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autism.west midlands is a member of the Autism Alliance UK
National Autism Awareness Week
to highlight inadequacy of public sector planning for services to children and adults with autism
The Autism Alliance UK , of which autism.west midlands is an active member, will call on education, health and social care commissioners to plan better services for children and adults with autism, as part of their awareness raising activity during National Autism Awareness Week. This will be held in October 2008 and more information will be made available.
Autism Alliance UK is a partnership of charities who advocate for, and provide services to, people with autism and their families. They want to highlight the serious lack of planning by commissioners in how they are going to respond to the education, care and support needs of those affected by autism in their communities.
The charities hope that by raising awareness of this issue, members of the public will support their campaign for action and that public sector organisations will respond to public pressure to develop and implement appropriate autism focused plans.
At least 600,000 people of all ages in the UK have autism, this equates to 1% of the population. Meeting the needs of children and adults with autism and their carers presents local commissioning agencies with one of their greatest challenges and yet, all too often, those agencies have inadequate or no plans for how they intend to do this.
This lack of effective planning all too often leads to a poor use of resources and, more importantly, to many people with autism and their carers failing to get the support they desperately need. The most vulnerable are often those with high functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome as their often profound conditions and needs are not recognised by commissioners.
It is also the case that local commissioners are often struggling with inadequate resources and are unable to be as innovative in commissioning practice as they would like to be. There needs to be greater investment in services.
Pauline Quan Arrow – Chairman of Autism Alliance says: “With this lack of effective planning in mind, we therefore call upon local commissioners to develop service plans that reflect the needs of people with autism living in their communities. We also call on central Government to require of commissioners that they demonstrate such plans and to ensure that implementation is supported with the provision of adequate resources. Autism Alliance UK is ready and willing to engage and support at both levels”.
Autism Alliance UK membership includes:
■ Autism Initiatives
■ autism.west midlands
■ Essex Autistic Society
■ Hampshire Autistic Society
■ Norfolk Autistic Community Housing Association (NACHA)
■ Scottish Society for Autism
■ Sussex Autistic Community Trust
■ Tyne & Wear Autistic Society
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