BBC Breakfast News today covered the Government's new Autism Strategy.


Below is taken from today's Guardian, here:


"Adults with autism are set to get the same access to jobs, education and good health care as everybody else following a pledge from government today in its first autism strategy for England.

Care services minister Phil Hope says the strategy is not about creating a raft of new services, but about reorganising those that exist to help people with autism better. "The success of the strategy will depend upon those existing services changing to recognise and respond to the needs of people with autism," he says.

Although a modest amount of new money – in the shape of £500,000 to train frontline professionals to better recognise and understand autism and its needs – is being announced, the strategy is expected to be implemented without substantial extra finance. The first year's delivery plan will be published later this month.

Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, warmly welcomes the document. "Encouragingly, it pinpoints achievable solutions that could radically improve the lives of people with autism," he says. "This is an important new development, following on the heels of the historic new Autism Act." But he suggests that additional finance might be required. "The hope is that the autism strategy will lead to the identification of desperately needed funding to meet the cost of these essential provisions," he says.

Around one in 100 adults have a condition somewhere on the autistic spectrum, according to the recent Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. "By applying the one in 100 figure, we estimate that over 300,000 adults in England have autism," says the report. "Together with their families, they make up over 1 million people whose lives are touched by autism every day."

The report defines autism as "a lifelong condition that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how a person makes sense of the world around them." Those affected have problems communicating and interacting, and find it hard to imagine other people's feelings and predict their behaviour. For the purposes of the strategy, the Department of Health includes Asperger's syndrome, which can affect people who are very articulate and talented but still suffer from considerable communication difficulties.

The Autism Act 2009 was passed in response to increasing evidence that people with autism suffer social and economic exclusion. Only 15% of adults have jobs, they have poorer health than the rest of the population, and 49% of adults live with and are dependent on their parents. The launch of the strategy is a requirement of the act.

"Adults with autism spectrum conditions have been invisible, marginalised, and left to suffer in a system they cannot negotiate unaided," says Baron-Cohen.

Among the aims of the strategy are to increase awareness and understanding of autism among frontline public services staff. Too often, people with autism are thought to be rude and difficult by the police, or they avoid going to see a GP because of crowds in the waiting rooms. Employment advisers may recommend only certain types of job, and some social workers assume that all people with autism have a learning disability.

"Although most people have heard of autism, they do not actually understand the whole spectrum and how it affects people differently," said one contributor to the strategy's consultation process. "Most will cite Rain Man and assume that all autistic people are the same as the character in the film."

The National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence is developing diagnosis guidelines, and the strategy aims to ensure that support and services follow diagnosis, and to identify and promote service models that have been proved to make a positive difference.

The strategy will allow adults with autism, and their families, to have more control over where they live – recognising sensitivities to, for instance, harsh lighting in a home, and offering support to those who want to live independently.

A National Autism Programme Board will be set up to lead the public service changes.

The National Autistic Society believes it is critical that specialist autism teams should be set up in every local area, responsible for providing a range of services, including diagnosis and support, but the strategy appears to leave it up to each area to develop its own commissioning plan. "What really matters is delivery on the ground," says chief executive Mark Lever. "We will look to see how we can work with local authorities to ensure that the words deliver real change."