Lost for words: debt & autism
Many of us find it difficult to understand financial jargon and often fall into debt simply by being misled with clauses and conditions in contracts.
Debt and Autism
People with autism find it difficult to differentiate between the meanings of words and a simple word such as ‘interest’ is often related to hobbies rather than interest connected to money. As a result, they can often fall into debt by misinterpreting sales talk.
People with autism are very vulnerable as they want desperately to please people. This trait means that they can be ‘putty in the hands’ for some relentless loan sharks who will take advantage of their trusting nature and lead them into debt. Despite trying to get out of debt, the debt could be made worse and lead autistic people to IVAs or even bankruptcy due to bad advice and the communication difficulties they face.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is keen to educate these people and have funded twelve projects to help individuals become vigilant when it comes to money matters.
The Sacar project works with people in a way that they can understand. It uses role-play exercises, lessons and budgeting ideas to help people spot financial fiddles and prevent them from being overcharged for credit. The new workshops help people to avoid debt from occurring in the first place.
Even debt help can be miscommunicated
It isn’t only words such as ‘interest’ which can become misinterpreted by an autistic sufferer. Advertisements with strap lines such as ‘We can cut your debt in half’ could cause serious fear and stress to someone with this condition as the phrase could be interpreted as something violent, even though the sentence could simply be from a debt advice company who may genuinely want to help.
Debt advice companies are there to help autistic sufferers especially when their amount of debt has spiralled out of control. If you are in need of debt advice, contact the Debt Advice Trust.
