Call to improve support for autistic adults

The government must do more to create a "rounded package" of support for autistic adults, according to an MP.

Conservative Angela Browning on Tuesday proposed legislation to impose duties on the government to ensure support is delivered.

Speaking ahead of the debate, she told ePolitix.com that her bill would "try and put into statute the responsibility, both of government and the local authority services, needed to provide for adults with autism".

The Tiverton and Honiton MP pointed to a recent report which "reflected what we've all known - that once children with autism become adolescents and then adults, they fall through the gap of services".

"There is now a very urgent need to put that on a statutory basis to stop that happening," she said.

Browning pointed out that there was no data on how many adults had autism or where they are and backed moves to calculate the number of people with the condition.

"It's very difficult for social services or health services to plan in their areas if they don't know how many there are," she said.

But she added that "waiting for that data is no excuse for not providing services for the people who are there now and who we know about".

She warned that many autistic people developed mental health problems as a result of a lack of support, and only get help "when they reach that crisis point".

"What is very important of course is to try and provide a package of services that prevent that deterioration in mental health.

"But the experience of a lot of people, far too many people now, is that they fall between all these different silos of provision and they get nothing at all until there's a crisis," she added. "And then of course it's crisis management."

She stressed that helping autistic people live independently is "more than just providing them with a roof over their heads".

"One of their biggest problems is they don't make friendships and have difficulty socialising," she said.

"So what we don't want is to find that they've got the practical back-up but not the social support to go with it, because social isolation leads to a break down in mental health.

"You've got to have that rounded package and that's what I'll be calling for in the bill."

The National Autistic Society study revealed that nearly two thirds of adults with autism do not have enough support.

Head of policy and campaigns Amanda Batten said: "We urge the government to back proposals in the bill and build on the Department of Health's commitment to developing a national adult autism strategy.

"The lives of adults with autism will not improve until real action is taken by local services and we will keep campaigning until we see changes at ground level.

"Many thousands of adults with autism currently receive little or no support. Autism is a serious, lifelong and disabling condition and unless this situation is resolved a crisis point is likely for both individuals and services."