Campaigning for autism services

I MADE a Citizens’ Voice Contribution about autism at this year’s National Social Care Conference at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. I mentioned some of my own difficulties as a person living with this condition and said those people with autism should have their needs met within the community.

It was good to be able to talk about my personal experience with autism and mention a specialised autism support service which is so important to me personally.

I have been involved in a campaign for a Cardiff-based charity, Autism Spectrum Connections Cymru (ASCC), to have enough funds to help them continue with their excellent work.

I need the services they used to offer until, recently, they announced they were having to cut back their services.

What I found useful was the Monday to Friday drop-in, the supported social groups and the focussed one-to-one support for me as an individual with autism to have my needs met and reasonable adjustments arranged for me at work.

ASCC want to continue providing these specialised services but they can’t do so because of the funding challenges they face.

I recently petitioned the Welsh Government, calling on them to help ASCC with their work, and I had my proposal discussed at the National Assembly for Wales.

ASCC’s services should be viewed by the Government as something which is needed for and well used by people with autism.

According to a document written by Cardiff Council, the local authority does not provide these type of services through statutory provision via, the Integrated Autism Service (IAS).

There needs to be more emphasis on delivering specialised autism services due to the needs we have. There’s clear evidence of a need for ASCC’s services in the community and I intend to carry on campaigning for these services to be continued. Aled Thomas Ely, Cardiff