Learning Disability Wales and partners have called on Welsh Government to commit to person centred support for autistic people

Learning Disability Wales has responded to the Welsh Government consultation on the Code of Practice on the Delivery of Autism Services. 

We responded together with other members of the Learning Disability Consortium  (All Wales People First and Cymorth Cymru) and the Engage to Change project: (All Wales People First, Agoriad Cyf, ELITE Supported Employment and the National Centre for Mental Health at Cardiff University).

Key points of our feedback include:

  • We welcome guidelines making mainstream services more accessible to autistic people.
  • Much of the Code seems based on the medical model of disability. In order to give real support to autistic people the Code needs to be informed by the social model of disability.
  • We would like to see more focus on disabled people’s rights and the role of advocacy to support them in fighting for their rights.
  • Self-advocacy should be more explicitly mentioned and given more emphasis.
  • Preventative services should have as their main purposes to improve quality of life, not merely reduction of costs.
  • We are glad to see flexibility endorsed in order to make transitions into adult services smoother and would like to see even more flexibility than currently mentioned.
  • The strong focus on awareness raising is promising. We would like to see a commitment to self-advocacy here.
  • It is promising that Welsh Government has looked at intersectional issues, and how autism and having other protected characteristics overlap. However, it is not clear how the acknowledgement of these issues translates into practical changes.

The whole response can be downloaded here in English (Autism COP response PDF). Other formats and Welsh translation available on request.

For questions or more information please contact Policy Officer Grace Krause at grace.krause@ldw.org.uk.