Autism Action

If you're passionate about improving life for autistic people, with a background that's relevant to suicide prevention, we'd love to hear from you. This is a challenging post working on a distressing topic. It's absolutely not for everyone, so we encourage you to think carefully about that before even reading the recruitment pack. However, for the right person it's a role we expect to be uniquely rewarding and a chance to be part of saving lives. We are part of bringing hope to people when they need it. Autism Action has a supportive team and formal support systems in place. For more info, visit autismaction.org.uk/jobs Closes 8am March 23rd 2026. #autism #autismjobs #suicideprevention *** If you are struggling now and looking for support, you can find ideas on our resources page: autismaction.org.uk/about-us/resou… ***

Tried to get an autism or ADHD assessment in the last few years? You can complete this survey and make your experiences count *even if you were blocked at the first stage and no referral was ever made*. Sign up to be among the first to hear once it's ready. t.co/vp7p6JVhZp

Let's gather the evidence the Government needs to take action! We’re working with a neurodiverse team of researchers to develop a survey for anybody who’s asked for an autism or ADHD assessment - adults or children - in the last six years. The survey will ask about reasons for requesting an assessment and experiences while waiting. The more people who complete the survey, the more powerful the evidence wll be, and the stronger the case for Government to act. Please share this with anybody likely to be interested, including organisations and professionals who provide assessments - because they can share with many more people. Visit autismaction.org.uk/waiting to register your interest and hear when the survey is ready. #autismassessment #adhdassessment #autism #adhd

As members of the Disabled Children's Partnership (DCP), we fully support their response to the Government's announcement yesterday about long-term plans for 'inclusion units'. It's right that the DCP are seeking more understanding about how this would work in practice - they should be fully accredited, accountable, staffed by specialists and inclusion should mean all children being fully involved with the life of the school. Let us know your thoughts, we want to understand how our community feels about the SEND crisis.

Autistic people's priorities for suicide prevention - new research published today. *Top 10 priorities* 1. Train professionals (especially in healthcare) to understand suicide, trauma, burnout and mental health issues in autistic people. 2. Autism-specific professionals, services, interventions and tools. 3. Tackle societal ignorance, prejudice and discrimination related to autism, mental health and suicide 4. Make existing services and support faster and easier to access, with better continuity of care and non-speaking ways to access help. 5. Focus on improving autism assessment and diagnosis across the lifespan. 6. Facilitate peer support (in-person/online), one-on-one mentoring or peer mental health support. 7. Focus on improving mental health with continuous, preventative support, including help with self-esteem and emotions. 8. Develop strategies for coping with suicidal thoughts and improving wellbeing. 9. Provide social support, non-judgemental and empathic. 10. Improve support/interventions in the education sector: flexible, person-centred, and strengths-based learning. Much more detail and the full paper can be found here: autismaction.org.uk/our-work/commu… We initiated this work to guide our use of charity resources to best meet the community's needs around suicide prevention. Directly in line with these priorities, Autism Action is already working with @PAPYRUS_Charity to deliver crisis support from staff trained to support autistic people, which will be co-created with autistic people and those who support them. We'll develop additional plans to influence Government and national services to deliver the priorities that fall under their remit, and we'll continue to plan additional projects to act on these community preferences. Huge thanks to everyone who helped shape the surveys, analyse and write up the results, to the thousands who took part, to Dr Rachel Moseley of Bournemouth University who led the study, to the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who had ultimate responsibility for the research, and to the wider (neurodiverse) project team. #autismresearch #suicideprevention #autism

If you're a freelance social media specialist with a really good understanding of the issues faced by autistic people and those who support them, read more about this opportunity via autismaction.org.uk/jobs We'd love to hear from you! #autism #autismaction #freelancesocialmedia #autismjobs

