Since the Autism Act was launched in 2009, we have witnessed greater awareness of autism and an increased offer in support for autistic individuals. While we have made these important improvements, there is still much more to do to make sure that autistic people have equal opportunities to access the services they need to have good health and wellbeing and to participate fully in our local community.
In Stockport, too many autistic people still face long waits for their diagnosis and do not always receive support that is tailored to their needs at an early enough stage.
Local data regarding children and young people highlights that:
- 2.9% of pupils in primary schools are autistic and 4.5% in secondary schools are autistic
- in November 2023, there were 819 children and young people on the waiting list for an autism assessment
- autism is the primary need in the majority of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) referrals
This suggests that there is a need for a shift in Stockport from post-diagnostic support to pre-diagnostic support.
National data shows that autistic adults aged 16 to 64 years are:
- much less likely to be employed (29%)
- much more likely to have no qualifications (25%) than the population with no disabilities (90% and 5% respectively)
- live with their parents (76%)
However, it is important to note that autistic adults may live alone or have their own families and may hold professional jobs.
Life expectancy for autistic people
Research has shown that autistic people are more likely to die early than the general population, although autism alone is not the sole cause of this early mortality.
There's no accurate estimate of how much life expectancy varies, but a recent study suggests that:
women diagnosed autistic but not with intellectual disability had an apparent 1.4 to 11.6 years shorter life expectancy
men diagnosed autistic but not with intellectual disability had an apparent 2.8 to 9.1 years shorter life expectancy
You can read the full article on The Lancet's website.
Using data to inform the strategy
Our local data sourced from the Autism Joint Strategic Needs assessment (JSNA) 2023 highlighted the following areas of concern that this strategy needs to address:
- unclear data regarding our autistic adult population
- access to healthcare services
- access to local community activities
- many services do not have a digital autism indicator which misinforms us about the true needs of our autistic community
- lengthy delays for an autism assessment (all-age)
- 75% of autistic individuals do not have a Learning Disability
- the need for all-age pre-diagnostic and post-diagnostic work
- no clear training programme
- unaware of local support
Cheryl Knupfer, The Strategic Lead for Autism, is leading on this 3-year all-age Autism Strategy which supports our aim for Stockport to become a place where autistic people and their families are understood, valued, and supported to achieve their individual ambitions.