Adults with autism to be audited

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Page last updated at 02:02 GMT, Thursday, 8 May 2008 03:02 UK

Adults with autism to be audited

For the first time the government is to calculate the number of

adults with autism in England.

Announcing the £500,000 project, Care Services Minister Ivan

said autistic adults are too often abandoned by health and social

services.

The National Autistic Society welcomed the move, saying it hopes it

will mark a turning point in the way the needs of adults with autism

are met.

The statistics will be used to form a national strategy.

The challenge for the researchers will be to make sure people whose

autism has not yet been diagnosed are not overlooked.

In making the announcement, Ivan highlighted how limited the

understanding of the condition still is.

" We still don't know enough about autism, but we do know that left

unsupported, it can have a devastating impact on those who have the

condition and their families.

" One of the key gaps in our knowledge is simple - we don't know how

many people have the condition in any given area.

" That is why I am ordering a study to address this. "

Lifelong disability

The National Autistic Society describes the condition as a complex

disability affecting someone's development and a defect in the way

the brain functions.

Asperger Syndrome is a form of autism where people sometimes have

high intellectual and verbal abilities, but it is still very

disabling, and people with it can find many ordinary daily activities

such as cooking, shopping, handling money, making phone calls almost

impossible.

Autism is often associated only with children, but it is a lifelong

disability with no cure.

There has been academic research into the prevalence of autism

amongst children in the UK and that suggests it is one in every 100.

But until now, there has been no specific study into how many adults

have the condition.

The group has been hard to measure partly because so many people have

grown up before improvements in recognition and diagnosis; and some

may have been labelled inappropriately as having mental health

problems or learning difficulties or not acknowledged at all.

Academics at the University of Leicester will lead the research which

will include a study of a sample of the adult population - a sort of

mini census .

Their challenge will be to find some way of taking account of those

adults who have not been diagnosed to achieve as much accuracy as

possible.

Once the work is complete, the government will use the statistics to

craft the first national strategy for adults with autism to be

published next year.

The National Autistic Society has long campaigned for this research

to be done and is enthusiastic about the move.

Chief Executive Mark Lever said: " This is great news for the

thousands of adults with autism who told us they feel isolated and

ignored.

" We are delighted that the government has listened and is taking

decisive action. Today's announcement should mark a sea change in the

way that the needs of people with autism are recognised and met.

" However, we will keep campaigning to ensure real change happens at

ground level. "

Geoffrey Maddrell, chairman of the charity Research Autism

added: " This is an important first step towards understanding the

scale of autism in the UK and will help to decide what next steps

need to be taken to ensure people with the condition are supported

and signposted toward approaches that will enhance their quality of

life. "