Disabled campaigners have written to Andy Burnham to demand he immediately establishes a new autistic-led Autism Strategy ahead of the Autumn Budget.
Deliver for Autism, a newly formed advocacy group, has published an open letter calling on the prime minister to not let autistic people down.
The letter was created by autistic campaigner Chelsea Webster, and backed by well-known disabled campaigners and allies, such as Elle McNicoll, Lou Chandler and Sally Phillips.
Autistic people left in limbo
Webster says in the letter:
I am asking you to support autistic people by committing to a working group made up of diverse people, who can develop a new Autism Strategy, in line with the Autism Act 2009 and recommendations in the 2025 Time to deliver report.
The current Autism Strategy ran out in July, and there has been no timeline or publicly available plan around creating a new one or the failures of the 2021-2026 strategy.
As the letter says, this means autistic people are left in limbo, being continuously failed by the government.
As the House of Lords Autism Act Committee said:
The Committee recommends that the government must develop the new autism strategy now, so it is ready to launch when the current one expires in July 2026. The government must identify priority outcomes, produce a costed, deliverable plan to achieve them, and make clear who is responsible and accountable for delivery.
Too often, decisions about autistic people’s lives are made for them, not by them. This must change. Autistic people and those who support them must be meaningfully involved in every stage of the development and delivery of the new strategy.
This was, of course, completely ignored and no new strategy was created, meaning the last one just ran out.
Time to Deliver raised the alarm on shortcomings
The Time to Deliver report assessed the extent to which the Autism Act 2009 and Autism Strategy had met the needs of autistic people in England. It concluded that successive national strategies have consistently “failed to tackle the key barriers that stand in the way of improving outcomes” for autistic people.
On this, Chelsea Webster told the Canary:
The 2021-2026 Autism Strategy failed to deliver the support autistic people need. Without a new Autism Strategy to address the deficits in care and support, thousands of autistic people are left facing inequalities in life expectancy, health care, education, employment and other areas of life.
It’s unacceptable. The government needs to act immediately and provide support that removes these inequalities.
Drawing on findings in Time to deliver, the open letter highlights particular crises for autistic people:
Autistic people face unacceptable inequalities in health outcomes and life expectancy.
The autism assessment system can become a bottleneck, giving overstretched services a means to ration access to support.
Autistic children and young people do not have equal access to education.
Most autistic people are not in work, but many would like to be.
Autistic people are at higher risk of falling through the cracks in systems of support.
Autistic people often fall into gaps between mental health, social care services and other systems of support.
Autistic people are at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system, as victims, witnesses, or offenders.
The government’s response lacked any substance or accountability. Despite a record number of responses for a House of Lords inquiry, the government gave a “flimsy” response, Canary writer Charli Clement wrote.
In direct contrast to the careful recommendations of the committee, the government’s response lacks any real substance at all. It commits to almost nothing, apart from the existing 10 Year Health Plan for England, which does not mention autistic people once in its entirety, and to the existing commitments of work.
Clement continued:
The response is flimsy, and says it welcomes the recommendations without any real intention to act upon them. There is seemingly no commitment to any timelines for a new national strategy. It would be a breach of statutory process if there is no follow-up action.
Burnham must act now
The letter also points to Burnham’s history of autism advocacy. As health secretary, he played an integral role in bringing the Autism Act 2009 into law. He also supported two Greater Manchester Autism Strategies whilst mayor.
Burnham also successfully piloted WorkWell, which received positive feedback in Manchester, but has recently said he would cut benefits.
Webster added:
We’re asking, as Prime Minister, for Burnham to finish what he started and deliver support that genuinely does improve our lives, starting with an autistic-led working group developing a new Autism Strategy, before the Autumn Budget. Anything less puts lives and wellbeing at risk.
You can sign the open letter here.
Featured image via Sóc Năng Động/ Pexels
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