Published on 12, July, 2020
Editing this post to try and clarify what I meant and give a bit of background:
Earlier this week I read an article in the Independent - More than 9 in 10 autistic people over 50 don't have a diagnosis, study finds (inews.co.uk) one of the things mentioned in here is that there is currently a trial for autistic people to have a yearly check up with their GP for physical and mental health. Personally, I would find this really useful as I avoid going to the doctors. I force myself to regularly go to the dentist/hygienist and very reluctantly go for an annual check with the opticians (my least favourite) as my mum had glaucoma.
Adult Services for us in the UK are fairly non-existent, we get a diagnosis and then lots of us come here and to other places, saying what now? There also seems to be a gap between people being able to transition from child to adult services.
So I'm thinking what do we want? There is Peter's union idea - a link to that thread is below and there are also things like the NDSA self advocacy network, this forum and the things that NAS provide. There are also campaigns around certain issues, petitions etc that I see from time to time. Feels like there is a heavy reliance on the 3rd (charity) sector and people setting up groups themselves (which normally rely on one or two passionate people).
We're all different, with different needs but in an ideal world what would we want provided in terms of statutory services? There is a national autism strategy - does that hit the mark? is it enough?
What else aside from an annual check up like mentioned above would help?
I think I'd like easier access to health care, access to mental health professionals who understand autism, organisations to work towards some sort of kitemark whether that's education facilities, health, workplaces, leisure centres. I guess the social side would still need to be provided in the third sector or by groups set up and run by individuals, so I'll take that out, however, I do think addressing social isolation is really important in terms of health.
I direct you to my earlier thread about autistic unions (something like a student union / working mens club for autistic people) community.autism.org.uk/.../should-there-be-such-a-thing-as-an-autistic-union
I've edited so hopefully what I meant makes more sense or distinction from your thread. Cheers.
Thanks. I did see that and voted in the poll, whilst it's similar - it's a different take/thread which is more about self help. I see lots of people not having support as adult or people that struggle in the transition from child to adult services.
There is a national strategy in theory, so if we were looking at statutory services we think should be provided without forming a union/Club, what would we want?