Seumas you have no idea how much I agree with you on this one.

Last time a similar story was posted (couldn't find the link), somebody brought up that autism/aspergers as being the new "chic" diagnosis....it has everything a parents wants, an excuse to justify their child's behavioral issues as a manifestation of a disability which allows them to absolve themselves of any parenting failures with a label that's associated with high intelligence.

To the GP, as the parent of a severely autistic child this isn't at all reprehensible, providing autistic individuals with any kind of vocational/technical training is doing them, and their family/caregiver, a huge service. We just hope that Rachel will have an opportunity like this some day.