearly knew I had no social life either, so these women should have been more understanding.

Frankly, I'm astounded by this statement. You've literally admitted to sending 'dirty' and racist emails, but no please tell us more about how it's all their fault.

I wouldn't think you'd find a reputable lawyer who'd touch this case with all the bargepoles in the world.
 
Well, I am on the spectrum. Autism related support workers are supposed to know about autism, or ASD, right? All the Spanish woman had to say when I asked her why she wanted to work with people like me, was that she "got bored" (but I guess you won't believe she actually said that). And do you know that they watch a few videos about it, and that's it?

Even a user on another forum I go to said they had failed at their jobs when I told the members there about what happened a few years ago.
 
Last edited:
There's already proof of your exploits readily available online if one were to dig up your post history here and do a little research, with you repeating the same mistakes over and over again and failing to learn from them.

Even the rant you posted here is pretty telling. If a prison sentence hasn't taught you anything, then you're short on luck. Start improving or don't.
 
That is your opinion, and you are entitled to have one. But this is all true. There was also a guy that was employed there, like I stated before, who was sending me tasteless emails with an alias for about 2 years. I immediately recall one he said about a wrestler who died, and I got compared to him, and he said other disgusting comments as well. That is unacceptable.

Not to mention I was being abused, arrested, left with no support, and now I have no chance of getting work in big budget films. But I'm supposed to move on, to what, exactly? Social services are not even helping me any longer. They really messed up my sister's life by taken her children away from her, too, and she has all these health issues to deal with.

And you expect me not to be upset about all of this stuff, right?
 
To be fair to Peter, there are some support workers who really shouldn't be in the job.
Budgets for social care have been cut back so much in recent years that the money to hire decent, experienced people isn't there, and since most of the work has been outsourced, untrained and unsuitable people have been hired. A number of total charlatans have set up care companies for profit only, and they have cut far too many corners.

They are still, amazingly, outnumbered by the good people who stay in their often thankless jobs despite the disadvantages, and they are all too aware of the problems caused by untrained carers. Many of them spend half their time picking up the pieces after the other's mistakes and negligence.

I'm not saying the way you handled your problems was right or something I approve of Peter, and I'm sure it'll go against you if you pursue this matter, but I can easily believe that you were not supported adequately. I can understand how much it must have frustrated you, even if your reactions to it weren't appropriate. Without proof though, you may have a mountain to climb that may not be worth your further pain and effort.
 
You ramble a lot.

Yeah. I do hear that a lot from people, and it's often why I criticize message boards as being a waste of my time. But it's like, hey, if people have to ask me afterwards about something, there wouldn't be any need to if it was already covered in the first post. Plus, I know most people online have short attention spans when it comes to lengthy posts that consists of nothing but somebody spewing. At least to them. That is why, as I said, I just gave out the basic story of what occurred between the former support workers and myself, without turning it into an even bigger rant than it already is.

It's the same on YouTube these days. People are degenerating to the point where they cannot be bothered using their thought processing much, if at all. In other words, they have got to see those fancy effects in the videos and take in the great editing techniques before hearing the logical stuff, or they will likely just move on or skip over most of everything that could be on point. The same goes for text messaging. Why bother to use real English any more when everything can be abbreviated?

I don't care about anybody's excellent editing skills on YouTube, even if that is kind of important to some people. It is whether what they are saying is sincere or not. You can tell a fibber posing as being optimistic a mile off. Just like autism workers who are working in a field they know zero about, merely because there is nothing else at that time paying the bills. People like that should not be working with disabled people. Also, having PDD-NOS does not make me daft, nor does it make me paranoid. As I know some people imply that I am being that way.
 
Yeah. I do hear that a lot from people, and it's often why I criticize message boards as being a waste of my time. But it's like, hey, if people have to ask me afterwards about something, there wouldn't be any need to if it was already covered in the first post. Plus, I know most people online have short attention spans when it comes to lengthy posts that consists of nothing but somebody spewing. At least to them. That is why, as I said, I just gave out the basic story of what occurred between the former support workers and myself, without turning it into an even bigger rant than it already is.

