Published on 07 September 2020
The coronavirus outbreak has affected everyone. But it’s left many autistic people and their families completely stranded. Our new report, supported by four other leading autism organisations, highlights the often disproportionate and devastating impact the mental health, wellbeing and education prospects of hundreds of thousands of autistic people and their families.Read our report
Together with Ambitious about Autism, Autistica, Scottish Autism, and the Autism Alliance, we are calling on all governments in the UK to create an action plan to protect autistic people and their families from any future waves of the pandemic – and to address existing inequalities by investing in support and services.
Sign our open letter
Please sign our open letter to the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP, calling on him to invest in autistic people’s futures, ahead of the Spending Review this autumn.
We found that:
- 9 in 10 autistic people worried about their mental health during lockdown; 85% said their anxiety levels got worse
- Autistic people were 7 times more likely to be chronically lonely than the general population*; and 6 times more likely to have low life satisfaction** (comparisons using ONS data)
- 1 in 5 family members responding to the survey had to reduce work due to caring responsibilities
- 7 in 10 parents say their child has had difficulty understanding or completing school work and around half said their child’s academic progress was suffering.
Thank you to the 4,232 autistic people and families in the UK who responded to our survey during June and July. Your responses show that coronavirus and the lockdown deepened existing entrenched inequalities. The disruption, uncertainty and pace of change triggered huge levels of anxiety and for some was made worse by the withdrawal of support from social care, education and mental health services.
The Government’s Coronavirus Act temporarily weakened many of the duties on councils to provide support. But even before these powers were created, or in areas where they never came into force, we heard of people losing their mental health, education and social care support services – sometimes with little notice. On top of this, many autistic people reported having huge difficulties shopping for food. The new rules about going into shops alone (without support), new layouts and the rules on masks left many feeling overwhelmed and, in some cases, like they couldn’t go out at all.
While these concerns led to anxiety for most autistic people, the impact was felt most strongly by those with higher support needs, autistic women and non-binary people. This research was led by the National Autistic Society, as part of a project funded by the Pears Foundation, with a number of other autism charities supporting.
Continue Reading …
https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/news/coronavirus-report