Autism JSNA

This section is used to summarise the views of the public, dedicated groups and service users. It can make use of formal assessment of views, such as obtained from surveys, feedback meetings and focus groups.

Through Hartlepool's Big Conversation, residents expressed their views on a variety of topics including views regarding Autism which have been included.

“Support for children with ASD without developmental delay who cannot cope with school but equally can’t cope with the noisy/unpredictable environment often found in the alternative provision. Nothing exists for these children who are often thought to be fine due to their good academic performance except Home Education.” Survey respondent (is there anything missing from priorities)

“People with autism need more of a voice and a say in how services are planned and delivered… Council staff need more and better autism awareness training, especially on frontline services. Social care support for autism is poor. The forms you need to fill in are intrusive and make you feel rubbish when you fill them in. They are very patronising. They also do not take into account real-life situations. Autistic people want to work but it is difficult because jobs centres and job support services are not able to handle autism. Also employers need to be more open to employing autistic people, saying you are disability confident is not enough, you need to be welcoming autistic people and the council should encourage other employers to do this… Other local authorities like Peterlee commission the North East Autism Society to provide employment support for autistic people, why is this not available in Hartlepool?” Face to face respondent (what would make Hartlepool a better place to live)