It's the same on YouTube these days. People are degenerating to the point where they cannot be bothered using their thought processing much, if at all. In other words, they have got to see those fancy effects in the videos and take in the great editing techniques before hearing the logical stuff, or they will likely just move on or skip over most of everything that could be on point. The same goes for text messaging. Why bother to use real English any more when everything can be abbreviated?

I don't care about anybody's excellent editing skills on YouTube, even if that is kind of important to some people. It is whether what they are saying is sincere or not. You can tell a fibber posing as being optimistic a mile off. Just like autism workers who are working in a field they know zero about, merely because there is nothing else at that time paying the bills. People like that should not be working with disabled people. Also, having PDD-NOS does not make me daft, nor does it make me paranoid. As I know some people imply that I am being that way.
I mentioned rambling because it is related to a lawyer representing you. Time is money. If it takes you weeks to come to the point, the attorney is going to be reluctant to represent you.
 
Would representing myself be an option? My mother said my sister tried that, and it did not work out.

Finding a lawyer is a stressful task in itself.
 
Would representing myself be an option? My mother said my sister tried that, and it did not work out.

Finding a lawyer is a stressful task in itself.

Honest opinion Peter - your chances are likely quite slim even if you had a good lawyer on your side.

Leaving aside the morality of your reactions and behaviours in response to your treatment, you know that they aren't helpful to your case and they will be used against you making your case difficult in the first place.

You have little, if any evidence to back you up which increases the difficulty.

You will have to become a legal expert in the time you have before your case goes to court.

There are financial considerations too. If you lose your case you will be liable for court costs which could well mount into the many thousands of pounds.

You could be counter-sued by the people you are taking to court which again could see you liable for tens of thousands of pounds in damages.

Plus there is the collateral damage. An autistic person taking their carers to court could become a big news story, especially if you are fighting the case alone. In the highly likely event it goes against you, the damage to your reputation and it's impact on your future prospects would be unimaginable. You may have suffered setbacks from what has happened already, but they would be a drop in the ocean in comparison.

In my opinion - enough damage has been done. You feel battered and abused by the situation and pursuing it will only cause you even more misery. I sincerely hope you drop this altogether and put the energy you could waste on it into rebuilding your life. You could use your story as an inspiration for a play, a novel or an autobiography. You could use your experiences to educate others - the broken care system is a hot topic and a tale such as yours, balanced with humility and contrition for your mistakes, could actually go a long way towards providing catharsis for yourself and raising public awareness.

It's up to you how you go forward of course, but I see disaster and heartache in your current plan.
 
Last edited:
I'm an attorney in the US. I can attest to the fact that no decent US attorney would take your case because you were convicted at trial, lost any appeal you filed, and engaged in reprehensible behavior by your own admission. Please move on - you need to put that bad and sad period of your life behind you and learn from it what you should NOT do. Find something else to dwell on and stop blaming others and your autism for your faults. You've allowed yourself to become frozen in time and filled with anger that those people had the audacity to hold you accountable for your actions.

With respect to your sister, the courts of Scotland, the UK, and the US do not remove children from their parents or terminate parental rights without good cause, and it's a very heavy burden of proof on the government to do so.

Use what you should have learned from past to improve your future.
 
Interesting to see that even with the consideration of elderly abuse by carers in Britain, prosecutions and litigation towards them in general seem utterly futile. And that's probably involving victims and plaintiffs with no criminal records at all.

Particularly if one considers the statistics of the last 18 months or so. Where of 23,000 allegations of elderly abuse by home care workers, only 15 persons were prosecuted. DO THE MATH.

Whether this reflects political motivations I can't say for certain. Statistically it's pretty clear that UK courts have little desire to aggressively prosecute carers even under the most obvious circumstances. As others have stated, you need to move on. You simply have no chance of successfully litigating such issues.

