Autistic people are still let down by public services—new government strategy must deliver change

The Autism Act 2009 is a landmark law that requires the government to produce an autism strategy for England, backed up by statutory guidance for the NHS and local authorities. Now, a House of Lords special inquiry committee—which I chaired—has published a new report examining the effectiveness of the act.1 We found that the act was a critical step forward in the recognition of autistic people, but successive governments have failed to deliver the change that autistic people need.Autistic people still face unacceptable inequalities in health outcomes and life expectancy. On average, autistic people with a learning disability die more than 10 years earlier than their peers.2 Meanwhile, our understanding of the population of autistic people has evolved. When the act was passed, about 1% of people were estimated to be autistic. Diagnosis rates are now much higher than this in younger people, but still much lower in older people….