Autism Week Raises Awareness Of Challenges

The recent World Autism Acceptance Week helped to raise awareness about the challenges autistic people have to face on a daily basis. 

The campaign, which ran from April 2nd to 8th 2024, was created to get people talking more openly about autism, how it affects different people, and why inclusion is essential in schools, workplaces and public spaces.

Although autism covers a huge spectrum of needs, the National Autistic Society revealed that only 29 per cent of autistic people are in any form of employment. 

What’s more, 70 per cent of autistic people experience mental health problems and only a quarter feel happy at school. This shows how much neurodiverse people struggle in society and need additional support to cope with everyday demands and expectations. 

Autistic people have social communication challenges, sensory processing difficulties, restrictive and repetitive behaviour, and are highly focused on hobbies or interests. They can also suffer from extreme meltdowns when overloaded, as well as have severe anxiety. 

While some may need support from home care services in order to live independently, others may have learnt how to mask their challenges well into adulthood. 

It is thought that one in 100 people are autistic, but this figure could be much greater as many individuals might just not have been diagnosed yet. 

Indeed, there are currently over 150,000 people on the waiting list for an autism assessment in the UK, with more requesting a diagnosis every day as awareness of the neurotype grows.

Though some will be able to cope with their difficulties enough to function in society, for many their learning disability is more extreme. 

For instance, they might be non-verbal or selectively mute; they may lack executive function skills and not know how to look after themselves; and they might have developmental delays that hold them back compared with their peers.