Why Emma is pushing for action

Emma, who has a sibling with autism, came to our Push for Action reception in parliament in October. Here, she writes about her experiences of the event and why she is supporting the campaign:

On the 15^th October I had the fantastic opportunity of supporting the National Autistic Society in their ‘Push for Action’ campaign in Parliament. As my severely autistic brother has gone through a traumatic experience from children’s  to adult services, I  like many others across the country,  understand the urgency to improve local services for adults with autism. 

The parliamentary reception began with speeches from other campaigners. I was really inspired by the enlightenment of Chris, an adult with autism, sharing his experience of what it is like living with autism.  This was followed by Sam and her brother, Indi, who made an emotional speech of what they have gone through and what needs to be changed. It was great to see so much support in the room from campaigners and members of parliament from all over the country. 

Once the speeches had finished, everyone began circulating the room. I shared my brother’s story of how social services failed him and he ended up being sectioned as he had nowhere else to go. I was surprised by how little some members of parliament knew about autism so it was important to help them understand the importance of implementing the Autism Act that was passed in 2009. 70% of adults with autism do not receive the support they need from social services. The main aims of Push for Action include: Department of Health providing an innovation fund for new projects;   include autism training in the core training curricula for doctors, nurses and other clinicians; review the training for frontline job centre staff in autism; and adjust the standard equality classifications to include new autism classifications. If these were implemented in each area, a lot of people who are affected by autism would suffer less. I also explained my thoughts on the need to educate schools about autism, as children are our next generation who will in turn be our Members of Parliament, doctors and social workers. I have certainly found that unless people are affected by autism, they know very little about it. Helping people understand autism would help in accepting them into our society and prevent them being an ‘outcast’. 

Over the years, minorities that have undergone discrimination - such as racism, sexism, homophobia - which are gradually becoming the norm in our society and I hope the stigma around autism and learning disabilities will change for the better in the future.  I met a couple of other siblings of autistic people who were as passionate as I am about changing services for the better. It was interesting hearing their stories and ideas, which were similar even though we were all from different parts of the country with siblings on different ends of the spectrum. I have begun raising the profile for this campaign amongst my peers and staff at school and plan to help them understand autism better.

Overall it was an enlightening and humbling experience which has encouraged me to support the campaign and put an end to autism not getting the priority it deserves.

Get involved by signing up to the campaign at: www.autism.org.uk/push