Published on 12, July, 2020
Does the NAS know of any instances where failing to declare ASD has invalidated an insurance policy?
There are also issues with travel insurance and house insurance.
I would imagine that travel insurance would be affected if your condition may make you so unwell that you would be unfit to travel. So If your social anxiety meant you were unable to travel, and you had booked a holiday in the outback of Australia, your insurance would probably be invalid.
Likewise for frequent bouts of depression or anxiety which made you feel so bad you would not step out the door. But these conditions are like Autism, just because you are depressed does not mean you would not look forward to a holiday.
Just bear in mind that declaring your autism may attach conditions to the insurance when they may not pay out, and not declaring it and a claim leads to medical investigation which may invalidate due to non-declaration.
House insurance could be affected if you are for example dyspraxic with your autism, and frequently have 'accidents' and fall over which may damage your belongings, or that you are forgetful so you don't know whether you locked the door or not, or have meltdowns which involve damaging property. I am sure there are other instances.
All insurance works on the basis that if you do not declare any condition you may invalidate your insurance, even if it is not mentioned in the list of conditions. There may be a list of conditions with a qualifier such as 'this is not a comprehensive list and if in doubt you should declare a condition you have which causes x, y, or z'.
But while not encouraging anyone to make fraudulent claims, or withold information, unless your condition was obvious, you would have to use as a reason for the loss that you were autistic, depressive, suffer from social anxiety, etc for the insurance company to be aware of anything. Of course if it was life insurance or a claim involved your health, your GP would be asked for your medical notes for which you could refuse permission. But refusing would also invalidate the claim.