Adults with Autism parliamentary Bill

May 19, 2008

The first ever Bill about Adults with Autism will be introduced to

Parliament on Tuesday 20th May.

Browning, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, has been working

closely with the NAS to put together the Bill, which is based on

some of the main demands from the I Exist campaign .

On 8 May, the Government made a landmark commitment to adults with

autism with the announcement of the following measures that will

lead to national strategy:

a full-time, senior autism advisor post within the Department of

Health

funding a study into the numbers of adults with autism

funding research into the needs of young people with autism as

they approach adulthood

improving understanding of autism among professionals.

The Adults with Autism Bill was drafted prior to this announcement

and is an attempt to build on this action from the Government.

With 98% of local authorities and 100% of primary care trusts saying

that the Government could provide them with more assistance with

adults with autism, the bill calls on the Secretary of State to

provide adequate support to ensure that best practice is followed

and developed at a local level.

This includes clarifying who is responsible for autism, taking the

needs of people with the disability into account in the

commissioning of adult services and establishing support such as

social skills training, daily living skills and social support,

which could prevent people's needs from escalating.

Ten Minute Rule Bills are often an opportunity for MPs to highlight

important issues rather than making changes to the law but by

promoting the Bill now, we hope an MP will choose to introduce it as

a Private Members Bill in the new session of Parliament that begins

in November.

You can watch the Bill live on the Parliament website

Zoe

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