Mental health services failing autistic people
● Organisation calls for Scottish Government to provide support ‘You’re dropped like a hot potato when you turn 18’
Mental health services are failing autistic people in Scotland according to a report by a leading voluntary organisation.
The Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh (AMASE) has carried out a survey which shows a quarter of those who were questioned said they have been denied mental health care as a result of their autism.
The group say there is an urgent need for health professionals to better understand the issues autistic people are facing in getting much-needed access to support.
They say that while autism is not classed as a mental illness, rates of mental ill health and suicide are exceptionally high in the autistic population. The AMASE report is based on an anonymous survey of 50 autistic individuals in Scotland and was carried out last March. Sonny Hallett, chair of AMASE, said the Scottish Government and NHS are duty bound to provide a decent standard of care to everyone in Scotland.
She added: “A diagnosis of autism should never be a reason for someone to be denied access to the mental health support they need, yet our report shows this is a reality.
“We call upon the authorities to improve mental health outcomes for the autistic population by ensuring services are accessible and appropriate for autistic people – securing funding for support services that currently do good work such as some of the existing One Stop Shops – prioritising research into autism and mental health; providing autisticled training for staff and creating a route for newly-diagnosed autistic people to access appropriate services.”
More than half of those who took part in the survey said they had suffered negative experiences when seeking mental health support, and 40 per cent said they felt there is nothing out there to
not understood, listened to
or taken seriously by practitioners
‘They ALWAYS treat me like I’mjustabit stressed [...] I was suicidal’ had negative experiences denied mental health services
as a direct result of being
autistic ‘I’m told that depression and anxiety is normal for me’ believe that
there is nothing out there to help
them help them. And 36 per cent of respondents said practitioners had inadequate autism knowledge. had problems
with inaccessible
services
Autism is considered to be a neurodevelopmentaldisabilty that can cause two-way communication problems. Nina Mega, from Edinburgh told the Scotsman of her experience as an autistic person looking for support.
The 23-year-old said: “When I was a child aged ten I got access to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and that worked well for me. I turned 18 and was told that I couldn’t use that service anymore as I wasn’t a child or an adolescent. There’s really this feeling that we’re basically dropped like hot potatoes when we come of age. For me I was lucky because my CAMHS doctor and I had a good relationship and she would help me.
“It’s considered that once we get older we don’t need help anymore – it’s a Catch 22. People know mental health stuff effects adults but when we try and access mental 0 Nina Mega told of problems accessing support as an adult
health services as adults, there’s often the perception – ‘oh well, your problem’s because of your autism not your mental health, so I can’t help you’. But then when we try to access autism services we get told they are for kids and ‘you’re an adult’. Trying to access adult services is terrible because the waiting lists are horrendously long and once you finally do, sometimes you’ll end up with a doctor who might not understand how mental health and autism interact.”