ADULTS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS

1
ADULTS WITH AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS

• Mari Saeki, Project Officer
• Family Services Development Project
• The project is funded and steered by the
• Greater Manchester Autism Consortium
• www.autismgm.org.uk

2
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE AN ASD?

• NAS prevalence states 1 in 100.
• In Manchester it is estimated that there are over
  2,000 people with an ASD.
• The Social Communication Assessment Team in the
  Childrens Services are diagnosing over 100 new
  children a year with an ASD.
• The NAS project knows of at least 45 adults with
  a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome and 99 adults
  with an ASD diagnosis within Manchester. The
  project has 415 people with an ASD of all ages
  from Manchester.
• Not all individuals with a diagnosis need
  services from social and health care, but all
  require understanding from professionals.

3
What are the main issues for those with an ASD
who do not have a learning difficulty or
significant mental health problem?

• No one owns this group, they regularly fall
  through the gap.
• There is a much higher incidence of depression
  and anxiety in those with an ASD than in the
  general population.
• There is no clear diagnostic and care pathway for
  this group in Manchester.

4
WHAT CAN WE DO?

• We need a clear responsibility.
• We need far better awareness of ASD amongst all
  professionals, including GPs, Mental Health
  professionals, Benefit staff and Housing staff.
• We need more people to join the ASD Working Group
  in Manchester, chaired by Duncan Mitchell, which
  is looking at developing a diagnostic and care
  pathway for this group.