National Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) Strategy

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is writing a National Autism and ASC Strategy. The strategy will help us to improve the way we support our Island’s autistic people and people with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). It will help us to make sure that support services are provided fairly, effectively and where they will do the most good.

Consultation

We ran a public consultation between 29 April and 10 June 2022 to ask about the views and experiences of the autistic and ASC community, their family, friends, carers, and the professionals who work to support them.

Nearly 400 people responded, and we were grateful that so many people took the time to talk to us. 

Read the full results of the consultation. 

Developing the strategy

The results of the consultation made it clear that we need to work in partnership with other Government departments in order to produce meaningful improvements for autistic people and people with ASCs.

We originally aimed to have the completed strategy published by December 2022, but we took the decision to delay the publication so that we could focus on addressing the complex issues highlighted in the consultation. We want to write a strategy that takes account of what people told us, and we will take the time needed to make sure we get it right.

We will also focus on addressing some of the more immediate issues people told us about while we continue to work on creating the National Autism and ASC strategy.

Find out how we will be promoting awareness and inclusion for Autism Acceptance Month this April.