The updated LeDeR report has been published today following its retraction in December last year, just a few months after its much-delayed appearance. Deaths of people with learning disabilities classed as avoidable have not decreased as much as was previously reported – having reduced to 40.2% rather than 38.8% - but of course even the lower number is still far too high. For autistic people without a learning disability, numbers remain too low to draw meaningful conclusions and still no action is being taken to address that. Finally, the contract for national analysis of LeDeR data ends later this year, after Kings College London reports on the 2024 data. We are now in 2026. We have repeatedly raised this with NHS England. Empty Governmental promises to review deaths cannot be taken seriously when no contract is in place to report on the 2025 data and no action is being taken to address major limitations that have been apparent for years. We will continue to work with autistic people, those who support them, and other autism charities to raise this unacceptable issue with Government and push for meaningful action. Read more via autismaction.org.uk/statement/lede… #LeDeR #autism #autismaction

Image reads: Today the Government has responded to the House of Lords' report, 'Time to deliver: the Autism Act and the new autism strategy. As the autism charity sector, we stand together to say the Government's response is unacceptable. You can read the full joint statement, the House of Lords report and the Government response via autismaction.org.uk/HoLresponse Our CEO, Tom Purser, says: “We have a real opportunity here to address over 15 years of failure under the Autism Act 2009, but the Government has failed to rise to the challenge. In its report, ‘Time to deliver’, the House of Lords Committee laid out what’s needed in a new autism strategy when the existing one runs out in June. Today’s Government response does not even commit to a timeline, relying instead on leaving the existing strategy in place – a strategy that has clearly not been fit for purpose. “The extent of inequality autistic people face every day is shocking. The failings across all areas of government responsibility, from education and employment to health and social care, can only be addressed through specific actions with an autism focus. Relying on mainstream reform such as the NHS 10 Year Plan will continue the pattern of autistic people being overlooked and discriminated against. “The stakes are too high to allow the current situation to continue. Autistic people face a reduced life expectancy, and suicide is understood to be the leading cause of death for autistic people without a learning disability. “We urge the Government to reconsider – to commit to delivering a new autism strategy within a specific timeframe, in line with the House of Lords recommendations, and to make that a matter of the greatest urgency. Autistic people deserve better.” #autismact #autism #autismstrategy #timetodeliver

This week, we had the honour of co-hosting a parliamentary event with Jessica Toale, MP, to highlight the sometimes catastrophic systems failings faced by autistic women and girls. Content warning: suicide, bereavement We were joined by autistic women, of course, and those who support them, including bereaved mums Lindsey Bridges and Sharren Bridges (Jen's Acorn). A huge thank you to Lindsey and Sharren for talking to us about your daughters Lauren (Lolly) and Jen. Thank you also to Mary Doherty and Chris Ince for your powerful and moving contributions, and to Rachel Moseley and Lisa Wolff ND for your ongoing support with this work. We can't name everyone, but we are extremely grateful to everyone who joined us in the House of Commons. That included a great many MPs, who I'm sure were moved by the stories they heard, and now far more aware of the fact that these are not isolated, rare cases. If you look closely you can also see that we were able to meet with Baroness Merron, the minister with responsibility for mental health and suicide. We are grateful to Baroness Merron for listening to the experiences of the group and committing to discussing those with Zubir Ahmed, MP, who has ministerial responsibility for autism. We will now need to continue those conversations to ensure that autistic women and girls are better recognised as such, to end misdiagnoses of personality disorder and mental health conditions, and to ensure that autistic women and girls receive the autism-specific support they need and deserve, so they can thrive. #Autism #mentalhealth #misdiagnosis #autisticwomen #autisticgirls Note: We continue to work with and advocate for *all* autistic people. This was just one event with a focus on women and girls.

We’re a proud member of the Disabled Children's Partnership (DCP) @DCPcampaign - a coalition of over 130 organisations that campaign for better support across education, health and social care support for disabled children, young people and their families in England. They have an important survey for parent and carers linked to their ‘Fight For Ordinary’ campaign about education reforms, it’s open until the end of the week: linktr.ee/disabledchildr… There are 9 sections and should take between 5-10 minutes to complete, a little longer if you have more than one disabled child. The results of the survey will help the DCP campaign and engage with policy makers to ensure that this opportunity for reform is not wasted.

