Following on from the passing of the Autism Act in 2009 the Government has now published its Adult Autism Strategy for England. I haven't yet read it, but this is the take of the National Autistic Society.
One of things that amazes me is that over the years no one has kept accurate records of how many adults have autism. This has obviously been affected by the fact that diagnostic procedures have improved and many people are diagnosed in adult life. But given that the diagnosis rate in children is 1 in 100, according to the National Autistic Society, there must be a lot of adults with autism out there, most of whom are not getting appropriate services. Anything which recognises this and makes progress towards increasing support has to be welcomed. But nothing is going to happen quickly, and current budget restraints will no doubt slow the processes up even further.
One of the biggest difficulties is there can be no 'one size fits all' solution. People on the autistic spectrum can range from profoundly disabled to university professors, with most slotting in somewhere inbetween. Have a look at Temple Grandin's TED talk on autism for a wonderful view of autism from a high functioning autistic adult. But remember that for every Temple Grandin there is also an adult who can't communicate and needs 24 hour support.
4 comments:
The strategy whats to make better diagnosis for adults so the numbers may rise. Should be interesting.
Better diagnosis opportunities will definitely be a good thing, as long as services are then provided to support all those diagnosed. We'll see...
Let's hope this improves the very poor provisions for adult autistics.
CJ xx
Absolutely, CJ and for adults across the whole spectrum.
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