Brookdale Care, one of the UK's leading providers of specialist
hospital, residential and supported living services for people living
with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), has welcomed the publication of
"Rewarding and fulfilling lives:
The strategy for adults with autism in England (2010)."
The autism strategy sets out a clear vision for transforming the lives and outcomes for adults with autism:
"All adults with autism are able to live fulfilling and rewarding lives within a society that accepts and understands them.
"They can get a diagnosis and access support if they need it, and they
can depend on mainstream public services to treat them fairly as
individuals, helping them to make the most of their talents."
The Adult Autism Strategy focuses on 5 key priorities:
- Increasing awareness and understanding of autism among frontline professionals
- Developing a clear, consistent pathway for diagnosis in every area, which is followed by the offer of a personalised needs assessment
- Improving access for adults with autism to the services and support they need to live independently within the community
- Helping adults with autism into work, and
- Enabling local partners to plan and develop appropriate services for adults with autism to meet identified needs and priorities.
The strategy highlights the unique challenges faced by adults with ASD
in securing the support they need in order to live their lives to the
fullest. These include service-engendered barriers to education,
employment and the wider community which bring economic disadvantage,
social isolation, and mental and physical ill-health for adults with
autism.
Lesa Walton, Care and Development Director of Brookdale Care, said today;
"Brookdale Care has been focussed on meeting the challenging needs of
adults with autism for over 15 years. In this time we have seen the
struggles families and adults with autism have had to face in order to
gain the recognition and access to the support, clinical intervention
and specialist services that they deserve. So we applaud the
publication of the Adult Autism Strategy which confirms the growing
weight of evidence that people with autism suffer social and economic
exclusion; only 15% of adults with autism have jobs; adults with autism
have poorer health than the rest of the population and 49% of adults
live with and are dependent on their parents.
"Around one in every hundred adults is living with ASD, but often their
needs are simply not being met. The autism strategy is a very important
step in the growing movement to ensure that recognition of autism and
access to appropriate diagnosis improves and that autism specific
services and support are readily available. The Government's vision
will clearly need to be backed up by strong and effective delivery
plans and we need the promised statutory guidance for health and social
care bodies to support real change at a local level.
"Brookdale Care will continue to work in partnership with NHS trusts
and local authorities to ensure effective support for some of the most
vulnerable members of our society."
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