We are delighted to congratulate Autism Action Trustee Dr Lewis Owens on being awarded an MBE in the King’s Honours List. Dr Lewis Owens, a successful charity fundraiser, lecturer and author has been awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for Charitable Service. The award, announced in the King’s New Year’s Honours List, celebrates Lewis’s dedication to supporting voluntary services, particularly his role as Trustee with Autism Action since 2016 (previously known as the Autism Centre of Excellence).

We’re Hiring! We have an exciting opportunity for a Fundraising Assistant to join our team and support our charity’s growth. For more information please visit: AutismAction.org.uk/Jobs Closing date: midnight, 19th January 2026 #hiring #FundraisingJobs #CharityJobs #autism #AutismAction

We’re Hiring! Passionate about inclusion? We’re recruiting an Active Autism Alliance Project Lead (two-year fixed term contract) to deliver Phase 1 of a ground-breaking autism and sport initiative, funded by Sport England. For more information visit: AutismAction.org.uk/Jobs Closing date: midnight, Sunday 11th January 2026

We’ve written to Minister Zubir Ahmed to raise concerns about the retraction of the recent LeDeR report (Learning from Lives and Deaths: People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People). Read our full statement here: autismaction.org.uk/LeDeR_concerns #LeDeR

We have been informed by NHS England that the recent LeDeR report (Learning from lives and deaths: People with a learning disability and autistic people) has been retracted, just three months after its long-delayed publication. The NHS England email stated "Some of the data was missing and incomplete at the time of analysis. To ensure the report is as accurate and as complete as possible, the existing report is being withdrawn and will be republished with the additional analysis by King’s College London in January 2026." Clearly this is not good enough. The LeDeR report is the Government's mechanism to learn from deaths of people with learning disablities and autistic people, who are known to die many years younger than other people. It should be saving lives. Yet the initiative has been deprioritised in recent years. The data collection process has never been statutory, meaning many deaths are not reported, and this has particularly been the case for deaths of autistic people who didn't have a learning disability. We are writing to Minister Ahmed to follow up on our correspondence with the Government this summer and ask for further commitment to improve the LeDeR programme and save lives. Details tomorrow. As the recent House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee report says, it's 'Time to deliver'. Thank you to the many people who signed our letter to Wes Streeting in the summer or have expressed support since. If you haven't already, and would like to lend your support and receive updates, please sign up via autismaction.org.uk/LeDeR_retracted #LeDeR

The House of Lords report is very thorough, which means it is “extremely” long. We’re breaking its recommendations into chunks, and this is Part 2. You can also catch up with Part 1 on our socials. Let us know what you think. For the background on why this is so important, visit autismaction.org.uk/Lords2025

cw: suicide We are deeply concerned that this new review has been commissioned in the context of attempts to reduce public spending on vulnerable and already neglected groups. Is the Government seeking to undermine thousands of people with an existing autism diagnosis, as well as over 220,000 people waiting for an autism assessment? Minimising these groups’ needs, or suggesting their diagnosis is somehow unwarranted, is dangerous and irresponsible, particularly given the elevated suicide risk acknowledged in the national suicide prevention strategy. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

cw: suicide We are deeply concerned that this new review has been commissioned in the context of attempts to reduce public spending on vulnerable and already neglected groups. Is the Government seeking to undermine thousands of people with an existing autism diagnosis, as well as over 220,000 people waiting for an autism assessment? Minimising these groups’ needs, or suggesting their diagnosis is somehow unwarranted, is dangerous and irresponsible, particularly given the elevated suicide risk acknowledged in the national suicide prevention strategy. thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/…

The House of Lords report is very thorough, which means it is *extremely* long. We're breaking its recommendations into chunks. Let us know what you think. For the background on why this is so important, visit autismaction.org.uk/Lords2025