23,000 allegations of elderly abuse by carers resulted in just 15 prosecutions, BBC investigation finds
 
Last edited:
Trust me when I say I want to forget about what happened. I could care much less if I never saw any of these people again. But I have all this junk on my record that could prevent me from getting jobs for several more years. A lot of agencies for film extras state that you have to register on their websites, fill in all the red tape, and submit up to date DBS information, and that is mandatory for all their talent. So I am basically probably going to be missing out on opportunities to get a part in a major film as a blurry dot in a crowd, because I got mad at two people that I believe wronged me. It may not seem like a big deal because it's just extra work and a lot of people may not even be visible on screen in the final cut, but some of these movies are high profile feature films that would look great on their IMDb page.

The summary on my disclosure paperwork has racism, sexual harassment and stalking as the convictions, which is why I was sent to Barlinnie in 2015. I was only being like that because I was mad at being betrayed. If I could do it all over again, well... I would have been upset, but maybe I could have gotten something done about it had I known how. Even other inmates in prison thought it was 'petty' that I was doing time for that.

The protection hall in my local jail had no room at that time, and I was fully committed, so I could have been in jail for months, which ended up being what occurred. If I had not contacted any of them again, it would have been wiped from my record in 2020, because the restraining orders were granted for the ladies and one of their ex-boyfriends in 2015 to run for a total of 5 years. But last year, a sheriff in Livingston where this Spanish lady apparently may be living now, extended it to 10 years, and I was sentenced to 70 days in jail. But before I was up for release, another sheriff from my neck of the woods, gave me a concurrent sentence because I did not carry out unpaid work from earlier last year, but that was in regards to a different case where I was repeatedly contacting a singer on Twitter, that I used to be a fan of. He was the lead singer of a band called Wah! over 30 years ago, and we got on great to begin with, then he turned against me. This hurt me deeply, as the guy was like a "hero" to me. It made me feel like crap.

When I asked the officers in jail why I was going to Barlinnie when they gave me zero notice at all, they said I was down as a sex offender, so I could not stay there. And that day, my mother had been booked in for a visit and she had to be told I was being transferred to Glasgow. All I did was say to the women in emails that I was going to have sex with someone, and record us doing it. That was it. Even my supervisor told my mother that was wrong what they did, when they made up that hooey about me being a sex offender. But great insults can last a long time. The one I got from that other support worker about Eddie Guerrero being a (vulgar word for vagina) has really stuck with me, and some of the other things he said was pitiful as well. They likely fired him, but they would not reveal whether that happened or not.

In fact, the bosses kept saying to me that I could not bring escorts into my flat. Once I had no money and I told them that this was the reason why I was skint, and they said I would be thrown out if I did it again. I eventually complained to an agency about recruiting responsible sex workers for disabled people, called the TLC Trust, and I explained that it was not illegal to invite a woman into my home for intimacy. So they called them and the staff said it was fine. But if I had never challenged it, they would have kept acting like I was doing something wrong. It did not matter in the long run, because I never went back. When I was on bail, they barred me from even collecting my mail or walking near that street, and as I said, they conjured up a story to get me to willfully declare away my tenancy, after saying I had rent arrears that the council was supposed to be paying for me. Hence why I keep saying they're serial liars.

And like I said, all manner of people were blabbing behind my back, being a stool pigeon, or sending me emails pretending to know my ex. As in, the girl I met years ago who kept using me to buy her goodies from an Argos store, who had also been taken me for a sucker, and whatnot. She even left me along a canal once, telling me to wait around on her returning, and she never came back. Her excuse was that she visited her friends, and fell asleep. So... I have had it really tough.
 
Would representing myself be an option?

There's an old saying that a person who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.

The summary on my disclosure paperwork has racism, sexual harassment and stalking as the convictions, which is why I was sent to Barlinnie in 2015. I was only being like that because I was mad at being betrayed.

This in itself would seem to present a problem. You admit that you did these things, and you were convicted. You do not however, seem to accept that it was your choice to act/react like that. I've been betrayed, I've been mad as hell, but I've never reacted with racism, harassment of any sort or stalking. Saying "I only did x, y, z because of that person's actions" isn't healthy. You need to accept responsibility and stop blaming the other people.

Maybe instead of trying to get a lawyer, you could spend that time and effort looking into why you "react" that way and maybe have a deep look at yourself while you're there.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom